en

The Ketema Ra’isi site near the Tekkeze river in Tigray (Ethiopia): A possible Aksumite site in the context of Ezana’s war against the Nobā

2021, 30, No. 2

Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology, University of Warsaw


Publication date

31.12.2021

Publishing model

open access

License type


Field

Humanities

Discipline

archeology

Language of publication

English

Downloads

PDF 3 MB

Article

Number of views:300

Number of downloads:86

Crossref citations:0

Altmetric score:0


Abstract

The ruins of the Ketema Ra’isi sites in the Ethiopian northern Tigray could prove to be the southwesternmost site of the Aksumite empire at least during the times of king Ezana. The mound of ruins contains a residential complex inside an enclosure wall showing typical Aksumite architectural building techniques. Three Aksumite coins collected from the site yield a terminus ante quem date for settlement in the Middle Aksumite period (mid-4th century AD). Therefore, the potential of the site for future archaeological exploration by the PolART expedition is substantial.

Keywords:

Bibliography

EAe Encyclopaedia Aethiopica, 5 vols. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2003‒2014

Bernand, É., Drewes, A.J., and Schneider, R. (1991). Recueil des inscriptions de l’Ethiopie des périodes pré-axoumite et axoumite I. Les documents. Paris: De Boccard

Bernand, É., Drewes, A.J., and Schneider, R. (2000). Recueil des inscriptions de l’Ethiopie des périodes pré-axoumite et axoumite III.A. Traductions et commentaires. Les inscriptions grecques. Paris: De Boccard

Bowersock, G.W. (2013). Throne of Adulis: Red Sea wars on the eve of Islam. Oxford–New York: Oxford University Press

Drewes, A.J. (2019). Recueil des inscriptions de l’Ethiopie des périodes pré-axoumite et axoumite III.B. Traductions et commentaires. Les inscriptions sémitiques (M. Kropp and H. Stroomer, eds) (=Äthiopistische Forschungen 85). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag

Fattovich, R. (1992). Lineamenti di storia dell’archeologia dell’Etiopia e della Somalia (=Annali. Supplemento 71). Naples: Istituto universitario orientale

Fattovich, R. (2019). From community to state: The development of the Aksumite polity (Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea), c. 400 BC–AD 800. Journal of Archaeological Research, 27(2), 249–285

Finneran, N. (2007). The archaeology of Ethiopia. Abingdon–New York: Routledge

Finneran, N., Phillips, J., Desie, A., Cain, C., Harlow, M., and Hagos, T. (2003). The archaeological landscape of the Shire region, Western Tigray, Ethiopia: A preliminary report on the 2001 field season. Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 38(1), 139–147

Finneran, N. et al. (2005). The archeological landscape of the Shire region, Western Tigray, Ethiopia. Annales d’Éthiopie, 21(1), 7–29

Gaudiello, M. (2019). The Ethiopian in South Arabia. What information do we have on Ethiopia? The archaeological drama. In J.-F. Breton and F. Villeneuve (eds), La guerre en Arabie antique: actes des 22e Rencontres sabéennes, Paris, 21–23 juin 2018 (pp. 209–246). Paris: Geuthner

Gaudiello, M. (2020). The first short visit of PCMA in Tigray (Northern Ethiopia). An overview of the activities and an attempt to date the archaeological sites. Nyame Akuma, 94, 4–10

Gaudiello, M. (forthcoming). Polish archaeological research in Tigray (PolART): A note on the activities at Däbrä Gərgis, 2020 season. Rassegna di Studi Etiopici

Gaudiello, M. and Mackiewicz, M. (2021). The Debre Gergis archaeological site: Polish research in the Tigray region of Ethiopia (preliminary results). Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean, 30/2, 477–511

Hahn, W. (2000). Askumite numismatics—A critical survey of recent research. Revue Numismatique, 6(155), 281–311

Hatke, G. (2013). Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, commerce, and political fictions in ancient Northeast Africa. New York: New York University Press

Manzo, A. (2020). The Eastern Desert in the 1st millennium BCE and 1st millennium CE. In G. Emberling and B. Williams (eds), The Oxford handbook of ancient Nubia (pp. 671–696). Oxford: Oxford University Press

Marrassini, P. (ed.). (2014). Storia e leggenda dell’Etiopia tardoantica: le iscrizioni reali aksumite. Brescia: Paideia

Munro-Hay, S.C. (1991). Aksum: An African civilisation of late antiquity. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press

Phillipson, D.W. (2010). Ancient churches of Ethiopia: Fourth–fourteenth centuries. Addis Ababa: Arada Books

Phillipson, D.W. (2014). Foundations of an African civilisation: Aksum and the Northern Horn, 1000 BC – AD 1300. Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University Press; James Currey

Robin, C. (1989). La première intervention abyssine en Arabie méridionale (de 200 à 270 de l'ère chrétienne environ). In Taddesse Beyene (ed.), Proceedings of Eighth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies II (pp. 147–162). Institute of Ethiopian Studies: Addis Ababa

Wendrich, W. (2020). Lord of the Rings: Archaeology in Shire, Ethiopia. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQyAPWUCul0 (accessed: 17.10.2021)

Wenig, S. (2006). Abriss der archäologishen Erforschung Äthiopiens und Eritreas bis zur Deutschen Aksum-Expedition. In S. Wenig (ed.), In kaiserlichem Auftrag: Die deutsche Aksum-Expedition 1906 unter Enno Littmann I. Die Akteure und die wissenschaftlichen Unternehmungen der DAE in Eritrea (=Forschungen zur Archäologie außereuropäischer Kulturen 3/1) (pp. 27–32). Aichwald: Linden-Soft

Wilding, R.F. (1989). The pottery. In S.C. Munro-Hay, Excavations at Aksum: An account of research at the ancient Ethiopian capital directed in 1972–4 by the late Dr. Neville Chittick (=British Institute in Eastern Africa Memoir 10) (pp. 235–316). London: British Institute in Eastern Africa

Similar publications