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# Introduction of Special issue: a Glimpse on Archeology
## in Ethiopia Today

Caroline Robion-Brunner, Alemseged Beldados

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► To cite this version:

Caroline Robion-Brunner, Alemseged Beldados. Introduction of Special issue: a Glimpse on Archeology in Ethiopia Today. Annales d'Éthiopie, 2024, 35. hal-04810602

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Public Domain
Special issue/Numéro spécial

A Glimpse on Archaeology
in Ethiopia Today

*Un aperçu de l'archéologie
en Éthiopie aujourd'hui*
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Alemseged Beldados*, Caroline Robion-Brunner**

Introduction to the special issue

The history of archaeology as a modern, systematically, and methodolog-
ically coherent discipline in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa can be traced
back to the beginning of the 20th century. Among the earliest examples is the
well-known Deutche-Aksum Expedition (DAE), which was undertaken in
Aksum in 1906 as the first large scale survey and test excavation. Members
of the expedition described many monuments, ancient structures, and ruins
visible along the road from Kuhayto to Aksum. 1 The DAE was followed
by archaeological missions and expeditions that focused on mapping monu-
ments, obelisks, artifacts, and megaliths as well as burial markers of both elite
and common members of society. Historical, hagiographic, and philological
studies substantiated this development by documenting and describing an-
cient churches, monasteries, manuscripts, and archival materials (Bard et al.,
2014; Hiluf Berhe, 2015). The geographic focus of the research was Aksum
and the immediate influences of the Aksumite Empire. The methodological
approaches of the studies at this phase focused on the reconstruction of the
chronology and culture-history of the Aksumite kingdom (Anfray, 1990;
Phillipson, 2014). This early phase of archaeological research in Ethiopia can
be termed as the “Descriptive Stage” and was not much different from a global
phenomenon in archaeological research observable during the “Processual
Archaeology” theoretical framework (Clarke, 1968; Binford & Binford, 1968;
Hodder, 2009; Kelly & Thomas, 2017; Johnson, 2019). This kind of approach
more or less continued until the 1970s.

With the onset of “post-Processual Archaeology” in the 1980s, symbolic,
analytical, and interpretative research became more popular (Preucel, 1991).
Research started to focus on evolutionary studies with new approaches, such as

<footnote>* Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Wilmington (UNCW).
** CNRS, Centre français des études éthiopiennes (UAR3137), UMR5608/TRACES. Corresponding authors: alehoa@uncw.edu; caroline.robion-brunner@univ-tlse2.fr.
¹ The expedition was led by one of the leading orientalist, Enno Littman. Under his leadership there were an architect, photographers and draftsman, physician and other co-workers. The mission was sponsored by Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and facilitated by the then governor of Tigray Gabrasellasie Barya Gabr (Denizot, 2020).</footnote>
the study of early food production (Dombrowski, 1971; Harrower et al., 2010; D'Andrea et al., 2011; Alemseged Beldados, 2015; Ruiz-Giralt, 2023). Pre-historic archaeology focusing on the study of Early Stone Age (ESA), Middle Stone Age (MSA), and Late Stone Age (LSA) archaeology in association with hominid evolution dominated the scene (Brandt & Fattovich, 1990; Gilbert & Asfaw, 2009; Yonas Beyene, 2013; Behailu Habte, 2020). Post 1990s and 2000s, the Middle Ages, previously mainly studied by historians, also gradually became a focus of Ethiopian archaeology, and thus allowed access to other levels of interpretation of ancient occupations that were complementary to those present in written sources (Finneran, 2007; Fauvelle-Aymar & Hirsch, 2011; Derat & Joucquand, 2012; Derat & Bosc-Tiessé, 2019). The geographic focus also expanded from the northern highlands to include the central and southern part of the country (Fauvelle Aymar & Poissonnier, 2012; Joussaume & Cros, 2017; Alebachew Belay, 2020). Then, the ethno-archaeological methodological approach, which is employed for a better understanding of past societies through the study of contemporary traditional societies, emerged in the research scene (D'Andrea et al., 1999; Arthur, 2006; Hildebrandt, 2003; Gonzales-Ruibal, 2014).

Initially set up by foreign researchers under the impetus of first Menelik II and then Haile Selassie, archaeology as a subject in Ethiopia is now rooted in a variety of territories and themes and is the fruit of national and international collaboration. Historically, travellers, and then academics have increasingly excavated in and out of Ethiopia and have set the foundation for what has become one of the most prestigious disciplines in the country.

The institutional history of archaeology dates back to Emperor Haile Selassie, who initially failed to establish such an institution before the Italian invasion in 1936. But, it was soon created after the War, in 1952, with the foundation of the Institute of Ethiopian Archaeology as a section of the National Library and with the involvement of French scientists through the collaboration of the French government<fnref n="2" />. In the heart of this history of science thus stands the history of the Department of Archaeology of Addis Ababa University and the Ethiopian Heritage Authority (heir of the archaeological section), with whom the French Center for Ethiopian Studies maintains extremely close and fruitful relations.

*Les Annales d'Éthiopie* has been the main journal outlet publishing most of the above developments since its first issue in 1955.³ For the 35th issue (2023),

<footnote n="2">² One of the most famous of these was Francis Anfray, to whom a tribute is dedicated in this volume. ³ The journal has been publishing articles with wider thematic contents ranging in time from Early Stone Age to recent past in different geographic settings and themes that include many disciplines within the scope of social sciences and humanities. All volumes are accessible online: https://www.persee.fr/collection/ethio.</footnote>
we wanted to highlight some recent archaeological missions and their research
outputs. Although not all aspects of current research can be presented in this
special issue, we believe the collection of six papers provides a good overview
of the diversity and complexity of the fields and sites studied. It allows us to
understand, appreciate, and grasp current trends in archaeological research,
to assess paradigm shifts, to observe regional and thematic centres of interest,
and to identify new methodological approaches. Three papers focus on
specific areas and chronological periods while the other three are deliberately
diachronic, and one of the two is not limited to one geographical area but
has attempted to cover the whole of Ethiopia. Although the chronological
periods are very far apart on the timeline, the first three articles have in
common the desire to reconstruct the environment in which people lived and
in which societies developed their culture. The two articles that follow present
programs that break away from a restricted chronology and/or geography.
The researchers also examine the capacity of human groups to adapt to climate
changes, to the natural conditions of their territory, and to their cultural habits
and identities. By choosing as their subject of study questions that have been
little studied until now, the researchers feel obliged to recontextualize their
subject within a broader context, as they wish to establish new research themes.

Thus, this special issue ‘A Glimpse on Archaeology in Ethiopia Today’
opens up the beginnings of prehistory with the following observation: despite
the importance of the question of the emergence, bio-cultural development,
and dispersal of our *Homo sapiens* ancestors inside and outside Africa, there
are few well-dated Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeological sites in open-air
contexts in East Africa. In order to overcome this obstacle, Fusco *et al*. from
the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza’ set up a research project based on field
missions to explore the remains of the MSA present in the southern part of
the Main Ethiopian Rift. The discovery of the Gotera site, with its wealth
of archaeological and environmental data from the Upper Pleistocene, finally
provides an opportunity to study an open-air MSA site, thereby renewing our
knowledge of the cultural history of *Homo sapiens*.

The second paper presents a recent lithic study from the excavated B1S1
site on the edge of the Lake Ziway-Shala basin (Main Rift Valley), dated back
to the Terminal Pleistocene (~29-12,000 years BP). Through a technological
analysis, Behailu Habte et al. set out to study how humans adapted to the
aridification of the landscape. In the geographical area studied, lake levels fell
sharply and vegetation became increasingly scarce during the late Pleistocene.
Hunter-gatherers had to adapt their lithic production to cope up with these
difficult climatic conditions. Relying on their own technological skills, they
directed their lithic production towards the manufacture of scrapers and
burins, better suited to the 'encounter hunting' used to capture animal species
inhabiting arid lands. Thanks to the reliable dating of the B1S1 site, the authors
of this study were able to compare their data with other Terminal Pleistocene sites previously described in the region and propose a more complete scenario for the evolution of lithic techniques.

The article by Alemseged Beldados et al. looks at the medieval period through the prism of dietary habits. Previously, the geographical focus of archaeobotanical research in Ethiopia had generally favoured the north and north-east of the country rather than the east as well as the prehistoric or Aksumite rather than medieval contexts. Archaeological investigations at the Harlaa site have enabled archaeobotanical analyses to be carried out. Their results show the predominance of cereal consumption, such as emmer wheat (Triticum monoccocum), barley (Hordeum), chickpeas (Cicer arietinum), and lentils (Lens culinaris), to the detriment of indigenous crops such as teff (Eragrostis tef) and finger millet (Eleusine coracana). It is indicated that the Muslim community that settled in this commercial center between the 6th and 15th centuries AD retained their Middle Eastern dietary habits. Analysis of woody botanical remains suggests that the environment was warmer and drier at Harlaa than it is today.

Rock art sites in East Africa have been the subject of more or less extensive research for at least 40 years. However, the research carried out in Ethiopia in particular has varied considerably from region to region. Thanks to the article by Tadele Solomon et al., we now have access to the initial results of a new project carried out in southern Oromia, more specifically in the Borana area. Although identified by researchers since the 1940s, these graphic expressions found in rock shelters and open-air sites, often associated with residual traces of archaeological deposits, had not yet been properly analyzed. The data collected in the field and studied in the laboratory are opening up new perspectives in terms of the physical and chemical characteristics of the paintings, their state of preservation, chronology and stylistic issues. The results are discussed for the first time within the broader framework of rock art research in East Africa, integrating archaeological research, preservation, and heritage management.

The ancient period of northern Ethiopia, which has been the subject of much research since the beginning of archaeology in Ethiopia, is addressed here by Dorso et al. with the presentation of the first results from the site of Čärqos Kwiha in the eastern Tigray region. This site has been mentioned several times in the literature, before being excavated for the first time during two campaigns in 2018 and 2019. The preliminary results of the excavation of two monumental buildings allow Dorso et al. to describe the chronological phases of an Aksumite occupation from the 2nd to the 9th century BC. It confirms the expansion of the Aksumite culture into southeastern Tigray and the region's connection to the network of urban or proto-urban sites further north, as well as to regional and more distant trade routes. It also accurately
documents the various periods of transformation that occurred after the fall of Aksum and the continuity of the occupation until the 16th century. A detailed study of the material collected in 2018 embellishes our knowledge of ancient local ceramic production.

This special issue closes with a plea for palaeometallurgy. The article by Robion-Brunner *et al.* exposes a major gap in the history of technologies by addressing the question of the history of metal production and use in Ethiopia. Despite the importance of these materials and metal tools in the development of so-called complex societies, few researchers have taken a specific interest in this subject. Following a chronological order, Robion-Brunner *et al.* present the various palaeometallurgical remains unearthed in Ethiopia, along with ethnographic data on the role of blacksmiths and silversmiths. In drawing up this exhaustive review, the authors attempt to write this forgotten history and to identify the subjects, periods, and areas to be investigated by future archaeologists and historians.

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