CARVING PROCESS AND CONSTRUCTION SITES OF ROCK-CUT MONUMENTS IN THE TIGRAY REGION: A NEW PROJECT
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 2021-02-18

Ethiopia is well-known for its rock-cut sites located in its northern part. Since 2010, a new research program mainly held in Lalibela – a site registered by the UNESCO – studies carving process of medieval churches and monasteries. Tigray region is another area, about 400 km north of the famous UNESCO site, where a lot of rock-cut churches can be found. There, monuments are carved on the top of hills (Imba) or in hollows inside the valleys. Some of these rock-cut churches have been studied by art historians but there is no archaeological analysis of these monuments.

Through three case studies, this paper aims to point how the construction site of these monuments can be analysed by proposing two approaches: The first is technical and geological. It proposes to explain the carving process used to create the building and choices made by stoneworkers to avoid geological difficulties. The second is ethno-archaeological. These churches are still in used today, construction legends and manual techniques to restore them being still known by villagers and monks. As a result, the collection of testimonies is an opportunity to discern economic and cultural issues in communities living in and with these rock-cut monuments.


Author(s): Lamesa, Anaïs (IFEA) - Atsba Hailu, Hailay (Adigrat university)