Changing Settlement Patterns in the Aksum-Yeha Region of Ethiopia: 700 BC – AD 850 9781841718828, 9781407328904

Table of contents :
Front Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
LIST OF TABLES
LIST OF FIGURES
FOREWORD
PART ONE FRAMEWORK FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION
CHAPTER 1 THE AKSUM-YEHA REGIONAL SURVEY
CHAPTER 2 A REGIONAL CHRONOLOGY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
CHAPTER 3 THE ETHNOGRAPHIC PRESENT
CHAPTER 4 MODELING THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD
PART TWO POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS
CHAPTER 5 THE EARLY PRE-AKSUMITE PERIOD: INDIGENOUS RURAL VILLAGE TRADITION VERSUS THE YEHA ENCLAVE WITH ITS SOUTH ARABIAN CULTURAL AFFINITIES 700 BC – 400 BC
CHAPTER 6 THE MIDDLE PRE-AKSUMITE PERIOD ETHIO-SABAEAN HEGEMONY, IRRIGATION FARMING, AND THE GROWTH OF NUCLEATED COMMUNITIES 400 BC - 150 BC
CHAPTER 7 THE LATE PRE-AKSUMITE PERIOD: THE ECLIPSE OF THE YEHA ENCLAVE ELITE AND THE RISE OF THE AKSUMITE CHIEFDOM, AND OTHER LOCAL CHIEFDOMS 150 BC – AD 150
CHAPTER 8 THE EARLY AKSUMITE PERIOD THE PROLIFERATION OF LOCAL CHIEFDOMS AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE AKSUMITE KINGDOM 150 AD – AD 450
CHAPTER 9 THE LATE AKSUMITE PERIOD THE EMERGENCE OF THE STATE WITH METROPOLITAN AKSUM AS ITS CAPITAL 450 AD – AD 750
CHAPTER 10 THE EARLY POST-AKSUMITE PERIOD THE COLLAPSE OF THE AKSUMITE KINGDOM 750 AD – AD 850
CHAPTER 11 THE LATE POST-AKSUMITE PERIODPOPULATION COLLAPSE, SETTLEMENT CONCEALMENT, AND THE ASCENDANCY OF THE CHURCH AS A LOCAL POLITICAL INSTITUTION 850 AD –
APPENDIX 1 CERAMIC SERIATION: FINAL ORDERING OF SITES WITH HOMOSTAT AND CLUSTER SOLUTIONS
APPENDIX 2 DATA SET FOR OBSIDIAN HYDRATION DATING
APPENDIX 3 ETHNOGRAPHIC VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS IN THE AKSUM-YEHA SURVEY REGION BASED UPON 1963 AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS
APPENDIX 4 CODING SCHEME FOR THE DECORATIVE TREATMENT OF POTTERY SHERDS
APPENDIX 5 CODING SCHEME FOR VESSEL LIP FORM
APPENDIX 6 ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE INDEX
REFERENCES CITED
CAMBRIDGE MONOGRAPHS IN AFRICAN ARCHAEOLOGY

Citation preview

BAR S1446

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 64 Series Editors: John Alexander and Laurence Smith

2005 MICHELS CHANGING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE AKSUM-YEHA REGION OF ETHIOPIA

Changing Settlement Patterns in the Aksum-Yeha Region of Ethiopia: 700 BC - AD 850 Joseph W. Michels

BAR International Series 1446 B A R

2005

Cambridge Monographs in African Archaeology 64 Series Editors: John Alexander and Laurence Smith

Changing Settlement Patterns in the Aksum-Yeha Region of Ethiopia: 700 BC - AD 850 Joseph W. Michels

BAR International Series 1446 2005

ISBN 9781841718828 paperback ISBN 9781407328904 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841718828 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

BAR

PUBLISHING

TO GABRIELE

TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements List of Tables List of Figures Foreword

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iii v viii xi

PART ONE: FRAMEWORK FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION CHAPTER 1. THE AKSUM-YEHA REGIONAL SURFACE SURVEY Introduction Research Design Field Methods Data Summary

1 1 4 7

CHAPTER 2. A REGIONAL CHRONOLOGY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES Periodization through Ceramic Seriation Period Chronometry through Obsidian Hydration Dating

9 9 15

CHAPTER 3. THE ETHNOGRAPHIC PRESENT Field-based Studies and Remote Sensing Residential Units Community Patterning Regional Population Markets and Sub-regional Market Systems Pottery Production Agriculture: Crops, Soils, Farming Techniques

23 23 23 30 31 32 41 42

CHAPTER 4. MODELING THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD Regional Ecological Zones Estimating Population and Defining Community Types Ceramics and Inter-community Interaction

47 47 48 51

8

PART TWO: POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGING SETTLEMENT PATTERN CHAPTER 5. THE EARLY PRE-AKSUMITE PERIOD: INDIGENOUS RURAL VILLAGE TRADITION VERSUS THE YEHA ENCLAVE WITH ITS SOUTH ARABIAN CULTURAL AFFINITIES [700 BC – 400 BC]

55

CHAPTER 6. THE MIDDLE PRE-AKSUMITE PERIOD: ETHIO-SABAEAN HEGEMONY, IRRIGATION FARMING, AND THE GROWTH OF NUCLEATED COMMUNITIES [400 BC – 150 BC]

83

CHAPTER 7. THE LATE PRE-AKSUMITE PERIOD: THE ECLIPSE OF THE YEHA ENCLAVE ELITE AND THE RISE OF THE AKSUMITE CHIEFDOM, AND OTHER LOCAL CHIEFDOMS [150 BC – AD 150]

103

CHAPTER 8. THE EARLY AKSUMITE PERIOD: THE PROLIFERATION OF LOCAL CHIEFDOMS AND THE EMERGENCE OF THE AKSUMITE KINGDOM [150 AD – AD 450]

123

CHAPTER 9. THE LATE AKSUMITE PERIOD: THE EMERGENCE OF THE STATE WITH METROPOLITAN AKSUM AS ITS CAPITAL [450 AD – AD 750]

155

CHAPTER 10. THE EARLY POST-AKSUMITE PERIOD: THE COLLAPSE OF THE AKSUMITE KINGDOM [750 AD – AD 850]

201

i

CHAPTER 11. THE LATE POST-AKSUMITE PERIOD: POPULATION COLLAPSE, SETTLEMENT CONCEALMENT, AND THE RISE OF THE CHURCH AS A LOCAL POLITICAL INSTITUTION [850 AD - ]

217

APPENDICES APPENDIX 1: CERAMIC SERIATION: FINAL ORDERING OF SITES, WITH HOMOSTAT AND CLUSTER SOLUTIONS.

227

APPENDIX 2: DATA SET FOR OBSIDIAN HYDRATION DATING.

229

APPENDIX 3: ETHNOGRAPHIC VILLAGE SETTLEMENTS IN THE AKSUM-YEHA SURVEY REGION, BASED UPON 1963 AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHS.

237

APPENDIX 4: CODING SCHEME FOR THE DECORATIVE TREATMENT OF POTTERY SHERDS.

243

APPENDIX 5: CODING SCHEME FOR VESSEL LIP FORM.

245

APPENDIX 6: ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE INDEX.

247

REFERENCES CITED

255

ii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the College of the Liberal Arts of the Pennsylvania State University for providing financial support for my 1973 trip to Ethiopia during which I was able to document the feasibility of such a study, and for its general assistance in implementing the 1974 field expedition. Financial support for the latter was provided by the National Science Foundation, Grant No. 421-12 (6248). I am most appreciative of the support given me in Ethiopia during the planning and implementation of this project. For all archaeological questions that arose, I was privileged to be able to consult with the noted French archaeologist, Francis Anfray, who served as Antiquities Administrator for the Ethiopian government. To secure the necessary permits for fieldwork, and as my principal contact with the Ethiopian Government, I was able to rely on the good offices of Bekele Negussie, Director General of the Ethiopian Archaeological Institute. The many logistical tasks involved in setting up expedition facilities in Asmara, which would serve as our base of operations, were immeasurably eased by the friendly and knowledgeable assistance of Donald M. Welch, American Vice Consul in Eritrea. My two key field survey assistants were [then] Penn State graduate student, Mark S. Aldenderfer, and Boston University graduate student, Michael C. DiBlasi [both now hold university appointments]. Both are talented field archaeologists who cheerfully joined me day after day in hiking up and down the rugged landscapes of the Shirè Plateau, some 8,000 feet above sea level. Their contribution to the success of this expedition was immeasurable. Assisting us in the survey effort were our Ethiopian drivers – Kidane Tafore and Teklè. Kidane also served as our local interpreter, and as our foreman. Our official government guide was Abera Woldemichael. Many thanks must also go to the numerous local villagers from throughout the survey region whom we employed to assist us in conducting the survey. Their intimate knowledge of the land’s surface and their keen attention to the task at hand insured that we did not overlook even the most unobtrusive indicators of the presence of an archaeological site. Supervising the laboratory processing of the thousands of artifacts that were collected during survey each week was my wife, Gabriele A. Michels. She was a veteran of similar expeditions elsewhere in the world, and brought to the task a wealth of experience. Assisting her in the task was Penn State student, Laura F. Aldenderfer. Together, and with the assistance of local workers, they saw to the washing, sorting, cataloging, and analysis of close to 200,000 artifacts. Computer data processing and statistical analysis of the artifact database back on the Penn State campus relied upon the expertise of systems analyst and computer programmer, Gabriele A. Michels. Using original programming, together with programs published by others, she was able to make available for timely study and quick referencing the full analytical potential of the artifact component of the archaeological record. In this context, I also wish to express my added appreciation of the effort undertaken by Mark S. Aldenderfer to master the techniques of photogrammetry, and for the success he achieved in converting the aerial photographic stereo overlays of the survey region into an accurate and detailed contour map of the area. During the later stages of manuscript preparation, I was assisted greatly by Michael DiBlasi. His continued involvement with Aksumite archaeology in recent years has equipped him with an up-to-date expertise that, together with his close reading of the manuscript, has enabled him to make helpful suggestions and to raise provocative questions. Although the responsibility is mine alone for any errors this work may contain, there is no doubt that Michael DiBlasi’s input contributed to a greater clarity in my own thinking about many of the topics covered in the text. I thank him for that, and for his encouragement. The book is dedicated to my wife, Gabriele, who passed away a short time before completion of the manuscript. Her contributions to the success of this project were numerous and indispensable. Gabriele enjoyed the challenges that an archaeological expedition presented, and contributed greatly to the success of many such undertakings – in North America, Mesoamerica, the Western Mediterranean, and Africa.

iii

iv

LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1. Table 2.2. Table 2.3. Table 2.4. Table 2.5. Table 2.6. Table 2.7. Table 3.8. Table 3.9. Table 3.10. Table 3.11. Table 4.12. Table 4.13. Table 4.14. Table 4.15. Table 4.16. Table 4.17. Table 5.18. Table 5.19. Table 5.20. Table 5.21. Table 5.22. Table 5.23. Table 6.24. Table 6.25. Table 6.26. Table 6.27. Table 7.28. Table 7.29. Table 7.30. Table 7.31. Table 8.32. Table 8.33. Table 8.34. Table 8.35. Table 9.36. Table 9.37. Table 9.38. Table 9.39. Table 9.40. Table 9.41. Table 9.42. Table 9.43. Table 9.44. Table 9.45. Table 9.46.

Zone/Areas Surveyed on the Shiré Plateau Pottery Wares of the Aksum-Yeha Survey Region Average Percentages of Principal Ceramic Wares by Period Chemical Profiles of the Aksum-Yeha Obsidian Source Samples Data Set for Determining Effective Hydration Temperature as a Function of Elevation Hydration Rates for the Aksum-Yeha Survey Region Activation Energy and Hydration Rate Constants for Aksum-Yeha Obsidian Sources Regional Market Study of 1974 Commodities, Manufactured Goods, and Handicrafts Available at the Yeha Market Yeha Market Participation by Vendor Community Crop Distribution within Soil and Physiographic Landscape Principal Ecozones of the Shire Plateau, Ethiopia Sample Distribution by Ecozone, and Resulting Extrapolation Factors A Test of the Extrapolation Factors using the 1963/64 Estimated Population Sherd Density Groups for Sites within the Aksum-Yeha Survey Region Community Types within the Aksum-Yeha Survey Region Frequency Distribution of Elite Dwellings by Period, and Total Estimated Population for Period: All Community Types & Elite Structures Population Distribution by Ecozone in the Early Pre-Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Community Type in the Early Pre-Aksumite Period Principal Physiographic Areas of the Aksum-Yeha Survey Region Community and Population Distribution by Physiographic Area during the Early Pre-Aksumite Period Decorative Treatment of Pottery in the Early Pre-Aksumite Period Diagnostic Ceramic Attributes for Spatial Analysis: Early Pre-Aksumite Period Community and population Distribution by Physiographic Area during the Middle Pre-Aksumite Period Population Distribution: Middle Pre-Aksumite Period Population by Community Type: Middle Pre-Aksumite Period Diagnostic Ceramic Attributes for Sub-Regional Site Groupings: Middle Pre-Aksumite Period Diagnostic Ceramic Attributes for Sub-Regional Site Groupings: Late Pre-Aksumite Period Site and Population Distribution by Physiographic Area during the Late Pre-Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Ecozone: Late Pre-Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Community Type: Late Pre-Aksumite Period Site and Population Distribution by Physiographic Area: Early Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Community Type: Early Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Ecozone: Early Aksumite Period Diagnostic Ceramic Attributes for Sub-Regional Site Groupings, Early Aksumite Period Site and Population Distribution by Physiographic Area during the Late Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Community Type, Late Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Ecozone, Late Aksumite Period Diagnostic Ceramic Attributes for Settlement Groups within Metropolitan Aksum during the Late Aksumite Period Lip Form Attributes Among Local Chiefdoms During the Late Aksumite Period Diagnostic Decorative Technigue Attributes of Local Chiefdoms during the Late Aksumite Period Jasper Artifact Assemblage at the Factory-Scale Workshop of Ona Nagast Jasper Artifact Assemblage at the Factory-Scale Workshop of Mai Eini Jasper Artifact Assemblage at the Quarry Site of Adi Kushow Jasper Artifact Assemblage at the Site of Mishelum Jasper Artifact Assemblage at the Site of Hamed Gebez

v

6 10 11 17 19 19 19 33 38 40 46 47 47 48 49 51 54 58 58 62 62 65 67 86 86 86 88 109 109 110 110 124 125 125 125 126 157 159 159 167 167 181 190 192 193 194

Table 9.47. Table 10.48. Table 10.49. Table 10.50. Table 10.51. Table 10.52. Table 11.53. Table 11.54. Table 11.55.

Jasper Artifact Assemblage at the Site of Enda Jesus Site and Population Distribution by Physiographic Area during the Early Post-Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Community Type, Early Post-Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Ecozone, Early Post-Aksumite Period Diagnostic Ceramic Attributes of Urban Aksum Site Assemblages, Early Post-Aksumite Period Diagnostic Ceramic Attributes Among Subregional Site Groupings, Early Post-Aksumite Period Site and Population Distribution by Physiographic Area: Late Post-Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Community Type: Late Post-Aksumite Period Population Distribution by Ecozone: Late Post-Aksumite Period

vi

195 202 203 203 203 206 219 220 220

LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1. Figure 1.2. Figure 1.3. Figure 1.4. Figure 1.5. Figure 1.6. Figure 2.7. Figure 2.8. Figure 2.9. Figure 2.10. Figure 2.11. Figure 3.12. Figure 3.13. Figure 3.14. Figure 3.15. Figure 3.16. Figure 3.17. Figure 4.18. Figure 4.19. Figure 4.20. Figure 4.21. Figure 5.22. Figure 5.23. Figure 5.24. Figure 5.25. Figure 5.26. Figure 5.27. Figure 6.28. Figure 6.29. Figure 6.30. Figure 7.31. Figure 7.32. Figure 7.33. Figure 7.34. Figure 7.35.

Aksumite Archaeological Zone in NE Africa Principal Aksumite and Pre-Aksumite Sites in Northern Ethiopia Segment of Shirè Plateau in which the Archaeological Survey was conducted Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Regional Survey Grid System Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Regional Survey Nested Grid System Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Regional Survey Grid System: Areas Surveyed Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Site Seriation Matrix and Homostat Display using Aksum-Yeha Ceramic Wares Periodized Site Clusters based upon Homostat Display and Obsidian Hydration Dating Distribution of Archaeological Sites Containing Obsidian Artifacts by Ceramic Seriation Cluster Obsidian Source Occurrence among the Artifacts Selected for Hydration Dating Chronometric Assessment of Site Clusters Generated by Ceramic Seriation through Obsidian Hydration Dating Subregional Market System in the Ethnographic Present (1974) Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia The Yeha Market: Position of Vendors The Yeha Market: Number of Vendors Per Product Category Crop Distribution Patterns as Reported by Local Informants Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Principal Soil Zones and Underlying Geology Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Principal Physiographic Zones Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Hamlet Distribution by Period Small Village Distribution by Period Large Village Distribution by Period Urban* Community Distribution by Period Early Pre-Aksumite Settlement 700-400 BC Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Mai Agazen Basin, Early Pre-Aksumite Period The Valley of Yeha: Early Pre-Aksumite Period Early Pre-Aksumite Period 700-400 BC Subregional Settlement Groups (defined by distribution of diagnostic ceramic attribute clusters) Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Pre-Aksumite Settlement 700-400 BC Zone-Area-Sector Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Pre-Aksumite Settlement Local Site Name Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Middle Pre-Aksumite Settlement 400 BC – 150 BC Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Middle Pre-Aksumite Settlement 400 BC – 150 BC Zone-Area-Sector Designations and Principal Sub-Regional Boundaries Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Middle Pre-Aksumite Settlement 400 BC – 150 BC Local Site Name Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Pre-Aksumite Settlement 150 BC – 150 BC Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Pre-Aksumite Settlement 150 BC – 150 AD Zone-Area-Sector Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Pre-Aksumite Settlement 150 BC – 150 AD Local Site Name Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Pre-Aksumite Settlement 150 BC – 150 AD Subregional Interaction Spheres Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Pre-Aksumite Settlement 150 BC – 150 AD vii

1 2 3 3 4 5 11 13 15 16 20 36 37 39 43 44 46 52 52 53 58 58 59 61 67 68 70 85 89 89 104 104 106 106

Figure 8.36. Figure 8.37. Figure 8.38. Figure 8.39. Figure 8.40. Figure 8.41. Figure 9.42. Figure 9.43. Figure 9.44. Figure 9.45. Figure 9.46. Figure 9.47. Figure 9.48. Figure 9.49. Figure 9.50. Figure 9.51. Figure 10.52. Figure 10.53. Figure 10.54. Figure 10.55. Figure 11.56. Figure 11.57. Figure 11.58. Figure 11.59.

Regional Political Organization Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Aksumite Settlement 150 BC – 450 AD Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Aksumite Elite Residential Structures (Less than 2000 squ. Meters in area) 150 AD – 450 AD Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Aksumite Period 150 AD – 450 AD Early Phase Proliferation of Local Chiefdoms Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Aksumite Period 150 AD – 450 AD Late Phase Establishment of the Aksumite Capital Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Aksumite Settlement 150 AD – 450 AD Zone-Area-Sector Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Aksumite Settlement 150 AD – 450 AD Local Site Name Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Residential Communities, Workshops & Quarries Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Palaces, Elite Structures, Christian Churches Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Tombs Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Metropolitan Aksum and Peripheral Local Chiefdoms Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Zone-Area-Sector Designations of Residential Communities, Workshops & Quarries Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Zone-Area-Sector Designations of Palaces, Elite Structures, Christian Churches Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Zone-Area-Sector Designations of Tombs Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Local Site Name Designations of Residential Communities, Workshops & Quarries Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Local Site Name Designations of Palaces, Elite Structures, Christian Churches Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Aksumite Settlement 450 AD – 750 AD Local Site Name Designations of Tombs Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Post-Aksumite Settlement 750 AD – 850 AD Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Post-Aksumite Settlement 750 AD – 850 AD Regional Political Organization Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Post-Aksumite Settlement 750 AD – 850 AD Zone-Area-Sector Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Early Post-Aksumite Settlement 750 AD – 850 AD Local Site Name Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Post-Aksumite Settlement 850 AD – Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Post-Aksumite Settlement 850 AD – Regional Political Organization Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Post-Aksumite Settlement 850 AD – Zone-Area-Sector Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia Late Post-Aksumite Settlement 850 AD –Local Site Name Designations Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia

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111 124 127 128 129 131 131 156 156 162 165 169 170 170 171 171 172 202 204 208 208 219 221 223 223

FOREWORD By Michael C. DiBlasi Research Fellow, African Studies Center Boston University Introduction

methodological thoroughness or analytical rigor. In his use of a probability based sampling design, controlled surface collection of artifacts, and collection of ethnographic data for use in building interpretive models, Michels has assembled and analyzed an impressive database. And his models of change and development in political organization from Pre-Aksumite through Post Aksumite times provide valuable hypothetical models that can be tested by future research. Certainly today, in this age of high-resolution satellite images, geographic information systems, and the use of GPS receivers to georeference sites, the research Michels designed in 1974 would be conducted somewhat differently. But I doubt that the use of these technologies would result in interpretations that differ significantly from those detailed in the following pages. This study is a significant contribution to our understanding of the regional dynamics of the Aksumite period and is an inspiring example of the insights that can be gained when one goes beyond mere description of archaeological data.

For millennia the Horn of Africa has been an important crossroads of cultures where peoples of northeast Africa, southern Arabia, the Indian Ocean region, and the Mediterranean basin have interacted culturally and economically. Its location at the juncture of the Nile Valley, southern Arabian Peninsula, and Indian Ocean has made the Horn important as a region where early complex societies developed and later flourished into powerful kingdoms and finally an expansive empire whose hegemony extended from the Ethiopian highlands to the southern Sudan and across the Red Sea. Despite their impressive histories, the ancient states of the Horn— Daamat and Aksum—are not well known and are overshadowed by the civilizations of ancient Egypt, Meröe, southern Arabia, and the Greco-Roman world. The Aksumite empire, one of the most powerful ancient polities in sub-Saharan Africa, and its predecessor the state of Daamat, have been subjects of serious scholarly study since 1906 when the Deutsche Aksum-Expedition embarked on an ambitious program of archaeological, historical, ethnological, and geographical research in the Horn of Africa. Since that initial work archaeologists, historians, and linguists from Europe, North America, and Africa have been engaged in studies aimed at reconstructing Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite culture history and understanding the processes involved in the rise, growth, and eventual decline of these African states. Much of the research conducted over the past 100 years has focused on the excavation of monumental architecture and elite tombs associated with large towns or urban centers (e.g.; Anfray 1963, 1967, 1972; Contenson 1959, 1961; Munro-Hay 1989; Phillipson 2000; Fattovich et al. 2000). As a result, we have a substantial body of evidence relating to elite mortuary practices and religious ideology, construction techniques, international trade, ceramic technology, lithic technology, and have begun to outline the basic characteristics of the Aksumite subsistence economy. And royal inscriptions discovered at Aksumite and Pre-Aksumite sites have contributed to our understanding of political and social developments in these periods.

The contribution of Michels’ research extends beyond the results presented in this volume. The entire collection of original field notes, site photographs and 35m slides, aerial photos and contour maps of the survey region, artifact catalogs, ceramic seriation data, and numerous publications on the archaeology of Ethiopia have been generously donated to form the Joseph W. Michels Aksum Regional Survey Archive, housed at the African Studies Library of Boston University. The Archive is a rich source of archaeological and ethnographic data that will benefit interested scholars for many years to come. Chronologies A chronological framework for ordering and interpreting developments in Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite history has been an important research goal, and one that only recently has been achieved. During the past ten years excavations at Aksum (Phillipson 2000) and adjacent Bieta Giyorgis (Bard et al. 2003) have allowed archaeologists to construct a chronology of the settlement history of this core area of Aksumite development. The chronological sequence suggested by Fattovich and his colleagues is based on the seriation of stratified ceramic assemblages coupled with 40 calibrated radiocarbon dates, datable imported material, and coins recovered from a number of excavation units on Bieta Giyorgis (Perlingieri 1999; Fattovich et al. 2000; Bard et al. 2003), and is essentially the same as that presented by Phillipson (2000:474). Four periods are distinguished, and are subdivided into phases (where sufficient data exists) and dated as follows:

What has been lacking, however, has been a regional perspective that examines Aksumite sites in their spatial and behavioral contexts. This is exactly what Joseph W. Michels has given us in Changing Settlement Patterns in the Aksum-Yeha Region of Ethiopia: 700 BC - 850 AD. Michels’ fieldwork, conducted in 1974, introduced a regional approach to archaeological survey in Ethiopia that has not since been matched in terms of its

ix

Pre-Aksumite Period

800 BC–400 BC

Proto-Aksumite Period

400 BC–150 BC

Aksumite Period Early Aksumite (1) Classic Aksumite (2) Middle Aksumite (3) Late Aksumite (4)

150 BC–AD 150 AD 150–350 AD 350–550 AD 550–700

Post-Aksumite Period

AD 700–900

characteristic of Aksumite culture began to develop ca. 300 years before the emergence of the Aksumite kingdom as a unified regional polity. Once these basic differences in approach are considered, the two chronologies can be seen to be compatible and complementary. Historical Background The Horn of Africa has long been an important corridor of culture contact and trade. In the third millennium BC, Egyptian demand for exotic goods such as frankincense, myrrh, gold, and wild animal products made Nubia and the Horn of Africa important sources of trade goods. This area, part of the region known as "The Land of Punt" to the ancient Egyptians, is first referenced in inscriptions dating from ca. 2900–2500 BC, where it is mentioned as a source of myrrh—a valuable aromatic resin used in Egyptian religious ceremonies (Kitchen 1993; Fattovich 1988; Pankhurst 1961, 1998). Egyptian commercial activity intensified over time, and trade expeditions were sent to Punt to obtain a wide variety of goods (Kitchen 1993). By 1700 BC there had developed a vast trade network that stretched from Egypt and Nubia through Eritrea and across the Red Sea to southern Arabia, linking societies in those regions economically and fostering the development of chiefdoms (Fattovich 2000:11). With the decline of the New Kingdom in 1086 BC, Egyptian trade with the Horn of Africa collapsed. Egypt’s decline as a regional economic and political power presented an opportunity for southern Arabian kingdoms—which controlled portions of the land trade routes in the Arabian peninsula—to dominate the Red Sea trade.

Fattovich’s chronology differs from that constructed by Michels (Chapter 2), and at first glance it would appear that the two chronologies are irreconcilable. But upon further consideration it is apparent that the differences result from the nature of the data used to construct each chronology, and the approaches used to differentiate periods and phases. The robust nature of the data used to construct Fattovich’s chronology—stratified, dated ceramic assemblages—has allowed the detection of relatively fine-scale phase differences within the Aksumite period. Michels’ chronology is unable to make such fine-scale temporal distinctions due to the limitations inherent in the material on which it is based: obsidian and associated ceramics collected from the surface of archaeological sites. This is especially evident for the period ca. 150 BC to AD 550—the Early, Classic, and Middle Aksumite phases of the Bieta Giyorgis sequence. Apart from the matter of phase identification is the more basic issue of the criteria used to define periods or phases identified by ceramic seriation and chronometric dating. Michels’ is a regional culture historical chronology; Fattovich’s chronology is based primarily upon data derived from excavations at Bieta Giyorgis. The impact of this regional–local dichotomy is perhaps best illustrated with respect to the Aksumite Period.

Daamat and Aksum: a culture historical continuum It is generally agreed that the Pre-Aksumite Period began with the initial immigration of small groups of settlers from the trading states of South Arabia (Phillipson 1998:44). This may have begun before 800 BC, and was the result of Arabian efforts to gain control of the Red Sea maritime trade, as well as control of interior trade routes and natural resources in the Horn of Africa. The major contingent of immigrant settlers was from the Kingdom of Saba and its confederates, which included the kingdoms of Qataban and Hadramawt, the Minaeans, and other smaller tribes (Fattovich 1990; Phillipson 1998). The Sabaean federation had formed at least as early as 800 BC and dominated trade in the region until ca. 400 BC (Robin 2002:51; Hoyland 2002). Although we have no clear picture of the dynamics of the trade, it appears that Africa had become an important source of ivory due to the extinction of elephants in Syria and Palestine in the 9th century BC. Prior to this there had been many centuries of trade contact and interaction between peoples of the Horn of Africa and southern Arabia, but this is the earliest period for which we have evidence of significant Arabian settlement in the Horn.

For Michels, the Aksumite Period begins ca. AD 150 when change in the regional settlement pattern indicates a new mode of political organization—the rise of a kingdom, with Aksum as its capital city. The transformation from chiefdom to kingdom is the process that defines the Aksumite Period. This differs from the approach used by Fattovich and his colleagues. They recognize the beginning of the Aksumite Period at ca. 150 BC, marked by the appearance of ceramics that have strong affinities to Aksumite pottery of later phases, and evidence of increased social and political complexity on Bieta Giyorgis (Fattovich 2000; Fattovich et al. 2000; Bard et al. 2003). This determination is based on characteristics of material culture from a localized area, rather than sociopolitical change interpreted from regional data. It is not surprising that localized change in material culture trending toward Aksumite features would appear earlier than major social or political organizational changes at the regional level. When we compare the two chronologies, it appears that material features

This initial phase of immigration might best be characterized as a trade-diaspora (Cohen 1971:266-267; x

Stein 1999:46-47) that involved the immigration of small groups who established outposts or trade centers at strategic points along trade routes that linked the Red Sea coast with the inland plateau. The trade centers formed a dispersed network of merchant-entrepreneurs who could establish and maintain economic relations with local communities and ensure the safe flow of goods from the hinterland to the coast, acting as intermediaries between the indigenous societies of the Horn and the powerful trade states of southern Arabia. The immigrant merchants apparently engaged in peaceful relations with indigenous communities who also benefited from trade and whose cooperation was needed to insure the flow of trade goods. Some indigenous societies in the Horn, such as the Ona of Eritrea (ca. 1500–800 BC), lived in towns and villages as well as smaller rural hamlets and were organized into stratified societies, possibly chiefdom-level polities each with its own local elites (Fattovich 2000; Schmidt and Curtis 2001). The Ona, along with the Tihama communities of the Eritrean and south Arabian coasts, may have been among the indigenous societies of the Land of Punt with whom the Egyptians conducted trade (Fattovich 1990, 2000:10).

cultures from the Sudanese Nile Valley, the Ona, and the Tihama of the Red Sea coastal plains (Fattovich 1990:22, 2000:15). Elements of these cultures formed the indigenous, regional population of the Horn of Africa that eventually became integrated in the Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite kingdoms. Initially the early merchant communities were culturally distinct from the indigenous societies with which they interacted economically, and apparently maintained strong ties to the trade states of the Sabaean federation. Overtime however, the relationships between the immigrant and indigenous communities changed. The South Arabian trade-diaspora set in motion a process of acculturation that had a profound affect on the course of culture change and political development in the Eritrea and Tigray highlands. Given the sparse evidence for this phase, we can only speculate about the dynamics of interaction and acculturation in the 1st millennium BC. But the regional perspective of Michels’ research has made a significant contribution to our understanding of the acculturation process and its attendant social and political developments. The survey data reveal changing patterns of settlement, community interaction, and political influence for the entire Pre-Aksumite period. When this regional evidence is combined with that from archaeological excavation, we can begin to reconstruct the dynamics of interaction and culture change in the first millennium BC.

Archaeological evidence dating to the early stage of the Pre-Aksumite Period (ca. 800–700 BC) is very limited, and we have no conclusive knowledge of the structure of the immigrant groups. But what we do know of the material culture of the Pre-Aksumite period suggests that the immigrant groups included political and religious leaders and their families; administrators who organized and managed trade operations; craft specialists who planned and undertook construction of monumental residential and religious buildings; artisans who produced sculptural art and metalwork; and perhaps small numbers of settlers who undertook subsistence agricultural activities. The South Arabian settlements eventually grew to become small towns and urban centers that fostered economic and cultural interaction with the indigenous populations.

The archaeological evidence indicates that the acculturation process during the Pre-Aksumite Period was not coercive; Arabians did not colonize the Horn in the sense that they settled en masse and controlled the region politically through the use of force (Fattovich 2000). Rather, South Arabian immigration seems to have been an effort to develop more direct and intensive relations in the trade network that had linked societies on both sides of the Red Sea since at least 1500 BC.

The Pre-Aksumite culture of the early trade centers shows strong connections to Sabaean culture in many formal aspects. There is abundant evidence of the use of specific Sabaean traits such as the style of inscription used in official texts, religious ideology and symbolism, political terminology, art styles, and architectural construction techniques (Anfray 1967; Fattovich 1990; Phillipson 1998). All of this suggests that the leaders and other elites of these centers shared the ideological, technological, and artistic traditions of the Sabaeans and other Arabian kingdoms that were in federation with them. At the same time, however, Pre-Aksumite culture exhibits characteristics that demonstrate the integrative nature of the interaction between the indigenous and South Arabian societies. The indigenous culture appears in the archaeological record primarily in the form of pottery and stone tools—artifacts associated with the common classes of society (Fattovich 1990). PreAksumite pottery is similar in form and style to pottery of

By ca. 700 BC, a significant development had occurred: communities that were part of the trade-diaspora had become towns and urban centers with monumental architecture, elaborate tombs, sophisticated art, and a stratified residential community (Fattovich 1990). The larger centers, such as Yeha, were seats of political and religious power for the elites of society and had considerable economic importance as well. Inscriptions from this period attest to the existence of a powerful state, Daamat, which was centered on the Shiré Plateau of northern Tigray (Drewes 1962:96-96; Fattovich 1990). Inscriptions further suggest that Daamat was a multiethnic, culturally heterogenous state whose ruling elite had hegemony over a variety of smaller polities in the region that is now Eritrea and Tigray (Fattovich 1990:17; Munro-Hay 1991:51-52). Daamat represents a new cultural pattern. Through interaction and assimilation with the indigenous population, the South Arabian diaspora communities had been transformed into an xi

Ethio-Sabaean urban society with a state mode of political organization.

support the growing population densities and the increasing number of non-food producing members of society who lived in the urban areas.

The stimulus for acculturation or adoption of elements of South Arabian culture may have been a desire on the part of local elites to align themselves with the South Arabian trade monopoly and thus become more deeply (and profitably) imbedded in the trade network. Local elites could maintain and increase their prestige status by close involvement with South Arabians in the Red Sea trade. Through alliances, interaction, and cooperation with the Sabaean federation, local elites could gain increased access to trade opportunities and prestige trade goods, which increased their wealth, social status, and power. Similarly, those members of the common classes who associated with the local elites and South Arabians could enhance their status by acquiring prestige trade items or by adopting elements of South Arabian culture (e.g.; religion, language, or dress).

Initially, Daamat maintained the essential features of South Arabian culture. But over time the cultural links with southern Arabia became more tenuous, and as South Arabians and indigenous groups increasingly interacted socially, politically, and economically, both the indigenous and immigrant communities underwent change. Many South Arabian traits that characterized Daamat culture underwent local modification. This process of change is especially evident in the South Arabian script used in official Daamat inscriptions, which became less geometric over time (Contenson 1981: 355359). Daamat became a truly Ethio-Sabaean culture as it incorporated indigenous societies which then contributed to its development and eventual transformation. By 400 BC the Ethio-Sabaean state of Daamat was in decline and Sabaean cultural influence in the Horn of Africa had lessened substantially. This coincides with a period during which there was considerable competition and hostility among the South Arabian trade states. The Sabaean state was loosing its control of the federation in southern Arabia and as a result was no longer able to maintain its control of Red Sea trade (Doe 1971:75; Muller 1987:49; Audouin, Breton, and Robin 1987).

The major focal points of interaction and acculturation were the rapidly growing villages, towns, and emerging urban centers that developed throughout Eritrea and Tigray during this period. As Daamat settlement expanded, the indigenous population in the region became increasingly more assimilated into Daamat culture, but to different degrees depending on the nature and intensity of interactions. Members of the indigenous population could be incorporated into Daamat culture in different ways. Some were trained as managers or bureaucrats; some were trained in construction skills; others would interact as servants and providers of goods to the elites; and some were incorporated directly into the Daamat social system through marriage. Many others, especially those who lived in the more remote rural hinterlands, would experience less contact and less assimilation as a result of their distance from Daamat settlements.

In addition to developments across the Red Sea, a number of political and economic changes were occurring in northeast African at this time. The kingdom of Napata— which rose to fill the void created by the collapse of the Egyptian New Kingdom—went into decline by 590 BC and was eventually succeeded by Meröe (Welsby 1998:64-65; Connah 1987:40-41). Meröe gained control of the Nile River in Lower Nubia as well as the lucrative caravan trade routes that linked the Nile with resource areas in the hinterland and ports on the Red Sea coast. By ca. 300 BC Meröe had become the dominant political power in Nubia (Connah 1987:40-41).

Michels’ research has uncovered physical evidence of this process of urbanization and interaction. In the period 700–400 BC, which corresponds to the florescence of the Daamat state, the Shiré Plateau of northern Ethiopia experienced dramatic changes in regional settlement patterns. Daamat settlements increased in number and size, and the region between Aksum and Yeha had several large, nucleated settlements. The temple complex and nearby settlement at Yeha was perhaps the largest of the Daamat centers, and may have been the capital of the state (Munro-Hay 1993).

It was during this period too, 332 BC, that Ptolemaic Egypt took control of the Red Sea maritime trade, further marginalizing South Arabian maritime trade in this region and possibly weakening the economic base of the Daamat state. As the Ptolemies increased their commercial activity they eventually constructed a series of ports along the Red Sea coast as far south as present day Djibouti, including one at Adulis on the Eritrean coast (Sidebotham 1986:2-4, 1991:12; Jackson 2002:86). The Ptolemies were eager to open trade contacts with the peoples of the Horn of Africa in order to gain access to gold and elephants that could be used in military campaigns against the Seleucids in Syria (Sidebotham 1986:2). But the Ptolemaic trade centers on the Red Sea coast had economic importance that extended far beyond the Horn: they also served as ports to receive goods coming from southern Arabia, areas farther south along the East African coast, and perhaps India.

The dramatic growth in regional population and nucleation of settlement, such as that documented at Enda Gully in the Yeha Valley (Chapter 5), suggests a gravitation of the indigenous regional population to the Daamat centers. This was a process of rural–urban migration in which rural populations were drawn to centers of power, wealth, and prestige for the social and economic benefits they provided. The high agricultural potential of the land around the developing centers and towns made it possible to produce food surpluses to xii

With its control of trade curtailed, its access to wealth diminished, and communication links to Southern Arabia broken, the sociopolitical structure of Daamat underwent drastic change, ultimately resulting in fragmentation of the state into a number of smaller polities, perhaps chiefdoms (Fattovich 1990). This process is reflected in settlement evidence (Chapter 6) that shows a continuation of the rural-urban migration process, but with a significant shift in regional population from the Yeha Valley area to the Aksum Plateau. This shift represents a dispersal of population away from the formerly powerful towns and centers as the state of Daamat declined. It seems likely that as the power, wealth, and prestige of the Daamat elites progressively decreased, the urban centers could no longer support the large numbers of administrative and craft specialists. With the decline of Yeha and its associated settlements, both the population and the seats of political power were re-distributed across the region in the form of local polities, most notably in the area south and southeast of Aksum.

With the advent of Ptolemaic control of trade and the establishment of a port at Adulis, the numerous local polities that had been unified under Daamat became participants in a commercial network that linked them with the Mediterranean, South Arabian, and Indian Ocean worlds. The renewed involvement in international trade was a catalyst that launched a new period of cultural and political development. Archaeological evidence of these developments appears ca. 150 BC in the form of the establishment of new local chiefdoms, three of which have been identified by Michels in the Aksum-Yeha region (Chapter 7). The Aksumite Chiefdom, centered on Bieta Giyorgis hill, was becoming a prosperous and powerful polity with an elite residential complex, an elite cemetery consisting of subterranean tombs marked by stelae, and evidence of imported goods from Nubia, southern Arabia, and the Greco-Roman world (Fattovich et al. 2000). The processes of increasing social complexity and political consolidation, reflected in the evidence of archaeological survey and excavation, continued as the chiefdom’s participation in international commercial activities intensified.

The cultural fragmentation that accompanied the collapse of Daamat suggests that local ethnic affiliations reemerged after the integrative forces of the state were no longer at work (Fattovich 1990:18). Communities that had been united within the Daamat state became more politically and economically independent, which stimulated transformations that would eventually lead to new cultural and political patterns in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Archaeological evidence from this period at Bieta Giyorgis has led Fattovich and his colleagues to recognize a Proto-Aksumite Period (ca. 400 BC–150 BC) that exhibits increased sociopolitical complexity and changes in material culture that would be developed further in the Aksumite Period (Fattovich 1990; Fattovich et al. 2000).

Roman influence on Red Sea trade began ca. 30 BC when Ptolemaic Egypt was annexed to the Roman Empire. Roman trade activity was more intense than that of the Ptolemies and focused on a wider variety of commercial goods (Sidebotham 1991:15). The Romans continued to use the Red Sea as a channel for trade with East Africa and southern Arabia, but their primary focus was India, whose lucrative west coast markets could be reached by ships following the monsoon winds from Red Sea ports (Casson 1989:21-27; Sidebotham 1986:45-47). This began a period of extensive Roman commercial activity in the region that would have a significant impact on the Aksumite Chiefdom.

Daamat had a substantial impact on culture development in Tigray and Eritrea. It introduced a state mode of political organization with a highly stratified society; urban, market, and religious centers; advanced building techniques and monumental architecture; writing; and a sophisticated tradition of art and metal working. Daamat's unification of an ethnically diverse region and its rise as an important trade state foreshadowed the later development of the Aksumite state and provided the foundation for many of Aksum's early material, political, and ideological features.

As the Aksumites’ participation in the Roman trade network increased they were able to gain a position of power over other local polities in the region that is now Eritrea and northern Tigray. Eventually a federation of chiefdoms was formed in which the Aksumite Chiefdom held a dominant role. The Aksumite federation united a region that stretched from the highlands of Tigray to the Red Sea coast and included a number of regional trade centers where goods were assembled for transport to the Aksumite port of Adulis (Casson 1989). At Adulis the Aksumites traded with merchants whom had traveled down the Red Sea and across the Indian Ocean. Here the Aksumites exchanged ivory, gold, tortoise shell, rhinoceros horn, incense, obsidian, and perhaps slaves in return for manufactured goods from international markets (Casson 1989:20). The commercial importance of Adulis is recorded in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (ca. AD 70), which describes it as the first major trading stop on the African Red Sea route that continued to ports as far south as the area of present day Dar es Salaam (Casson 1989:11-12).

The decline and eventual collapse of Daamat changed the political landscape of the region and presented new opportunities for the chiefdoms that had been part of the former state, or had been under its hegemony (Kobischchanov 1979:35-36; Phillipson 1998:47). These smaller polities—stretching from the Red Sea coast to the highlands of northern Ethiopia—gained greater political and economic autonomy and became increasingly more involved in international trade, first with Ptolemaic Egypt and later with Rome.

xiii

epidemics put Rome's economy into a steep decline (Heichelheim, Yeo, and Ward 1984:410-458). The political and economic crises of the 3rd century had a dramatic impact on the nature of Roman commercial activities in Africa: the lower Red Sea and Indian Ocean trade was essentially abandoned to Aksumite, Arab, and Indian merchants (Cary and Scullard 1975:537; Sidebotham 1986:46-47). This change in the basic structure of Red Sea trade coincided with economic growth and political change in the Aksumite Kingdom.

Historically, a major problem faced by merchants voyaging down the Red Sea was the threat of pirate attacks, which came from peoples living on both the African and Arabian coasts (Kobishchanov 1979:37-41; Sidebotham 1986; Casson 1989). During the Roman era, both overland and maritime trade was threatened with attack. The protection of trade thus became an important matter, and it was in the best interest of the Aksumite federation to see that trade in the Horn and the southern Red Sea region flowed with minimal risk and disruption. By the 3rd century AD it appears the Aksumite federation had assumed the responsibility of protecting trade and in so doing became a valued economic ally of Rome (Kobishchanov 1979:38-43).

Aksum’s growing political and economic power in the middle to late 3rd century AD is reflected in its minting of coinage and a dramatic increase in monumental residential and mortuary construction. Monuments, be they secular or sacral, are physical expressions of ideology and can provide insights on fundamental changes in a society. The most well documented examples of construction during this period are found in Aksum’s Central Mortuary District (Stelae Park), which became the site of elaborate monumental tombs marked by finely carved stelae (Phillipson 2000:477-482). While this area may have been used as an elite mortuary precinct in the 2nd century AD, it had by the early 4th century become not only a royal cemetery but also the focus of Aksumite religious worship and ceremony in pre-Christian times (Fattovich and Bard 1994; Fattovich 2003). The royal mortuary precinct, with its towering stelae, was the center of Aksumite public religious ritual.

The task of protecting trade throughout such a wide region required a level of political integration and consolidation of power beyond that which could be effected by a confederation of chiefdoms. And it seems likely that Aksum’s transformation from chiefdom to kingdom, identified by Michels in Chapters 7 and 8, resulted from a process in which the Aksumite polity adapted to the increasingly more challenging demands of organizing commercial activities and maintaining safe trade in the Horn and along its shores. Royal inscriptions of Aksumite kings of this and later periods attest to the development of a strong, centralized political organization and indicate that military campaigns were conducted to maintain internal order, protect trade routes, and exact tribute from local polities within the Horn of Africa and along the south Arabian coast (Munro-Hay 1991:221-232). Like Daamat before it, Aksum was becoming a multi-ethnic polity that would incorporate and acculturate a number of local societies that were under its hegemony.

The scale and sophistication of the mortuary monuments attest to the existence of a strong centralized authority that commanded a large force of skilled laborers. Further, the new mortuary complex reflects changes that had occurred in both religious ideology and political organization. At some point in Aksum’s early political development the king assumed semi-divine status and was considered the supreme deity’s representative on earth (Kobishchanov 1979:196-198). The association between monarch and deity, and the public religious rituals conducted at the burial monuments of the royal lineage, gave divine legitimacy to the royal line and acted to reinforce the authority of the monarch. The appearance of the royal mortuary complex thus reflects the transition that characterizes the Late Phase of Michels’ Early Aksumite Period—a change in political organization in which the confederacy of chiefdoms was replaced by a royal family or lineage that held ultimate political authority in the kingdom.

Whatever the reasons for the emergence of the Aksumite Kingdom, the period from ca. AD 150 to AD 500 was one of extraordinary growth and development. During the early phase of this period Bieta Giyorgis, with its elite residential area at Ona Nagast, remained the capital of Aksum. Later however the capital moved from Bieta Giyorgis to the Aksum plain below, where a mortuary precinct and elite residential areas were built. The capital was a major node in a network of urban centers that followed the major trade route from the port of Adulis to the Tigray highlands, apparently following a route established in Pre-Aksumite times. And from the Aksumite capital, caravan routes went to the African interior and the Nile Valley (Kobishchanov 1979:184-189). Participation in the Red Sea trade network was bringing great wealth to the Aksumites, and evidence of increasing socioeconomic differentiation suggests that a large, prosperous elite class was developing (Phillipson 2000:476).

By the middle of the 4th century AD Aksum’s political influence extended from Meröe in Nubia, through the highlands of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea, and across the Red Sea to southern Arabia. The capital city of Aksum was by now well established at the base of Bieta Giyorgis and Christianity had been adopted as the state religion. Christianity came to Ethiopia via international contacts fostered by the trade network, and tradition attributes King Ezana with establishing it as the state religion in ca. AD 330 (Phillipson 1998:112). It took almost two

In the 3rd century, especially during the years AD 235– 285, a series of events in the Roman Empire altered the structure of Red Sea trade and provided Aksum with an opportunity for rapid economic growth. During this period invasions, political turmoil, civil wars, and disease xiv

hundred years, however, before the wider population of the Aksumite kingdom embraced the new religion, which was facilitated by the evangelizing activities of Byzantine monks from Syria (Fattovich et al. 2000:25; Phillipson 1998:114).

AD 577 the Persians had succeeded in subjugating southern Arabia, effectively eliminating Aksum’s presence there and threatening its commercial activities in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean (Lapidus 1988:16; MunroHay 1991:260).

As the power and wealth of the Aksumite Kingdom grew, processes of sociopolitical development that had begun in the 3rd and 4th centuries continued, and are evident in the regional settlement pattern. Michels’ survey evidence shows that by AD 450 the capital of Aksum had become a metropolitan urban center that included a number of hamlets, villages, towns, and factory sites that encircled an urban core in which the state’s political, religious, and economic infrastructure was centered (Chapter 9). The Aksumite Kingdom had become a territorial state with a highly stratified society. The many palaces and other elite residential structures within metropolitan Aksum testify to the existence of a large and prosperous upper class that included the royal lineage, higher level government and religious administrators, and perhaps wealthy merchants. Less evident in the archaeological record are the artisans, craftsmen, servants, and farmers who made up the bulk of the population and supplied goods and services to the more conspicuous upper classes.

It appears that Aksum may have attempted to take advantage of the political turmoil and civil wars that swept through Arabia during the 7th and 8th centuries, hoping to regain its former influence across the Red Sea. Arabian sources of this period record a number of military actions between Aksumites and Arabs that included the use of Aksumite ships to attack Arabian ports on the Red Sea coast. One such attack in AD 702 resulted in the capture of the port of Jedda (Kobishchanov 1979:116-117). This campaign had disastrous consequences for Aksumite trade, as it may have encouraged Arab occupation of the Dahlak Islands and incursions across the Red Sea to the Eritrean coast where they sacked the port of Adulis (Kobishchanov 1979:116117; Munro-Hay 1991:260). Arab control of Red Sea navigation isolated Aksum from direct access to maritime commerce, eventually forcing the Aksumites to conduct trade through Arab middlemen. The economic situation worsened after ca. AD 750, when the focus of maritime trade shifted from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf (Munro-Hay 1991:263).

While income from international trade and the collection of tribute fed the royal coffers and filled the pockets of the elites, it was of course the food-producing segment of the Aksumite domestic economy that literally fed the state. And up to the 6th century AD environmental conditions in northern Tigray were generally favorable for food production, as they were characterized by wetter conditions than exist today (Butzer 1981). But from about AD 500 onward drier conditions prevailed and evidence of environmental degradation appears in the sedimentological record (Machado et al. 1998). Paleoenvironmental evidence suggests that centuries of population increase in concert with intensive cultivation and livestock grazing had caused severe soil erosion and reduced the carrying capacity of the land in the Aksum area and other parts of Tigray (Butzer 1981; Machado et al. 1998).

At the same time that it came under pressure from decreasing trade revenues and the growing Arab presence along its coast, the Aksumite Kingdom also experienced threats from within. There is evidence that in the 8th century the central authority structure of the state was weakening as smaller polities, such as the Beja and the Agaw, that had been under the hegemony of Aksum were now able to exercise greater freedom (Kobishchanov 1979: 118-119; Munro-Hay 1991:94-95, 260). As Aksum struggled against the pressures of Arab intervention and environmental stress, as it lost much of the trade revenue that supported its army and bureaucracy, and as its constituent ethnic groups gained greater autonomy, the economic and political underpinnings of the state began to weaken, ultimately to collapse.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that the early signs of Aksum’s decline occur after the onset of these conditions and the change to a drier climate. But environmental change was not the only factor that contributed to Aksum’s eventual decline. Historical sources suggest that political and economic factors also were involved.

Whatever the exact nature and timing of the ecological, economic, and political factors that contributed to the decline of Aksum, the results are illustrated dramatically in the settlement characteristics of the Early and Late Post-Aksumite Periods. Michels documents the progressive decline of the Aksumite state from ca. AD 750 onward, which is marked by the contraction of Metropolitan Aksum, an end to monumental construction, a significant decline in the regional population, and finally the abandonment of urban Aksum. With the apparent collapse of the secular political structure in Aksum during the 9th century, Michels believes the Ethiopian Christian Church rose to become the major force of local political integration in the region. Archaeological evidence of the abandonment of Aksum is supported by 9th century Arab sources that claim the

During the early 6th century AD Aksum entered into a formal political alliance with the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire which resulted in its launching military campaigns in southern Arabia to protect Roman and Aksumite trade interests in the region, then being threatened by Persian (Sassanian) incursions. The Aksumites were successful and the end result of the Arabian campaigns was to establish a military and administrative presence that increased Aksum’s influence in southern Arabia (Kobishchanov 1979:99-108). But by xv

capital of the Aksumite Kingdom was moved to Ka`bar, which was visited regularly by Arab merchants to conduct trade (Kobishchanov 1979:119). The location of Ka`bar is unknown, but it is significant that in the 9th century the Aksumite polity, although weakened, was still intact and engaging in trade.

Bard, K., M. DiBlasi, M. Koch, L. Crescenzi, C. D’Andrea, R. Fattovich, A. Manzo, C. Perlingieri, M. Forte, M. Harris, G. Johnson, S. Tilia, and B. Trabassi 2003 “The Joint Archaeological Project at Bieta Giyorgis (Aksum, Ethiopia) of the Istituto Universitario Orientale and Boston University: Results, Research Procedures, and Preliminary Computer Applications,” in M. Forte and P. R. Williams (eds.) The Reconstruction of Archaeological Landscapes through Digital Technologies. Oxford: BAR International Series 1151; pp. 1-13. Butzer, K. 1981 "Rise and fall of Axum, Ethiopia: A geoarchaeological interpretation," American Antiquity 46(3):471-495. Cary, Max and Howard H. Scullard 1975 A History of Rome Down to the Reign of Constantine. New York: St. Martin’s Press. Casson, Lionel 1989 The Periplus Maris Erythraei. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Cohen, Abner 1971 “Cultural Strategies in the Organization of Trading Diasporas,” in C. Meillassoux (ed.), The Development of Indigenous Trade and Markets in West Africa. London: Oxford University Press; pp. 266-281. Connah, Graham 1987 African Civilizations. Precolonial cities and states in tropical Africa: an archaeological perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Contenson, H., de 1959 “Les fouilles à Axoum en 1957,” Annales d’Ethiopie III:25-42. Contenson, H., de 1961 "Les fouilles à Haoulti-Melazo en 1958," Annales d’Ethiopie IV:39-60. Contenson, H., de 1981 “Pre-Aksumite Culture,” in G. Mokhtar (ed.), General History of Africa, II, Ancient Civilizations of Africa. Berkeley; pp. 341361. Doe, Brian 1971 Southern Arabia. New York: McGraw– Hill Book Company. Drewes, A.–J. 1962 Inscriptions de l’Ethiopie antique. Leiden. Fattovich, R. 1988 "Remarks on the late prehistory and early history of northern Ethiopia," in T. Beyene, ed., Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Vol. 1. Addis Ababa: Institute of Ethiopian Studies; pp. 85-104. Fattovich, R. 1990 "Remarks on the Pre-Aksumite Period in Northern Ethiopia," Journal of Ethiopian Studies XXIII:1-34. Fattovich, R.2000 Aksum and the Habashat: State and Ethnicity in Ancient Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. Boston University African Studies Center Working Papers, no. 228. Fattovich, R. 2003 “Continuity and Change in Ethiopian Culture.” Paper presented at the 8th Orbis Aethiopicus Cenference, Cambridge, England; 12-14 September. Fattovich, R., and K. Bard 1994 "The origins of Aksum: A view from Ona Enda Aboi Zague (Tigray)," in H. Marcus, ed., New Trend in Ethiopian Studies.

The social and political transformation of the Aksumite polity continued through two centuries that were characterized by alternating periods of strength and weakness. Throughout much of this time the Aksumites had no permanent capital, and it fell to the Church to preserve the literary traditions of Aksumite culture as well as elements of Aksumite art and monumental architecture. This was accomplished through the building of churches and monasteries in the Aksumite style of stone masonry construction, such as Debra Damo, and the “excavation” of rock-hewn churches, many of which survive in Tigray today (Hein and Kleidt 1998). In the late 10th century the Agaw—a Cushitic ethnic group formerly incorporated within the Aksumite state— began a devastating campaign against the kingdom and its political leadership, the Aksumite royal dynasty (Munro-Hay 1991:263; Phillipson 1998:127-128). Although it appears the Aksumites were initially successful in defending against Agaw aggression, by the early 12th century the Agaw had, by means unknown, gained control of the monarchy and established the Zagwe Dynasty (Munro-Hay 1991; Phillipson 1998). The change of ruling dynasty and the relocation of the seat of political power from Tigray south to the highlands of Welo, did not, however, lead to a cultural break with the past. Through centuries of acculturation, the Agaw had assimilated key elements of Aksumite culture. They were Christian and had adopted Ge’ez, the Semitic language of ancient Aksum. The Zagwe are perhaps most noted for spurring a renaissance in monumental construction that preserved many stylistic features of Aksumite architecture, the most spectacular examples of which are the Aksumite-style church of Yemrehana Kristos, and the monolithic, rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, the Zagwe capital. Thus in the Zagwe period—as today—the Church remained the primary conservator and perpetuator of ancient traditions. References Anfray, F. 1963 “Une campagne de fouilles a Yeha (fevrier-mars, 1960),” Annales d’Ethiopie V:171232. Anfray, F. 1967 "Matara," Annales d'Ethiopie VII:60-78. Anfray, F. 1972 “Fouilles de Yeha,” Annales d’Ethiopie IX:45-64. Audouin, Remy, Jean-Francois Breton, and Christian Robin 1987 “Towns and Temples—the Emergence of South Arabian Civilization,” in W. Daum (ed.), Yemen. 3000 Years of Art and Civilisation in Arabia Felix. Frankfurt/Main: Umschau–Verlag; pp. 63-77. xvi

Papers of the 12th International Conference of Ethiopian Studies, Vol. I. Lawrenceville: The Red Sea Press, Inc.; pp. 16-25. Fattovich, R., K. Bard, L. Petrassi, and V. Pisano 2000 The Aksum Archaeological Area: A Preliminary Assessment. Naples: Istituto Univerisario Orientale, Dipartimento di Studi e Ricerche su Africa e Paesi Arabi, Laboratorio di Archeologia. Working Paper 1. Heichelheim, Fritz, Cedric Yeo, and Allen Ward 1984 A History of the Roman People. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. Hein, E., and B. Kleidt 1998 Ethiopia—Christian Africa. Art, Churches, Culture. Melina-Verlag. Hoyland, Robert 2002 “Kings, Kingdoms and Chronology,” in St. John Simpson (ed.), Queen of Sheba. Treasures from Ancient Yemen. London: The British Museum Press; pp.67-79. Jackson, Robert B. 2002 At Empire’s Edge. Exploring Rome’s Egyptian Frontier. New Haven: Yale University Press. Kitchen, K.A. 1993 "The land of Punt,” in T. Shaw, P. Sinclair, B. Andah, and A. Okpoko (eds.), The Archaeology of Africa: food, metals, and towns. London: Routledge; pp. 587-608. Kobishchanov, Y. 1979 Axum. University Park: Penn State University Press. Lapidus, I.M. 1988 A History of Islamic Societies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Machado,M.J., A. Pérez-González, and G. Benito 1998 “Paleoenvironmental changes during the last 4000 yrs in the Tigray, Northrn Ethiopia,” Quaternary Research 49:312-321. Muller, W. 1987 “Outline of the History of Ancient Southern Arabia,” in W. Daum (ed.), Yemen. 3000 Years of Art and Civilisation in Arabia Felix. Frankfurt/Main: Umschau–Verlag; pp. 49-54. Munro-Hay, S.C. 1989 Excavations at Aksum. Memoir 10, British Institute in Eastern Africa, London: The British Institute in Eastern Africa. Munro-Hay, S.C. 1991 Aksum. An African Civilization of Late Antiquity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.

Munro-Hay, S.C. 1993 “State development and urbanism in northern Ethiopia,” in T. Shaw, P. Sinclair, B. Andah, and A. Okpoko, (eds.), The Archaeology of Africa: foods, metals and towns. London: Routledge; pp. 609-621. Pankhurst, R. 1961 An Introduction to the Economic History of Ethiopia (from early times to 1800). Lalibela House. Pankhurst, R. 1998 The Ethiopians. Oxford: Blackwell Publishers. Perlingieri, C. 1999 La ceramica aksumita da Bieta Giyorgis, Aksum (Tigray, Ethiopia). Tipologia ed implacazioni storico-culturali e socioeconomiche.” Ph.D. dissertation, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples, Italy. Phillipson, David W. 1998 Ancient Ethiopia. London: British Museum Press. Phillipson, David W. 2000 Archaeology at Aksum, Ethiopia, 1993–7, Vols. I., II. Memoir 17, The British Institute in Eastern Africa. London: The British Institute in Eastern Africa. Robin, Christian 2002 “Saba and the Sabaeans,” in St. J. Simpson (ed.), Queen of Sheba. Treasures from Ancient Yemen. London: The British Museum Press; pp. 51-66. Schmidt, Peter, and Mathew Curtis 2001 “Urban precursors in the Horn: early 1st-millennium BC communities in Eritrea,” Antiquity 75 (290): 849859. Sidebotham, Steven E. 1986 Roman Economic Policy in the Erythra Thalassa, 30 B.C.–A.D. 217. Leiden: L.J. Brill. Sidebotham, Steven E. 1991 “Ports of the Red Sea and the Arabia–India Trade,” in V. Begley and R.D. DePuma (eds.), Rome and India. The Ancient Sea Trade. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press; pp. 12-38. Stein, Gill 1999 Rethinking World Systems. Diasporas, Colonies, and Interaction in Uruk Mesopotamia. Tucson: The University of Arizona Press. Welsby, Derek A. 1998 The Kingdom of Kush. The Napatan and Meroitic Empires. Princeton: Markus Weiner Publishers.

xvii

PART ONE FRAMEWORK FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION

CHAPTER 1 THE AKSUM-YEHA REGIONAL SURVEY to just east of the site of Yeha (see Figure 1.2). It contained the principal political capitals of both the PreAksumite era [Yeha] and of the Aksumite era [Aksum]. It has also benefitted from extensive archaeological examination - the site of Aksum alone has witnessed over a dozen seasons of excavation (for a general summary of archaeological research in the Aksumite area of northeast Africa see Michels 1979 and Fattovich et al 2000). And much of the historical, numismatic, paleographic, and architectural research has focused upon archaeological sites within that region. In short, what we believe we know about the Aksumite kingdom has for some time been largely a function of scholarly attention to the key events, personalities, local history, and archaeology of that region (see, for example, Kobishchanov 1979, Munro-Hay 1991 or Phillipson 1998). It seemed, therefore, most appropriate to conduct a regional archaeological survey in that area, and to anticipate that the findings of the survey would be particularly relevant to contemporary and future efforts at historical and archaeological reconstruction of the Aksumite realm.

Introduction The Aksum-Yeha Regional Survey was undertaken with the express purpose of providing an archaeological perspective on changing regional political organization in that portion of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea affected by the rise of the Aksumite kingdom (see Figure 1.1). The area in question extends from south of Makalé, the capital of the Ethiopian State of Tigray, to as far north as Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, and beyond. Within that area, the French archaeologist, Francis Anfray, has mapped the distribution of over three dozen important Aksumite or Pre-Aksumite sites (Anfray 1973a)(see Figure 1.2). Such sites generally exhibit the remains of monumental masonry architecture, and can best be regarded as principal centers–political, economic, and religious–of ancient local populations. How these centers and others yet to be discovered relate to a sustaining local population, and how they interrelate to form sub-regional, regional, and inter-regional networks are some of the basic questions that this survey addressed.

The Aksum-Yeha region is a segment of the Shiré plateau–a western extension of the Tigrean plateau. The land surface is a rolling upland 1900-2600 meters in elevation, rising steeply from the rugged valley systems of the Mareb and Tekezze rivers that lie to the north and south respectively (Figure 1.3) (see also Butzer 1981). The area has a dry, and at times very dry, period of ten months centered over the end of the calendar year (September to June). Annual rainfall ranges from 60 to 80 cm. The single rainfall season has a sharp maximum during July and August. Both are humid months and together receive 69% of the annual rainfall. It is colder during the rains of the summer than during the dry winter, with the monthly mean maximum temperature decreasing from 23C in January to about 18C during July and August, the wettest months. At the present time, the region is grassland with scattered thorny brush and small trees, found especially on uncultivated hill slopes near streams and on the edges of cultivated fields. Extensive woods and forests are absent. However, Butzer (ibid: 476) suggests “that the “natural” plant cover was an open, mainly deciduous woodland.... with evergreen elements such as cedars, figs, and palms”. This original plant cover, Butzer observes, would have obtained prior to agricultural settlement of the Shiré plateau and the subsequent degradation of the environment that such settlement presumably brought about.

Figure 1.1. Aksumite Archaeological Zone in NE Africa Within the Aksumite archaeological zone of northeast Africa, one region stood out as particularly important: the region extending from just west of the site of Aksum

1

THE AKSUM-YEHA REGIONAL SURVEY

Figure 1.2. Principal Aksumite and Pre-Aksumite Sites in Northern Ethiopia ▲ archaeological sites ● modern community  survey zone [after Anfray 1973, J. Ethiopian Studies, vol xi]

2

CHANGING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE AKSUM-YEHA REGION OF ETHIOPIA

Figure 1.3. Segment of Shirè Plateau in which the Archaeological Survey was conducted Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia

Figure 1.4. Regional Survey Grid System Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia

3

THE AKSUM-YEHA REGIONAL SURVEY Each Zone was further divided into 25 1-km x 1-km Areas. The Area was the basic sampling unit used in the surface survey. Within each Zone a set of Areas were chosen for systematic examination. In 65% of the cases, the selection of Areas for sampling within a Zone was accomplished on a random basis, using a Table of Random Numbers (Blalock 1960:437). In the remainder of cases, Areas were selected to accomplish specific goals, such as the exploration of distinctive valley systems. The Area grid within each Zone, was further divided into 100 m x 100 m (10,000 sq. meters) Sectors. There were 100 such Sectors in each Area, and served as the basic locational units for specifying the provenience of an archaeological site encountered during survey. Figure 1.5 illustrates the nested horizontal grid system described above.

Research Design The Aksum-Yeha region, selected for this study, is a 714 sq. km. segment of the Shiré plateau that extended from just southwest of Aksum to the valley of Yeha, approximately 50 km. to the northeast. The limits formed by the plateau escarpment, to the north and south, placed natural constraints on the width of the survey strip, which thus averaged about 15 km. A stratified random sampling model was employed. The region to be surveyed varied significantly with respect to topography, soil type, and other ecologically relevant features. To insure that the survey provided coverage of the full range of possible habitats a grid was overlain. The grid consisted of 5-km x 5-km Zones (see Figure 1.4) that were used to structure the sampling process.

Figure 1.5. Regional Survey Nested Grid System Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia 4

CHANGING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE AKSUM-YEHA REGION OF ETHIOPIA

Figure 1.6. Regional Survey Grid System: Areas Surveyed Aksum-Yeha Region, Tigray, Ethiopia A total of 201 square kilometers were systematically surveyed, representing a 28% sample of the survey region. Given the application of a stratified random sampling model, there is every expectation that the 28% of the survey region examined is representative of the region as a whole, and that one can usefully extrapolate from the archaeological record uncovered in the sample to the survey region in its entirety. The likelihood of this being the case is further strengthened by the fact that in the case of half of the 36 Zones sampled within the survey region, particularly those that comprised the most favorable settings for habitation, the actual percentage of land examined exceeded 40%. The most glaring instances of under-sampling occurred in the vicinity of the town of Adua (Zones 37, 47). That locale was scheduled for survey towards the end of the field season, but could not be adequately covered due to the political unrest in that area associated with the events that ultimately resulted in the overthrow of Emperor Haile Sellassie.

Furthermore, wind and water erosion had prevented the buildup of a concealing soil mantle in most areas suitable for habitation. The widespread use of stone masonry construction, even in the case of modest domestic dwellings, throughout the time frame of interest to this project also aided in locating sites. Finally, widespread plowing insured that some fraction of the archaeological remains of a site would find their way to the surface. Surface survey, however, no matter how favorable the conditions, presents the archaeologist with a number of difficulties. Dating, the identification of multiple episodes of occupation, documenting behavioral and cultural variation among sites that appear superficially to be similar, and the inability to examine in situ features, are just a few of the more obvious ones. The reader will encounter numerous examples of such difficulties in the chapters that form Part Two of the book. An effort has been made to clearly identify such difficulties as they arise so that the problematic nature of the solution arrived at will be readily noted. Ideally, a study of this sort should be followed up by controlled excavations.

Figure 1.6 shows the Areas surveyed within the survey region. In every case, the entire surface of the 1-sq. km. Area was systematically inspected for any evidence of archaeological remains. This effort was particularly successful in that the surface of the ground was without any close-covering vegetation as the region was arid, and the survey conducted during the dry season.

Table 1.1 identifies which Areas were selected randomly, and which were selected with some particular objective in mind. 5

THE AKSUM-YEHA REGIONAL SURVEY Table 1.1 Zone/Areas Surveyed on the Shiré Plateau Areas Selected Zone 18 Zone 19 Zone 20

Randomly

Areas Non-Randomly Selected

25, 35 12, 21, 31, 32, 33, 42, 43, 51, 52

24 13, 22, 23, 34, 41

Zone 27 Zone 28 Zone 29

43, 45, 51, 52, 53 11, 22, 32, 34, 42, 52

Zone 30

22, 31, 41, 42, 51, 52

32, 33, 42, 44 12, 31, 33, 35, 41, 43, 53 23, 32

Zone 31 Zone 32 Zone 33 Zone 34

45, 51, 53, 54 45, 54 31, 41, 42, 45, 55

55 43, 51, 52

Zone 35

43, 44, 52

53, 54

Zone 36

25, 35, 54

34, 53

Zone 37

31

41

Zone 38 Zone 39 Zone 40

14

12, 13 12

Zone 41

24, 25, 34, 54, 55

15

Zone 42

15, 22, 23, 24, 33, 35, 41, 43, 44, 51, 53 11, 12, 13, 14, 22, 25, 32, 35, 42, 52, 54 11, 12, 15, 21, 22, 33, 34, 43, 45, 51, 52 11, 12, 14, 15, 21, 33, 41, 42, 52 15, 23, 24, 25, 45 11

Zone 43 Zone 44 Zone 45 Zone 46 Zone 47 Zone 48 Zone 51 Zone 52 Zone 53 Zone 54 Zone 55 Zone 56 Zone 61 Zone 62 Zone 63 Zone 64 Zone 65

12

Inaccessible Chosen to explore valley system Chosen to explore site concentration Area of political unrest Chosen to explore valley system Chosen to explore valley system

34,

12, 13, 25, 45

To explore important valley system Zone off escarpment Balance of Zone off escarpment Balance of Zone off escarpment Replacements for Areas off escarpment Replacements for Areas off escarpment To augment randomly selected areas Survey interrupted by political unrest Area of political unrest Chosen to explore valley system To explore important valley system To augment randomly selected areas To explore Amba formation

23,

21, 24, 34

Chosen to explore known sites

31, 32, 35

To explore intervening Areas adjacent to detected site clusters To explore valley system Survey interrupted by political unrest Area of political unrest Proportionate sample of this Zone To explore known site To explore favorable settlement area To search for Pre-Aksumite sites To search for Pre-Aksumite sites Off escarpment, heavily eroded Mostly outside survey region Off escarpment, heavily eroded To search for Pre-Aksumite sites To search for Pre-Aksumite sites To search for Pre-Aksumite sites

31, 22,

14 12, 13 11, 12, 22, 23, 25, 32, 33, 53, 54, 55 31, 33, 34, 42, 52 31, 34, 41, 43, 51, 52

21, 22

Selectivity Comments

13, 14, 35, 55

52, 53 44 24, 43, 44, 45, 51, 53 24, 25, 33, 35, 42

12, 13, 23, 24 12, 13, 22, 23 11, 21

6

CHANGING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE AKSUM-YEHA REGION OF ETHIOPIA Field Methods

6.

No detailed maps of the survey area were available, but the Ethiopian Cartographic Institute in Addis Ababa generously provided high-quality prints of 1:60,000 scale aerial photographs taken in stereoscopic overlay by the United States Airforce in 1963 and 1964. Photographic plates were prepared from these prints, and 1:12,500 scale working images were subsequently produced, which became the mapping documents for the survey. Land surface features stood out clearly, making it possible for the survey team to precisely locate itself anywhere within the survey region.

7. 8.

The Zone/Area/Sector nested grid system discussed earlier was superimposed upon the aerial photographic mapping documents, thereby enabling one to describe precisely the location of any archaeological site encountered during survey. Once an archaeological site was marked on the aerial photograph segment that corresponded to a particular Zone, transparent templates for Area and Sector were superimposed to provide a unique and precise locational designation for that site. For example, Zone 43, Area 33, Sector 008 [43-33-008] designates the Main Stelae Group at Aksum.

9.

Depending upon the size and apparent complexity of the site, one or several areas would be selected for the recovery of surface artifacts. Generally, these sampling units would be clearly defined areas 10 x 10 meters in size. A shoulder-to-shoulder skirmish line of crew members would then be deployed to recover every artifact on the surface of the ground within the 100 square meter sampling unit. Such controlled samples made it possible to compare and quantify site artifact densities, and to insure that the sample size was sufficient for statistical analysis. In some cases, however, where such an approach was not feasible, the crew would range across the site, opportunistically recovering artifacts in sufficient numbers to satisfy the project’s analytical objectives. In such cases, care was taken to avoid conscious selectivity in the collecting process.

Field survey was conducted on a Zone by Zone basis. The survey crew would position itself within the Zone to be surveyed, and then commence to examine the Areas within the Zone that had been selected – either randomly or otherwise. Beginning at one corner of an Area, a skirmish line would be assembled and would move on foot across the Area the width of the skirmish line, pivot, and return. The skirmish line consisted of approximately sixteen persons: three archaeologists, the crew foreman, and about twelve local villagers. The members of the skirmish line would be spaced at intervals of about fifteen meters. To complete the systematic examination of a 1 sq. km Area multiple traverses – each one km in length – would need to be undertaken.

The one exception to the above sampling description had to do with obsidian artifacts. With few exceptions, obsidian artifacts occurred in such small numbers at any given site that the survey crew was required to search much of the site area in an effort to secure even a modest sample of such specimens. The effort to secure obsidian specimens was motivated by the project’s intention to utilize obsidian hydration dating as one of the tools in establishing the chronology of the site.

When a member of the skirmish line detected the presence of an archaeological site, the traverse would be interrupted and full documentation of the site would commence. A seven-page Survey Schedule would be filled out. The Schedule called for the following information: 1. 2.

3. 4. 5.

Observations on the natural setting of the site, including comments on topography, soil, hydrography, vegetation, and special mineral resources if any. A log of all photographs taken at the site- both archaeological and ethnographic. Ethnographic observations: A local resident would be interviewed to determine the following: name of the site locality, name and location of the nearest community, name and location of the nearest water source, name and location of nearest Market Town, agricultural profile of site area (soil condition, techniques for working soil, crops grown), any additional ethnographic observations volunteered by informant. Documentation of artifact samples recovered including, for each sampling unit, information such as the nature of sample (i.e. total or opportunistic), dimension of sampling unit, quantity of sample bags filled, and location of sampling unit.

Once a week, the Penn State survey team would deliver the bags of artifacts collected to the field laboratory, which was based in the town of Asmara, now the capital of Eritrea. There, the carefully labled bags would be opened, the artifacts – principally pottery sherds – would be washed, sorted, and cataloged.

Archaeological indications on the surface indicating the presence of a site. Sketch map of site, showing site perimeter, the location of archaeological and present-day features, the location of sampling units for the recovery of surface artifacts. A discussion of the evidence used in determining site perimeter. Specific drawings of individual site features. Summary statement of the nature, plan, and function of the site.

The sorting operation involved the application of an elaborate artifact identification code that insured that maximum analytical information was recovered from each specimen. The coding protocol included consideration of material category, technique of manufacture, function, 7

THE AKSUM-YEHA REGIONAL SURVEY design, and decorative treatment. Quantities were specified for each coding entry in the catalog.

180,000 ceramic specimens, 2,000 obsidian specimens, 1000 jasper specimens, plus a handful of artificial glass and metal specimens. All of these artifacts, plus a copy of the artifact catalog, were placed in the care of the Ethiopian Archaeological Institute. All 180,000 ceramic specimens were utilized in chronological analysis, as were 216 of the obsidian artifacts (see Chapter 2).

The catalog served to link these sorting solutions with an assigned accession number, a site number, and the specific sampling unit from which the artifacts were retrieved. All of the information within the artifact catalog was expressed in numeric codes to facilitate its input into the university’s mainframe computer upon return to the United States. Subsequently, data management software and statistical software were applied to the computerized artifact database, resulting in the production of readily interpretable data presentations, particularly after the incorporation of the results of site dating.

Ethnographic reports prepared during the survey project included 225 informant interviews at archaeological sites, and a village market study that involved interviewing 120 vendors and observing market operations throughout the day. Also included were artisan interviews at two different pottery-making villages in or near the survey region, observations of residential layouts based upon abandoned compounds encountered during survey, and miscellaneous notes concerning farming techniques, irrigation systems, and contemporary material culture. In addition, the aerial photographic coverage of the region, made available to the project, provided a remote sensing database with which to study a baseline population in the survey region for the years 1963,1964. Using a high magnification stereoscope, it was possible to examine almost 400 communities, and almost 5000 constituent residential compounds, within an area of 754 square kilometers. The apparent continuities in material culture, technology, farming, and cultural institutions, strongly suggested that in situ ethnographic analogy would be a valuable instrument of interpretation with respect to the archaeology of the Shiré Plateau.

Data Summary Two hundred and sixteen new archaeological sites were discovered and documented during the course of the survey. Some of these were multi-component sites, i.e. they exhibited evidence of having been occupied during more than one occupational period. In addition, previously reported sites were reexamined, and artifact samples taken, in order to include them in various comparative studies. The final result was an inventory of 267 period-specific archaeological sites with which to explore the occupational history of the Shiré Plateau. Artifact analysis relied upon the contents of 253 sample collection units. Collectively, they yielded approximately

8

CHAPTER 2 A REGIONAL CHRONOLOGY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES exhibiting widely dispersed granular inclusions exceeding 1 mm in diameter. Reference standards for each variable state were available in the laboratory to insure that uniformity in classification decisions was maintained.

Periodization through Ceramic Seriation A major difficulty that plagues many surface surveys is the fact that ceramic artifacts collected off the surface are often heavily eroded. The often highly distinctive slips and painted decoration are absent or highly fragmentary at best. Furthermore, the sherds themselves tend to be small, so that only a negligible picture of vessel shape can be discerned. Finally, since only a fraction of the sites discovered are of elite status, specialty wares, as well as foreign wares, tend to be absent. All of these factors preclude the possibility of conventional ceramic classification. Since chronological assessments of archaeological sites are often heavily dependent upon ceramic dating, as it was in this case, a novel approach was called for.

All 180,630 pottery fragments recovered were classified with respect to the three variables outlined above. Twenty-five of the 45 possible permutations of this threevariable system actually occurred. The 25 were given descriptive names (see Table 1.2) and were designated pottery wares. In addition to the above, a negligible number of sherds were encountered that did not fit within the 25 ware categories, e.g. sherds with a polished finish, or possessing distinctive tempering inclusions that interfered with the assignment of an interior texture variable state. Such sherds were not included in the seriation analysis.

Archaeologists have been familiar with the possibility of chronologically ordering archaeological sites through the application of matrix seriation ever since the publication of the Brainerd-Robinson Technique in the journal American Antiquity in 1951 (Brainerd 1951). And the successful computer programming of that technique by Robert and Marcia Ascher in 1963 (Ascher and Ascher 1963) stimulated considerable interest in this approach. However, it was LeRoy Johnson’s study of the way item seriation can be used as an aid in elementary cluster analysis (Johnson 1968) that was particularly compelling, warranting the application of his method in the discovery of chronologically sensitive clusters of sites within the survey region.

The 180,000-plus sherds coded for ceramic ware represented 253 collection units, with an average sample size of 500 sherds per collection unit. Two hundred and fifty of these collection units (given the constraints of the computer program) formed the basis for the seriation study. Upon returning to the Pennsylvania State University campus at the end of the field season, the information on the catalog coding sheets was entered into the university’s main frame computer, and stored on magnetic tape. The initial computer operation in the seriation study was to run a program that summarized ware frequencies per site collection unit. The second step was to run a program that converted the raw frequency data to a matrix of Indices of Agreement.

As with all such methodologies, actual application requires each investigator to customize the approach to the specific circumstances and objectives of the project at hand. Accordingly, the procedural information given below represents the manner in which seriational analysis was undertaken in the case of the Aksum-Yeha Regional Surface Survey.

The Index of Agreement was initially proposed by W.S. Robinson, a sociologist, who collaborated with George W. Brainerd (Brainerd 1951). The advantages of the Index of Agreement, that are particularly appealing in an archaeological context, according to Johnson, are (1) that it represents a normatized score, (2) that it employs an equal-unit scale, (3) that it reduces the effect of moderate inter-assemblage mixture, and (4) that it gives strong weight to dominant characters in the assemblages being compared (see Johnson 1968 [pp. 11-12] for a fuller discussion).

The initial step in the procedure was to classify each pottery sherd as it was being processed in the field laboratory with respect to three rather easily recognizable variables: (1) (2) (3)

interior texture [coarse, gritty, fine] paste color [red, white, black, brown, gray] surface treatment [rough, matte, slipped]

The calculation of the Index of Agreement proceeds as follows. The percentage of each ware present in a given collection unit assemblage is computed. Each set of ware percentages, representing a given collection unit assemblage, is compared with the set of ware percentages of every other collection unit assemblage. The comparison is done ware by ware, with the smaller

Interior texture and paste color were determined while viewing a fresh fracture. Interior texture was often related to temper, but not always – with some sherds possessing a fine or gritty interior texture while at the same time 9

A REGIONAL CHRONOLOGY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES assemblages in the data set. Two measures are used to evaluate the success of a final ordering: Ordering Coefficient H and Matrix Coefficient C (Johnson 1968, Craytor and Johnson 1968). The former evaluates different orderings of the same data, while the latter, derived from the former, is a standardized measure of the success of the seriation solution. According to Johnson (ibid), a Matrix Coefficient C with a value greater than 1.0 is a potentially successful outcome. As the value of the Matrix Coefficient C increases towards 2.0 there is less and less instability in the seriational ordering. For the purpose of clustering, however, one would ideally prefer a Matrix Coefficient C value intermediate between 1.0 and 2.0, so that the collection unit assemblages being ordered would form clusters rather than a perfect linear series. Such clusters are referred to as Homostats (ibid).

percentage being subtracted from the larger percentage, and the differences for all wares between any two collection unit assemblages are added up and subtracted from 200. The remaining score expresses the degree of similarity between the two collection unit assemblages, and constitutes the Index of Agreement. Table 2.2 Pottery Wares of the Aksum-Yeha Survey Region Computer Code

Pottery Ware

01

Coarse Red- Rough

02

Coarse Red- Matte

03

Coarse Red- Slipped

04

Gritty Red- Rough

05

Gritty Red- Matte

06

Gritty Red- Slipped

07

Fine Red- Matte

08

Gritty White- Rough

09

Fine Red-Rough

11

Coarse Black- Matte

13

Coarse Black- Rough

14

Fine Gray- Rough

15

Gritty White- Matte

16

Gritty Gray- Rough

17

Fine Black- Matte

18

Gritty Gray- Matte

19

Gritty Black- Rough

20

Gritty Black- Matte

21

Gritty Brown- Matte

22

Gritty Brown- Rough

23

Gritty Brown- Slipped

24

Coarse Gray- Rough

25

Fine Brown- Rough

26

Coarse Brown- Rough

29

Fine Black- Rough

A Homostat is a set of collection unit assemblages that are grouped together along the ordering axis of the seriation matrix and which share Indices of Agreement of markedly higher value than those between members of the set and immediately adjacent collection unit assemblages along the ordering axis. In the case of the Aksum-Yeha Survey Project, the input of the 250 collection unit assemblages into Program Seriate achieved a Matrix Coefficient C value of 1.37 [with an Ordering Coefficient H of 0.86674 E 10]. This was a remarkably successful outcome, and ideally suited to the discovery of Homostat clusters. The key to the discovery of Homostats is the setting of a minimum Index of Agreement value that is high enough to insure that the cluster of collection unit assemblages have an unusually high level of resemblance to one another. In this case, collection unit assemblages adjacent to one another along the ordering axis of the seriation that shared Indices of Agreement of 130 or higher constituted the core of Homostat clusters. As Homostats began to take shape on the seriation matrix computer sheets [one uses differential shading of matrix scores to reveal the presence of Homostats] it became clear that in addition to the Homostat core, there were additional collection unit assemblages adjacent to the core that could be added to the cluster. Generally, such assemblages display Indices of Agreement less than 130 but greater than 100. The final seriation ordering of the 250 collection unit assemblages from the survey region resulted in the formation of nine homostats within the seriation matrix (see Figure 2.7). Two hundred and five of the collection unit assemblages fell within one or another of the homostats, while the remaining 45 assemblages fell outside. The homostats varied in size. Homostat No. 8 was a cluster of 68 collection unit assemblages, while Homostat No. 7 contained only three assemblages. As in all cases of seriation, one must consider additional information in order to ascertain the chronological integrity of both the site ordering and the constituent homostats displayed therein.

The next step in the seriation procedure is to input the matrix of Indices of Agreement into Program Seriate, a computer program for matrix analysis written by William Bert Craytor (Craytor and Johnson 1968). Program Seriate performed multiple trial orderings of the 250 collection unit assemblages, with the objective of achieving a series that best reflected the degree of similarity between any given assemblage and all other 10

CHANGING SETTLEMENT PATTERNS IN THE AKSUM-YEHA REGION OF ETHIOPIA In this case, the application of obsidian hydration dating in particular, but also scrutiny of individual Indices of Agreement values, qualitative ceramic assemblage comparisons, and ethnoarchaeological input, provided a basis for evaluating the results of computer seriation. A full discussion of the application of obsidian hydration dating in the evaluation and interpretation of the seriation matrix is provided elsewhere in this chapter. However, discussion of the other above-mentioned factors is given below.

careful scrutiny of Index of Agreement values within each homostat. Once detected, one can question whether or not that site assemblage actually belongs to the homostat in which it is a member. A next step would be to examine the seriation matrix for site assemblages – located elsewhere – with which the assemblage in question shared very high Indices of Agreement. If such is the case, then there is a good chance that the assemblage should be reassigned to the homostat in which the highly similar assemblages are grouped. Additional steps to be taken could include (1) consulting field notes that might explain the anomaly, (2) performing a qualitative comparison of the ceramic assemblage, (3) make reference to any obsidian dates that might have been generated from the site sample.

The same imperfection in the final ordering of site assemblages in the seriation matrix that accounted for the formation of homostat groupings also contributed to the sometimes spurious assignment of particular assemblages within the seriation matrix. For example, a homostat grouping might be comprised of ten site assemblages, nine of which are marked by Indices of Agreement of 130 or higher, but one of which has significantly lower values. Because the latter occurs in the middle of the homostat series, and not at the end, it falls within the homostat grouping rather than serving as a cut-off point.

Qualitative ceramic assemblage comparisons proved quite helpful in evaluating the Period assignment of particular site assemblages for which there was some question. Table 2.3 gives the average percentages of principal ceramic wares by Period. These values were generated by sampling a handful of site assemblages from various points along the seriation axis within the boundaries of each Period cluster.

Such anomalous cases can be discovered through a

Figure 2.7. Site Seriation Matrix and Homostat Display using Aksum-Yeha Ceramic Wares

11

A REGIONAL CHRONOLOGY OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES Table 2.3 Average Percentages of Principal Ceramic Wares by Period Ware Coarse Red Rough Coarse Red Matte Gritty Red Rough Gritty Red Matte Fine Red Rough Coarse Black Matte Coarse Black Rough Fine Grey Rough Gritty Grey Rough Gritty Grey Matte Gritty Black Rough Gritty Black Matte Grit. Brown Matte Grit. Brown Rough Grit. Brown Slip Coarse Grey Rough Fine Brown Rough Coar. Brown Rough

Early PreAksumite