According to the Qur'an and tradition, the Thamud existed much earlier than the 715BC inscription from Sargon II would suggest. However, recent research in Islamic studies asserts that a definitive chronology of the Thamūd cannot be attained from the Quranic context and that this narrative does not "depict a continuous history of the ancient people, because these are not in any genealogical succession, nor do they interact with one another." Robert Hoyland suggested that their name was subsequently adopted by other new groups that inhabited the region of Mada'in Salih after the disappearance of the original people of Thamud. This suggestion is also supported by the narration of ʿAbdullah ibn ʿUmar and analysis of Ibn Kathir which report that people called the region of Thamud "Al-Hijr", while they called the province of Mada'in Salih as "Ardh Thamud" (Land of Thamud) and "Bayt Thamud" (house of Thamud). So the term ‘Thamud’ was not applied to the groups that lived in Mada'in Salih, such as Lihyanites and Nabataeans, but rather to the region itself, and according to classical sources, it was agreed upon that the only remaining group of the native people of Thamud are the tribe of Banu Thaqif which inhabited the city of Taif south of Mecca.