Asham Village

Asham Village is an archaeological village located in the northeast of Al-Qunfudhah Governorate in Makkah Al-Mukarramah Province, west of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It lies about three hundred km south of Makkah Al-Mukarramah City. It is an ancient human settlement that includes ruins of religious, civil, and military buildings, in addition to mining sites.

Location of Asham Village

Asham Village is located on the banks of Wadi Qarmaa, representing the transition point between the Tihamah plain to the west and the Sarawat Mountains highlands to the east. It is considered one of the stops and stations for Yemeni pilgrims traveling to Makkah Al-Mukarramah from the southern Arabian Peninsula.

The fame of Asham Village

Asham Village is renowned as one of the ancient mining sites in the Arabian Peninsula. Its lands are rich in abundant quantities of gold, from which it gained its fame throughout the Arabian Peninsula from the pre-Islamic era through the early and middle Islamic periods. The Asham Mine, mentioned in historical sources and books predating Islam, is located there.
Asham Village was an Islamic metropolis called Mikhlaf Asham. It consisted of several villages that are considered today archeological cities, including Masoudah, Nassa'eb, Al-Asda'a, and Southern Al-Ahsaba.

Historian Hassan Bin Ibrahim Al-Faqih documented part of the village’s history in his book Mikhlaf Asham, where Asham was one of the most important cities in Makkah Al-Mukarramah Tihamah Mikhlaf, of which Asham was the capital. It was also mentioned by the geographer Al-Ya‘qubi, who died in 897, as well as by Ibn Khurdadhbah and Al-Hamdani, who highlighted the abundance of gold there. It was also referenced by Al-Maqdisi, Al-Bakri, Al-Sharif Al-Idrisi, and others, indicating that it was a prosperous city or town and served as the capital of one of the southern Makkah mikhlafs named after it: Mikhlaf Asham.

Excavation work in Asham Village

Since 1982, Asham Village has been a site for archaeological excavation and exploration, which uncovered the historic city market and its remains, along with artifacts that date the city. Among these finds is a tombstone inscribed in Kufic script and sealed with the signature of its calligrapher, dating back to the seventh and eleventh centuries. Studies have suggested the hypothesis that the village disappeared between the late first century and the beginning of the twelfth century. The tombstones discovered were erected over graves in the customary manner of old villages in Makkah Al-Mukarramah, where each grave has two tombstones, one at the head and the other at the feet. A number of mining artifacts were also recorded at the site, where a large number of broken pottery, ceramic, and glass shards are scattered on the surface. The site is notable for the abundance of stone mills used for grinding grains.

In 2006, an excavation team conducted a comprehensive survey of the Asham archaeological site, during which the site’s registration was completed and it was incorporated into the digital mapping program.

In 2017, the General Authority for Tourism and National Heritage (formerly) resumed the archaeological excavation project at the Asham site, which had begun in 1982, along with the archaeological surveys conducted in 2006. The project focuses on excavation work within the fenced area of the archaeological site, verifying the density of archaeological finds, and uncovering tools and equipment associated with mining activities. Excavation work focused on the commercial market area located at the site. Asham Village contains hundreds of Islamic inscriptions with varied scripts and decorations. There are thirty-two excavation trenches scattered throughout Asham.

The archaeological site of Asham covers an area of 1,500 by six hundred m, extending from east to west. Its houses were built using basalt stones, predominantly black in color. The stone blocks were placed on top of each other without using mortar. The village contains more than four hundred houses, some consisting of a single room, while others have multiple rooms.

The current project focuses on excavation work in the fenced area of the archaeological site, verifying the density of archaeological finds, and uncovering tools and means associated with mining activities. Excavation efforts concentrated on the commercial market located at the site.

The archaeological work revealed several architectural features, including walls with widths ranging from forty-five cm to seventy cm, and the appearance of some square-shaped buttresses on certain walls, with heights ranging from eighty cm to one m and dimensions of eighty cm by eighty cm. Additionally, benches appeared in some rooms, with heights between thirty cm and seventy cm and widths of sixty cm, which are believed to have been used for commercial purposes. After studying these architectural features, it became clear that the commercial area consists of two opposing strips of rectangular rooms, each room divided into two sections: the first is an entrance area, and the second is an inner room used as a rear storage space.

The archaeological work revealed evidence of restoration at the site, which is believed to have been carried out at a later stage of the settlement. A number of archaeological finds were uncovered in the excavation area, including pottery fragments consisting of rims, bodies, and bases of small and medium-sized vessels. Glazed pottery was also found in various colors, including light green, tin-glaze, yellow, red, and brown. Complete pottery vessels were discovered as well, including a medium-sized jug, a small cup, a nearly complete pottery container, and a nearly complete glazed pottery vessel in light green. The site also contained parts made of soapstone, such as rims, bodies, and edges of vessels of different sizes, mostly with smooth surfaces. Some pieces featured decorations, indicating the artisan’s care in carving them. A soapstone lamp and a nearly complete lid for a medium-sized vessel were also found. Remains of glass vessels varied in colors and included rims, necks, concave bases, and parts of bottles of different sizes.

Metal artifacts consisted of oxidized metal fragments, including a medium-sized metal spoon, a knife, a small metal container, and iron nails.

These findings serve as evidence of settlement at the site, which was dedicated to mining activities during the early and middle Islamic periods. Mining activity at the site declined only by the twelfth century. It is expected that future excavations will reveal various mining features at Asham site.