well this is an important subject and many posts that are relevant to this subject are scattered all over the forum ..so let us put such posts which are related to Archaeology of Arabia or/and Arabian inscriptions together here
ARCHAEOLOGY AND THE HISTORY OF EARLY ISLAM: THE FIRST SEVENTY YEARS BY JEREMY JOHNS 2003
Abstract
The rarity of material evidence for the religion of Islam during the Ž rst seventy years of the hijra (622-92 CE) has been used to attack the traditional positivist account of the rise of Islam. However, the earliest declarations of Islam are to be found on media produced by the early Islamic state. It is therefore mistake to read too much signiŽ cance into the absence of such declarations prior to the formation of that state by ®Abd al-Malik (685-705 CE). There is little prospect that archaeology will uncover new evidence of Islam from the Ž rst seventy years.Abstract
Traces of the hamza in the Early Arabic Script: The Inscriptions of Zuhayr, Qays the Scribe, and ‘Yazīd the King’ (Arabian Epigraphic Notes 4, 2018, pp. 35-52) by Mehdy Shaddel 2018
Abstract
The present article re-edits three early Islamic inscriptions that exhibit anorthographic feature believed to represent the glottal stop (hamz ). Over-all, this orthographic device (referred to as ‘proto-hamza’) is employed fourtimes in the three inscriptions, bringing the number of its known attesta-tions to a grand total of nine. The article concludes by making some broadobservations on the multifarious nature of the early Arabic writing traditions
The Inscription of Zuhayr, the oldest Islamic Inscription (AH 24/AD 644) by Robert Hoyland Arab. arch. epig. 2008: 19: 209–236 (2008)
Abstract
This article provides an edition, translation and analysis of an inscriptiondated 24 AH (644 AD) discovered recently in north-west Saudi Arabia. It isan immensely important find, since it is our earliest dated Arabic inscription;it apparently contains a reference to the caliph ‘Umar I and shows evidenceof a fully-fledged system of diacritical marks. The latter aspect is of greatsignificance for our understanding of the development of the Arabic scriptand of the writing down of Arabic texts, especially the Qur’an. The text iscompared with others composed in the decades shortly before and after therise of Islam
Topic: Journal : Archaeology & the 1st 70 Years of Islam