LATE ANTIQUE and early mediaeval South Arabia together constitute a historical period of gradual qualitative changes, resulting in the formation of a mediaeval type of society and way of life. Traditions and stereotypes of where and how to settle were also changing, particularly through two great movements of people - the migration and settlement in Yemen of bedouin tribes from Inner Arabia, and then further migration of Y emenis (mainly the same tribes) to the north during the Muslim conquests.

The Fate of Ancient Towns

Migration and the establishment of the new settlements were common features for ancient Y emenis. The Sabaeans had founded strongholds in many places during their military campaigns, e.g. at Baybun in Ḥaḍramawt, while the Mineans established trade colonies everywhere on the route to the Mediterranean. ḤaḍJramīs had settled near the main sources of frankincense, as at Sumhuram. One of the main Sabaean terms for the “inhabitants of a town” - ḥwr - also means “settler, immigrant“

The ancient Yemenis of both early and late periods knew different kinds of seasonal settlements. Such was the nature of many of the South Arabian ports that people came there from the fortified cities of the hinterland in the seasons when ships came and went and trade flourished.

Market places near Yemeni towns were also a kind of temporary settlement. A Qāṭābānian trade code found in Timnā (first century B.C.) describes the rules applied to foreign merchants in their dwelling places outside the city. Such special places for the temporary settlement of incoming merchants and pilgrims to holy places exist near ancient, mediaeval and modern towns of the Ḥaḍramawt. A good example of such a settlement is the complex of multi-storey mudbrick houses near the tomb of the Prophet Hūd in Ḥaḍramawt, where the houses were inhabited for only a week annually during the pilgrimage season.

In the Middle Ages noble migrants (sāda , mashāyikh ) settled in the places which became “holy (or forbidden) territories”, considered to be outside the tribal lands and protected from the implementation of tribal laws. This is a type of settlement called ḥawṭa in southern Yemen and hijra in the north. They became a kind of “reservoir” for accommodating the people coming from outside. Ḥawṭas and hijras also provide examples of a process whereby a temporary settlement becomes a permanent one. A good example of this process is the Mashhad of al-Sayyid ‘Alī ibn Ḥasan al- ‘Aṭṭās in Wādī Daw’ān, a relatively recent shrine.