Reconsidering Yeha, c. 800–400 BC

Abstract

Yeha, in Tigray, is the most impressive site with evidence for South Arabian influence dating to the first millennium BC in the northern Horn of Africa (Eritrea and northern Ethiopia). The evidence from this site was used to identify a 'Pre-Aksumite' or 'Ethiopian-Sabean' Period (mid-first millennium BC) when an early Afro-Arabian state apparently arose in the region. A 'Pre-Aksumite Culture', characterised by South Arabian elements, was also suggested as a distinctive archaeological culture in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea. However, recent fieldwork in these countries suggests that a Pre-Aksumite culture actually did not exist and South Arabian features were restricted to a few sites, which were scattered in a mosaic of different archaeological cultures in the first millennium BC. This hypothesis is tested through a comparison between the ceramics from Yeha and those from Matara and other sites of the first millennium BC in Tigray and Eritrea.Résumé Yeha (Tigray) est le site du premier millénaire av. J.-C. le plus remarquable du nord de la Corne de l'Afrique (Erythrée et Ethiopie du nord) en matière d'influences sud-arabiques. Les données de ce site ont été utilisées pour définir une période 'préaksoumite' ou 'éthiosabéenne' (datant du milieu du premier millénaire av. J.-C.), marquée par l'apparente émergence d'un état afro-arabique dans la région. On a aussi suggéré l'existence d'une culture archéologique 'pré-aksoumite' en Ethiopie du nord et en Erythrée, caracterisée par la présence d'éléments sud-arabiques. Cependant, des nouvelles recherches mettent maintenant en doute l'existence de cette 'culture pré-aksoumite' et suggèrent que les éléments sudarabiques se limitent à quelques sites du premier millénaire av. J.-C. répartis en une mosaïque de différentes cultures archéologiques. Cette hypothèse est ici confrontée aux résultats d'une comparaison systématique entre les poteries de Yeha, Matara, et d'autres sites du Tigray et d'Erythrée datant du premier millénaire av. J.-C.

Variability in Eritrea and the Archaeology of the Northern Horn During the First Millennium BC: Subsistence, Ritual, and Gold Production

“…Incorporating the use of 'ona' by Tringali (1965)-the Triginya word for 'ruins'-the Ancient Ona designation leaves behind some vexing cultural characterizations while also opening intellectual space to focus on variation within the northern Horn. Comparisons between the coeval early to mid-first millennium BC sites of Ethiopia and the Ancient Ona of Greater Asmara certainly show that there are affinities between these two zones within a larger region (Fattovich 2009) but importantly also affirm there are noteworthy differences that testify to unique developmental trajectories deserving to be understood free of biasing labels. 1 Among the developments that distinguish the greater Asmara sub-region from other parts of the northern Horn during the early and mid-first millennium BC is the more detailed and nuanced knowledge we now have for subsistence practices across a geographically bounded research universe.…”

The First Millennium bc in the Highlands of Northern Ethiopia and South–Central Eritrea: A Reassessment of Cultural and Political Development

“…Epigraphic comparisons tied to the 'short chronology' favoured by southern Arabian specialists in the 1960s suggested a date for the Great Temple no earlier than 500 BC. More recent views of southern Arabian epigraphy and architecture would favour an age some two or three centuries greater (Robin & de Maigret 1998;Bron 2002;Fattovich 2009;Manzo 2009). …”

“…In the east, it has also been demonstrated by Catherine D' Andrea et al (2008) around Gulo Makeda in northeastern Tigray. Currently, local variation between such communities is mainly recognisable in the pottery (Fattovich 2009), although Schmidt (2009), in a study which has wide-reaching implications, also demonstrates its potential importance in other areas.…”

“…2 Radiocarbon age-determinations from Ancient Ona sites (Schmidt et al 2008a) and D site at Kidane Mehret (D. , with calibrations at 95% probability. AMS determinations are indicated by asterisks see also Anfray 1974) revealed a sequence in which could be recognised two successive phases of occupation-again undated in absolute terms-preceding the Aksumite town; full details are not yet available, but both these early phases are generally designated 'Pre-Aksumite' (Anfray 1990: 33-38; summary in Curtis & Habtemichael 2008: 316-321; see also Fattovich 2009). Between 1998 and 2002, Peter Schmidt led students from Asmara and Florida in intensive investigation of sites in the greater Asmara area (Schmidt et al 2008a;Schmidt 2009;Curtis 2009); their work greatly amplified, but did not significantly contradict, Tringali's conclusions.…”

“…At Yeha, a long succession of occupations is indicated (Fattovich 2009), although no part of it has yet been directly dated radiometrically. There is general agreement that the Great Temple is the oldest surviving feature, although Robin and de Maigret (1998;see also Manzo 2009) have indicated that it incorporates materials from an earlier but broadly analogous structure; this might have stood some 30 m to the north of the Great Temple, on the highest point of the hill occupied by the modern church and its predecessor, since it is otherwise not easy to understand why the Great Temple itself is not on the summit.…”