A Yemeni-Russian team that has been working together for five years in
Yemen discovered last week a building on Socotra Island that dates back
the eighth century A.D., according to Khalid Ali Al-Ansi, an archeology
expert in the General Authority for Antiques.
Al-Ansi told the
Yemen Times that the archeological site, found in the Foahr Sha’awb
District on the island, dates back to the pre-Islamic period. After
initially discovering the building, the team went on to find a whole
compound consisting of square and circular buildings separated from one
another by lanes.
Within the compoundو the archaeologists found
ancient carvings bearing the south-Arabian alphabet, as well as a
cluster of letters that Al-Ansi conjectures could be names of former
rulers and kings. Al-Ansi speculates some of the findings date back to
the Stone Age in the eastern and southern areas of Socotra.
Investigations are underway to verify the validity of the hypothesized dates.
Yemeni
researchers hope to continue to work with the Russian team. Russian
archeologists have been operating on the island for three decades.