Paul Alan Yule is an archaeologist at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. He studied at the University of Minnesota, New York University and Marburg University. His main focuses are the archaeology of India, Oman, and the Yemen.
Yule's dissertation, Early Cretan Seals, classifies and dates the seals from the Early and Middle Bronze Ages on Minoan Crete.
In the 1990s, with the support of Swami Omanand Saraswati, he catalogued and evaluated metallic artefacts of the so-called Copper Hoard Culture by means of European methods for the first time, whereby numerous finds came to light in the Kanya Gurukul in Narela/Haryana. These copper artefacts appear to be non-functional objects, probably used in ritual functions, to judge from their use-wear. A find from a cemetery in Sankarjang may be the earliest musical instrument in India. Yule documented the early historic fortress at Sisupalgarh by means of a laser scanner, ground penetrating radar and a GPS receiver. Together with Corinna Borchert he uncovered illegal housing development within this nationally protected Mauryan site. From 2001-2004 in India, Yule documented so-called forts and other archaeological sites for the first time, especially in Orissa and Chhattisgarh.
Yule's study of the prehistory of Oman of the 1990s deals with the Bronze Age tower tombs of Jaylah on the Jebel Akhdar, which date to the 3rd millennium BCE. The site of Samad al-Shan sheds light on the Late Iron Age and disappears from view perhaps around 400 CE prior to the arrival of Islam in Oman. Samad yields eastern Arabian artefacts of different periods. A further project, the cataloguing of the metal hoard find from Ibri-Selme, which he published with Gerd Weisgerber, concentrates on the largest hoard of metallic artefacts to occur in the Near East. Stashed in an Umm an-Nar period communal tomb, these date largely to the Early Iron Age.
Yule's work at the site of Zafar, capital of the Himyarite Tribal Confederation, in the Yemen, began in 1998 and illuminates especially on the culture of the Himyarite period (110 BCE - 525 CE). He excavated a 1.70 m high relief-statue which wears a crown that he considers to depict a Christian notable, perhaps a king. He argues that Himyarite culture is not really foreign to Islam but actually is a sire which passed on its genes. One wonders what Islamic religion and culture would be like without this influence. Excavated finds contradict the characterisation of Himyarite culture especially visual arts as decadent - a term which can be understood in different ways.
P. Yule, Early Cretan Seals: A Study of Chronology. Marburger Studien zur Vor und Frühgeschichte 4 (Mainz 1981), ISBN 3-8053-0490-0 http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/yule1981/ Online
P. Yule, The Bronze Age Metalwork of India. PBF XX,8 (Munich 1985), ISBN 3 406 30440 0
P. Yule (ed.), Studies in the Archaeology of the Sultanate of Oman, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Orient-Abteilung, Orient-Archäologie Bd. 2 (Rahden 1999) ISBN 3-89646-632-1 http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2011/817/
P. Yule, Die Gräberfelder in Samad al Shan (Sultanat Oman) Materialien zu einer Kulturgeschichte, Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Orient-Abteilung, Orient-Archäologie Bd. 4 (Rahden 2001) ISBN 3-89646-634-8 http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/yule2001text
P. Yule, Early Historic Sites in Orissa (Delhi 2006) ISBN 81-89645-44-7 2.php?sr_id=12&la=de Online
P. Yule, Himyar–Die Spätantike im Jemen/Himyar Late Antique Yemen (Aichwald 2007), ISBN 978-3-929290-35-6
P. Yule/W. Böhler, Sisupalgarh: an Early Historic Fortress in Coastal Orissa and its Cousins, BAVA 24, 2004, 15-29 + CD ROM, ISBN 3-8053-2518-5 http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/savifadok/volltexte/2009/222/ Online
P. Yule/C. Borchert, Sisupalgarh/Orissa: Illegal building operations in the North-West Area, 2005, http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/savifadok/volltexte/2008/146/
P. Yule/A. Hauptmann/M. Hughes, The Copper Hoards of the Indian Subcontinent: Preliminaries for an Interpretation, Jahrbuch des Römisch-Germanischen Zentralmuseums Mainz 36, 1989 [1992], 193-275 ISBN 1-881094-03-0 http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/savifadok/volltexte/2009/509/ Online
P. Yule/G. Weisgerber, The Tower Tombs at Shir, Eastern Hajar, Sultanate of Oman, Beiträge zur allgemeinen und vergleichenden Archäologie 18, 1998, 183-241, ISBN 3-8053-2518-5 http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/propylaeumdok/volltexte/2009/291/ Online
P. Yule/G. Weisgerber, The Metal Hoard from 'Ibri/Selme, Sultanate of Oman. Prähistorische Bronzefunde XX.7 (Stuttgart 2001) ISBN 3-515-07153-9
Zafar/Yemen Photo Archive, University of Heidelberg Project: HeidICON, since 01.03.2008,
Collected digital works of the author regarding South Asia, University of Heidelberg Project Savifah:
Collected digital works of the author regarding Arabia, University of Heidelberg Project: HeidDOK