LP 143

Interpretation

Provenance: The Wādī al-Shām is a wide gorge at this point and the site of al-Ḥifna runs downstream from a series of wells in the wādī bed to a series of pools which were still full in mid-July 1995. Some of the wells are large and probably ancient, others are of the small bedouin type. In July 1995 three were blocked and one was operational. The main concentration of inscriptions is to be found on the escarpment of the left bank of the Wādī, north of the pool. This is site C in Macdonald, Al Muʾazzin, Nehmé 1996. Littmann wrote "Al-Ḥifnah is a water-place in the Wādī al-Shām, between the Ḥawrān mountains [Jabal al-ʿArab] and al-Nemārah. There are several pools in the Wādī, some of which are said to contain water throughout the year. The bed of the Wādī is wide enough to secure pasturage for the animals of the Bedawin during spring-time. The bank of the south [right] side is rather high and steep, and at a few places it is overhanging so that there is even shelter against the rain. In the bed of the Wādī there are a great many camping-places: stone fences, more or less round, encircling places of different size that are cleaned of stones. There are also several tombs, one of which is surrounded by a small fence and seems to be a Bedawin sanctuary being covered with rags and locks of hair. The Safaitic inscriptions are mostly on the banks or behind them" (Littmann 1943: 1).

Littmann, E. Safaïtic Inscriptions. Syria. Publications of the Princeton University Archaeological Expeditions to Syria in 1904–1905 and 1909. Division IV. Section C. Leiden: Brill, 1943.