Sharma: Un entrep't de commerce medieval sur la c'te du Ḥaḍramawt (Yemen, ca 980-1180)

Cited by al-Muqaddasi in c.985 and then by al-Idrisi in c.1150, the medieval port of Sharma was discovered in 1996 at the extremity of the Ra's Sharma, 50km east of al-Shihr on the Hadramawt coast of Yemen; it was excavated in 2001-2005. This unique site was actually a transit entrepot, a cluster of warehouses probably founded by Iranian merchants and entirely devoted to the maritime trade. It knew a rather short period of activity, between around 980 and the second half of the 12th century...