The Jawf valley as a crossroad. Some observations about the tribe of Amīr in South Arabia

Scope of the present paper is to draw attention to the ethnic and cultural complexity in the Jawf region (Northern Yemen) during the 1st millennium BCE. The analysis will concentrate in particular into some linguistic and cultural traits that characterize the documentation that is traditionally associated with the tribe of Amīr, which is generally considered to be installed in Southern Arabia only during the end of the 1st millennium BCE. Some of the patterns concerning their integration and partial assimilation with certain cultural traits of the region, mainly Minaean, will be emphasized. Special attention will be devoted to the expiatory ritual, which is shared in this region just by Maʿīn and Amīr. Further epigraphic and archaeological records, especially concerning the late phases of the sites Haram and Yathil, will suggest how the progressive infiltration of the Amīr tribe contributed to reshape the ethnic and cultural structure of the region since the last centuries of the 1st millennium.