Table of Contents
The Present Past tells Shibam with help from Mohamed, a Yemeni filmmaker who walked the town and spoke with residents. The puzzle is a crowd of tall mud houses where most people picture empty desert. Shibam occupies a crack in the plateau, a riverbed dry most of the year and then in flood, so water can be stored for drinking and fields. That supply put the town on a caravan road for spices and incense among Africa, India, and the Middle East. Greek writers knew it, yet European travelers arrived only in 1893. Some compared the skyline to Chicago, because an 1885 tower there was already called an early skyscraper. Bases are wider, bricks get a mud coat, and costly lime marks mosques. Digs put tall houses in this region two millennia ago. Floods in 1298 and 1532 wiped the lower ground, so for five centuries building stayed on the mound. The host’s point is that the residents built this, and a place in the news is more than its headline.
Key points
- Shibam stands in a seasonal river valley in Yemen, where stored floodwater supports people and fields.
- That water placed the town on a caravan route for spices and incense linking Africa, India, and the Middle East.
- Greek sources knew the city, but European travelers did not arrive until 1893.
- Mud construction forces thicker bases, a plaster coat, and lime wash as a mark of important buildings.
- Floors are assigned by use, sleeping rooms sit higher, and the houses have no lifts.
- Floods in 1298 and 1532 confined later building to the high mound, which also limited damage in 2008.
- The host credits the long-term residents with the city and notes war as a present danger.
Short quotes
The middle of Yemen is a big desert where almost no one lives.
The Present Past, Shibam and its mud tower houses
On the map he uses, almost nobody lives in Yemen’s interior. Watch at 4:22
After laying the bricks, they are then covered with mud plaster.
The Present Past, Shibam and its mud tower houses
Once the bricks are up, a coat of mud is what finishes the wall. Watch at 7:25
According to archaeological excavations, people were already building four-story houses in this region 2,000 years ago.
The Present Past, Shibam and its mud tower houses
Digs in the region, he says, already show tall houses two millennia back. Watch at 9:44
The dangers to the city withstanding, it is still around today.
The Present Past, Shibam and its mud tower houses
Flood and war are real dangers, and the town has not disappeared. Watch at 12:10
Video by The Present Past. Watch on YouTube.