Pouvoir Choisir Blog

In the summer of 1993 the TransArabia Expedition began excavating the coastal site of Ain Hamran. The presence of a massive fort that rivals the Ubar complex, and an artifact assemblage contempora­neous with the Ubar materials, lead Zarins to assert that this is the site of the Saffara Metropolis referred to by Ptolemy. During the spring of 1993, underwater exploration also began. A team directed by Ms Jana Owen has already recovered ship remains, cut stone blocks, anchors and traces of pottery at submerged sites between modern Mirbat and Sudah.

Thus it is apparent that for all the suc­cesses of the TransArabia Expedition, their work in Ornan has really just begun. Whether future glimpses from space will be as kind to them as in the past remains to be seen. For Zarins it makes no differ­ence. Though appreciative of the techno­logical gadgetry he says, “No matter how good the stuff is, you still have to get on the ground and actually do the work”.

Considering the expanding horizons of the expedition’s work, it looks as though he will have plenty of opportunity to do just that!

An unusual destination perhaps, but where the Blue Nile orignates in Lake Tana, north-west of Addis Ababa, the keen ornithologist will find a rich variety of birdlife, much of it endemic to the region. Despite reports in recent years of a coun­try torn by war, Graham Lobley discovered in Ethiopia a naturalist’s paradise amid countryside of outstanding natural beauty.

Ethiopia is an excíting and fascínating destination for the seasoned trav­eller and naturalist who come from their Apartment Rome or even from Apartment in Miami. II is recognized as the region of early evolution of mankind following the discovery in 1974 in the Rift Valley of the world’s oldest fossilised hominid remains. These Afar fossils have been attributed to a new species named Australopithescus afarensis, which have been tentatively dated back 2.6 to 3.6 mil­lion years.

The highlands of Ethiopia have a long history of human settlement, which can be attributed both to a milder climate and a more reliable rainfall, as compared to drier, more extreme climate characterizing the surrounding lowlands. Various cultures and civilizations have shaped the develop­ment of these highland regions over sev­eral millenia.

Due largely to the relative isolation of its highlands and mountains, much of Ethiopia’s wildlife is endemic to the region, notably its birds and mammals. Twenty­three bird species are found nowhere else on earth, which is more than in any com­parable area of continental Africa. Keen bird watchers are consequently drawn to the region, which in terms of bird watching field guides ís still, as yet, poorly docu­mented. However, the Ethiopian Tourist Commission (ETC) has produced a useful and well illustrated small monograph enti­tled Ethiopia’s Endemic Birds, available at the ETC office in Addís Ababa and the international airport book and gift shops. Bird watchers will probably find John Williams’ Field Guide to the Birds of East Africa the most useful currently available identification guide, which gives fair cover­age of most Ethiopian birds.

Topographically, the western highlands of Ethiopia comprise a vast plateau of between 2000 to 3000m altitude dissected by numerous spectacular gorges. Most notablé of the rivers which have created these gorges is the Blue Nile, originating in Lake Tana north-west of Addis Ababa. To the naturalist and traveller, the area promises both spectacular bird watching and areas of outstanding natural beauty.

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s bustling capi­tal city, is just a two-hour flight from Jeddah. A light aircraft takes passengers direct to Bahar Dar, a town located on the southern end of Lake Tana and close to the position where the Blue Nile flows from the lake. Atter the heat of Jeddah, even in March when the author travelled, the cooler and greener environment of Addis was an immediate attraction.

The more obvious and typical birds of the city were soon to be seen – dusky tur­tle dove, augur buzzard, fiscal shrike and sacred ibis, along with our first endemic species, the wattled ibis. Exploration among the flowering trees, shrubs and lawns of the hotel revealed several more delightful birds, including the beautiful nec­lar drinking tacazze sunbird, olive thrush, Reichenow’s weaver, speckled mousebird, brown woodland warbler and streaky seed-eater. Even close to the airport, a marshy area with an adjacent open area of levelled earth and fields revealed two more endemic birds – the reportedly elu­sive rouget’s rail, showing really well in the short vegetation, plus several Abyssinian longclaw and a single ground-scraper thrush. In retrospect, the stopover in Addis had proved to be most fortuitous.

The late morning flight to Bahar Dar in an Ethiopian Airway’s Twin Otter light air craft was a spectacular experience. Flying at around 3500m permitted superb panoramas of the plateaux and magnifi­cent gorges. The great gorge of the Blue Nile slowly carne into view, a huge stepped canyon upto 12 miles wide, with the great river snaking its course far below. This amazing spectacle has been compared with the secenic grandeur of Arizona’s Grand Canyon, and justifiably so. Small village settlements comprising straw-roofed huts are dotted across the high plateaux, surrounded by arable land and pastures. In contrast, the gorges often contain impressive waterfalls with adjacent riverine woodland and vegetation. Although such a small aircraft can be a lit­tle uncomfortable with greater susceptibil­ity to the effects of turbulence and no pressurisation, there can be no better way to view for the very first time this great landscape. In under an hour Lake Tana, the largest lake in Ethiopia, loomed into view.

Sifting the dusty archives and screen­ing travellers’ tales offered perspective but lacked precision. Clapp needed a new angle – a new way to view the problem. He had seen satellite pictures taken in the early 80s. They were capable of some remarkable images when viewed with longer wavelenghts. Subsurface features such as dry river channels and parched tributaries were spotted in the eastern Sahara. These features became visible as the satellite peered right through the sand.

But what about caravan trails? Clapp saw his chance to tie together the frayed strands of information that related to Ubar. In 1984 the SIR-B (Synthetic-aperture Imaging Radar) was launched. The satel­lite’s special capabilities and remote dis­tance could unveil the region in a new way, a way that ancient descriptions or current field trips could not provide. Clapp succeeded in convincing Dr Ron BIom, at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena California, to take the images he needed.

Views from the United States’ Space Shuttle Imaging Radar were combined Expedition, assesses that making Ubar a city derives from the “fanciful embroideries of the Arabian Nights, the Key of Destiny and the City of Brass”.

Dr Zarins of Southwest Missouri State University, has spent his career excavat­ing and interpreting the archaeological record of the Arabian peninsula. As Archaeological Adviser to Saudi Arabia’s Department of Antiquities in the mid­1970s, he helped them to direct future work. His familiarity with the complexities of Arabian archaeology is crucial to fully understanding the Ubar site. He told me that the expedition is concerned with view­ing “Ubar in the context of an on-going process where we see the products and people of southern Ornan and adjoining Yemen in the light of disseminating a restricted substance in which they were able to profit”.

And profit they did. Admirers of frankin­cense and myrrh were everywhere in the ancient world. From Mesopotamia to Egypt, from Syria to India and beyond. Its unqiue properties were praised as fit for religious offerings, fumigants and medi­cines. Greeks in the Mediterranean savoured its qualities,and exorbitant prices were paid to obtain it in Roman settle­ments. Frankincense (Bosweilla sacra) was only to be found in select environ­ments, guaranteeing great rewards to those economies which produced it.

More than 2500 artifacts found during the 1992-93 season indicate that the site’s most flourishing period took place during the 1st millennium BC and the early cen­turies AD. Fragments of pottery, lamps made from sandstone, steatite (soap­stone) materials and incense stands, point to paralleis with Ubar’s neighbours in the west.

The kingdoms of Ma’in, Saba, Qataban and Hadhramaut thrived in southwest Arabia at this time. They pulled profits from the trade which plied the tortuous routes of their territories. The development of roads in this region was no mean feat and apparently held priority status. Dr Albert Jamme, the expedition’s specialist in south-Arabian inscriptions, has translat­ed Qatabanian texts from this period. They tell of roads opened at the behest of the gods. Another inscription implored local deities to protect a road for the benefit of future generations. The remains of tem­ples, forts, sanctuaries and agricultura) projects in Yemen attest to great wealth, a wealth that was due in part to profits made from the incense caravans using their road network.

If one defines wealth and prestige in antiquity through building projects, Ubar would certainly meet the definition. Much of the press which the TransArabia Expedition has received, centres on the architecture of the site. Excavations have uncovered thick walls with some seven horeshoe shaped towers encircling various rooms and a building complex located on the citadel of the site. Within some of these rooms excavators have found arti­facts necessary to produce incense from the cut gum-resin of the frankincense tree. Zarins attaches these remains to the afflu­ent period of the 1st millenium BC.

That Ubar could achieve such prosper­ous heights is directly due to climatic effects involving wind and sea currents. The khareef (monsoons) occuring from June through to September, are essential to sustaining southwestern Oman’s vege­tation. The Dhofar mountains form a natur­al barrier between the sea and the arid hinterland. Three jebels (mountains) form this east-west escarpment near Ubar. Jebel Qara is the centrepiece of this range. Its lower elevation allows the effects of the monsoon’s diminished pre­cipitation and cool winds to reach back deeper into the interior. Where it does, the gullies, drainage areas and wadi floors of the Nejd become suitable habitat for the frankincense tree.

An increased knowledge of the behav­ior and predictability of these monsoons benefited later merchants of southern Arabia. Maritime commerce accelerated the trafficking of frankincense and other commodities. Rapid and less expensive seá routes carried trade to areas which camel caravans could not reach. This advance allowed markets in India, coastal east Africa and both coasts of the Red Sea to be visited more frequently.

Understanding the affect of this on the Dhofar is what the TransArabia Expedition is aiming to achieve. Under the principal sponsorship of His Excellency Mohammed al-Rawas and the Ministry of Information for Ornan, the expedition is breaking new ground.