Ancient catacomb uncovered in Ibb

The Social Fund for Development is currently working on the project of building an iron wall around the Osaibah archaeological site in the al-Sada district of Ibb. Meanwhile, local sources say that a new archaeological tomb was discovered in the same archaeological site on Sunday, February 24th. 

The newly uncovered tomb was discovered while a pipe to support the net of iron was being repaired. The tomb does not vary much from the tomb recently found a few months ago, believed to be for a Himyarite monarchy family. Speculation surrounding the previous tomb suggested it was for the wife of King Shammar Yoharish due to the  precious and valuable remains of jewelry which were found in the tomb, attracting a great deal of attention from the media. The local sources added that the work on the iron project was ceased after this event.

In Ibb, the Yemen Observer tried to contact related official bodies to confirm the news, but all attempts went in vain. The Bureau of Archaeology and the local council in the governorate all dismissed the news and claimed they had no reports on the uncovering. However, the Secretary General of the local council of Al-Sada district, Abdulsalam al-Ghawbari, confirmed the news’s existence and spreading, but he himself was not sure of it.

Observers in Ibb did not expect top conduct from archaeology officials in regard to preventing, declaring, or revealing news about archaeology and archaeological sites to papers, especially, after the noise that was brought about the discoveries of Osaibah, al-Shahed, and the mountain of Shammar Yoharish sites in the al-Sada district. These artifacts were displayed, and looting, vandalism, and general acts of aggression were performed on those archaeological sites. It is feared that such news will encourage citizens to rob and destroy the antiquities, but on the other hand, such secrecy may hide many illegal acts which may accompany the site’s excavation.

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