Building materials in South Arabian Inscriptions

Among the South Arabian inscriptions, those concerning construction activities represent a great quantity. Their entire comprehension is far from being achieved, in particular for the technical terminology connected with architectonical structures. A stronger and a more accurate methodology can help in clarifying the semantic values of many words which are of great interest not only for an epigraphical point of view but also for the archaeological study of the ancient South Arabian civilization. Departing from some reflections on the state of the art in the methodology required for this demanding task, a survey it will done here on a particular portion of this technical lexicography: that representing building materials and their finishing processes. The most common vocabulary will be analysed, in order to show which materials were involved and recorded in these texts, and in which way they were refined according to the structures involved. The analysis of these lexical data within South Arabian documentation can reveal a certain degree of uniformity, but in some cases also linguistic differentiations depending on the area, chronology and monument concerned. We will also try to demonstrate that an observation of these terms, together with the archaeological records at our disposal, can reveal some nuances of their semantic value, i.e distinguishing words indicating raw materials, combination of different materials and those representing working processes. The constant comparison with the archaeological data can clarify also how this terminology was adapted in indicating the different natural resources available in the geographical and cultural areas of Southern Arabia.