One of the most important results obtained by the Soviet Yemenite Joint Complex Expedition (SOYCE) during its nine campaigns of field work in 1983-1991 consists in the discovery of approximately 22 inscribed palm-leaf stalks at the site of Raybūn I in the western part of inland Hadramawt.1 The majority of them (six in 1986, of which five are illustrated in Figure 1, and at least nine in 1987) were found in the ruins of private houses (Raybūn I, building 6 and Raybūn I, area I). Of the seven documents revealed in 1989, six were found in the room east of the southern staircase of building 4 of the Rahbān, temple of the goddess Dhāt Himyam, and one was discovered north of the same building. These Hadramitic texts are still the only Old South Arabian documents on wood found in the course of scientific archaeological excavations. In some cases it seems possible to establish a certain correlation between their dating and the development of a local variety of the minuscule script…
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