[11/February/2009]

SANA'A, Feb. 11 (Saba) – The General Authority for Museums and Antiquities has revealed a Yemeni-British project is underway to excavate marine monuments.

The project would be implemented in cooperation between the authority and the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies of the British University of Exeter.

Head of the authority Abdullah Ba Wazeer said the project will involve excavations at the ancient Islamic cities and ports along the Yemeni coasts.

The operations will raise marine monuments and drowned ships in the country's waters and those mentioned in historical references.

A mission from the institute is currently visiting Yemen with the aim to familiarize itself with the Yemeni coasts before the implementation of the project starts early next year, Ba Wazeer said.

An agreement on the project would be signed by the authority and the university, he said.

The authority is training Yemeni cadres at the drowned monument archeological unit set up recently in diving as a prelude to the implementation of the project.

FR
Saba