The ancient city of Marib, with an area of 110 hectares, confined within an irregularly shaped wall with a perimeter of 4.5 km, is considered the largest archaeological site in the Arabian Peninsula during its ancient history, as there is no other comparable site in any other part of it.
If you want to know the extent of the country's antiquity and its true age, you will automatically find yourself digging up its antiquities to know its depth in history and its actual age, and what are the implications of those antiquities and their historical roots through the inscriptions, buildings, or ruins that indicate the meaning of its time.
In addition, the antiquities enable us to know the extent of the development reached by the ancient people, their customs and traditions, their lifestyle, some of the religions they embraced and the worships they practiced, as well as illustrative pictures of their wars and heroic epics that they carried out.
However, what the city of Marib is recently witnessing, although it is considered home of historical heritage for thousands of years, and a record full of art and lavish giving, disregards all this cultural significance of antiquities and tourist attractions, are now experiencing widespread tampering, neglect, and the disappearance of rare artifacts.
Sadiq Saeed Othman, an antiquities expert, told Khuyut that there are a number of risks facing Yemeni antiquities in general, and the antiquities of Marib in particular. These dangers are represented by public ignorance that made man an enemy to it, forced neglect, lack of development, lack of planning, lack of military awareness, as well as deliberate and accidental destruction, intentional reuse of archaeological sites, looting and transfer of many ancient Yemeni pieces and inscriptions to new locations.
Additionally, archaeological and touristic monuments in Marib have been exposed to many threats as a result of being left unprotected due to the lack of a museum to preserve the perishable artifacts, which were left exposed to rain and winds, and within the reach of terrorist groups that do not appreciate or understand the value of this national treasure of the country.
Moreover, Othman stresses the need for serious and urgent actions to correct this situation and preserve these antiquities from dangers, by making a wide change in the mandate of the General Authority for Antiquities and Museums, which includes various administrative and legislative aspects, methods and mechanisms of various field work, so that we do not wake up one day - according to his speech – to find out that all the remains of the ancient Marib Dam, or any of the archaeological sites of the Yemeni heritage are vanished.
Urgent measures have to be implemented in terms of the formation of a team of archaeologists, architects and professional photographers, and allowing them to go to the archaeological sites in the field, to document and assess the extent of damage to archaeological sites and monuments, historical cities and buildings, in order to develop a preliminary evaluation and recommendations about emergency actions that can be taken to reduce such critical damage.
Historical misconducts
Because of the war in Yemen, tourism has been frozen in this historical province, and no one comes to it except some citizens and local tourists, or some diplomatic missions, and journalists, to film programs or personal photography by members of the community, or some rare and scarce visits that are almost negligible from few foreigners.
The Director of the Media and Arts Department at the Culture and Tourism Office in Marib Governorate, Mohammad Al-Qadi, said in a statement to "Khuyut", that since the "Houthis" coup against the state more than eight years ago, many artifacts and manuscripts were smuggled abroad, and everyone watched some of these antiquities were sold in international auctions, as Al Qadi considers that a crime added to the war crimes against the country. He confirmed that such irresponsible practices cause huge losses to the country’s cultural heritage if we left it without preservation and protection.
In his speech, Al Qadi noted that the war has severely damaged the tourism sector in a country where there are no means of protection and security for its citizens.
Marib and ancient Sana'a used to be a global destination for tourists, according to UNESCO, as well as other historic site of Shibam Hadramout, the city of Thula, Marib, Al-Jawf, Shabwa and Ammran, and many historical and archaeological locations in Yemen. However, due to war and insecurity, tourism has stopped, which has negatively affected the archaeological sites in Yemen in general, and Marib in particular.
Al-Qadi added that the archaeological and touristic monuments in Marib have been exposed to many threats as a result of being left unprotected due to the lack of a museum to preserve the perishable artifacts, which were left exposed to rain and winds, and within the reach of terrorist groups that do not appreciate or understand the value of this national treasure of the country.
Undoubtedly, the organized scientific archaeological excavations at the site of the ancient city of Marib will reveal a large part of the aspects of the mystery surrounding the ancient Yemeni history.
The Director of the Information Department at the Culture and Tourism Office in Marib asserts that it is normal when conflict breaks in any country that tourism stops, as people fear for their lives. Nevertheless, the visitor to Marib will inevitably travel through time to five thousand years ago by looking closely at the monuments and historical evidence, but recently, as a result of targeting Marib with ballistic missiles by the "Houthis", Marib visitors from other governorates have dramatically decreased as well as due to the approaching of the battles from the city walls which had a great impact on the national tourism.
Systematic destruction
The archaeological monuments in Marib are considered a historical legacy for thousands of years, as the most prominent features are: The Throne of Belqis, the Temple of Elmaqah, the Temple of Awam, the Temple of Baran, the old dam, the ancient city of Marib, the ancient city of Serwah, and other historical and archaeological sites.
Similarly, the researcher in the field of archeology and history, Yahya Humran, believes in his interview with "Khuyut", that it is very important to preserve the monuments and historical testaments in a state of peace, let alone in the state of war and conflict that Yemen is witnessing due to the "Houthis" coup, according to Humran's speech, where Archaeological and historical monuments are subjected to systematic destruction, while some of them have been utilized as military barracks or warehouses.
Further, the disastrous effect of erosion and natural factors, in light of the lack of service specialists based in the archaeological sites', is considered a catastrophe in itself for the antiquities, some of which are more than three thousand years old.
Humran pointed out that The temples and monuments that have been discovered in Ma'rib so far do not represent 1% of an ancient civilization that ruled even the far reaches of Asia and Africa, as indicated by the remains of the famous dam that are still visible, in addition to irrigation canals, and many temples and edifices. It seems that it was used for meetings, and the features of the royal tombs are still visible until this moment, which indicates that many important monuments and monuments are still buried under the sand.
He concluded that the existence of organized scientific archaeological excavations at the site of the ancient city of Marib will certainly reveal a large part of the mysteries surrounding the ancient Yemeni history.
In conclusion, the seriousness of the situation in Marib and its archaeological and tourist attractions requires an urgent appeal to regional and international organizations which are concerned with the protection of cultural heritage to intervene quickly, in order to save what can be salvaged of the Yemeni antiquities, especially the antiquities of the Kingdom of Sheba. This call shall be coinciding with the launch of a large-scale international campaign to preserve the Yemeni cultural heritage which is an integral part of the human heritage.
