African Archaeological Review, Vol. 17, No.

2, 2000

The Environmental History of Tigray (Northern Ethiopia) in the Middle and Late Holocene: A Preliminary Outline
Kathryn A. Bard,1 Mauro Coltorti,2 Michael C. DiBlasi,3 Francesco Dramis,4 and Rodolfo Fattovich5

This paper outlines the environmental history of the Tigrean Plateau (northern Ethiopia) during the Holocene, based on the available geomorphological, palynological, archaeological, and historical evidence. At present, it seems that (1) the plateau experienced a more humid climate with a denser vegetation cover during the Early Holocene; (2) Soil erosion due to clearing vegetation began in the Middle Holocene; (3) agricultural activity was intensied in the Late Holocene, as a consequence of the rise of a state; (4) demographic pressure increased from the early rst millennium BC to the midrst millennium AD, causing soil erosion; (5) environmental degradation and demographic decline occurred in the late rst millennium AD; (6) the vegetation cover was regenerated in the early second millennium AD; and (7) progressive vegetation clearance started again in the second half of the second millennium AD. Cet article trace lhistoire ambiante du Plateau Tigr een dans lHoloc` ene en utilisant les donn ees g eomorphologiques, palynologiques, arch eologiques et his tait caract toriques. Il semble que (1) dans lHoloc` ene ancien le plateau e eris e par une phase humide avec une dense v eg etation; (2) l erosion caus ee par labbattage de la v eg etation commenc a dans lHoloc` ene moyen; (3) lactivit e agricole ` la n de lHoloc` tat; (4) la sint ensia a ene, par cons equence de lessor dun e pression d emographique augmenta de plus en plus du d ebut du premier mill enaire
1 Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts

02215.
2 Dipartimento 3 African

di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Siena, Siena, Italy. Studies Center and Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts

02215.
4 Dipartimento 5 Dipartimento

di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Roma III, Roma, Italy. di Studi e Ricerche su Africa e Paesi Arabi, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Piazza San Domanico Maggiore 12, 80134 Napoli, Italy. 65
0263-0338/00/0600-0065$18.00/0
C

2000 Plenum Publishing Corporation

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Bard, Coltorti, DiBlasi, Dramis, and Fattovich

` la moiti av. J.-Ch. a e du premier mill enaire ap. J.-Ch.; (5) la d egradation am` la n du premier mill biante et la diminution d emographique se v eri` erent a enaire ap. J.-Ch.; (6) une r eg eneration de la vegetation se v eria au d ebut du seconde mill enaire ap. J.-Ch.; et (7) labbatage de la v eg etation recommenc a dans la seconde moiti e du seconde mill enaire ap. J.-Ch.
KEY WORDS: Holocene; environment; history; Tigray; Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION We present in this contribution the major episodes in the environmental history of the Tigrean Plateau (northern Ethiopia) during the Middle and Late Holocene using the available geomorphologic, palynological, archaeological, and historical evidence. The work presented here is the product of a collaborative, multidisciplinary research project on the cultural and environmental history of Tigray, in progress under afliation agreements among Addis Ababa University, Boston University, and the Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples.6 The main goals of the project are to reconstruct the dynamics of human environmental relationships in northern Ethiopia from the rise of complex society to the present and to contribute to an understanding of present-day land degradation and its causes. The project involves eldwork conducted in northern Tigray, where Aksum, the capital of a powerful African state, arose in the late rst millennium BC (Fattovich, 1994a) (Fig. 1). Previous reports detailing the projects research design and eldwork were presented at the Twelfth International Conference of Ethiopian Studies held at Michigan State University, East Lansing, in September 1994 (Assefa and Russo, 1994; Bard, 1994, 1997a; DiBlasi, 1994; McCann, 1994; Bard and Fattovich, 1997). ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND: AN OVERVIEW Tigray is the northernmost region of modern Ethiopia (Fig. 2). The geology of Tigray is, for the most part, the result of volcanic activity, and the topography of the region is dominated by a broken plateau that forms a rolling upland ranging from about 1000 to more than 3500 m in altitude (Ethiopian Mapping Agency, 1988; Wilson, 1977). The climate of the plateau is temperate, but environmental conditions vary with altitude; annual temperatures range between 15 and 25 C, and the mean annual rainfall ranges from 700 to 1200 mm, mostly in the summer months (JuneAugust). Most of the plateau is covered by soils with low to good agricultural potential (Ethiopian Mapping Agency, 1988). It has been suggested that a large part of the highlands of northern Ethiopia, including the Tigrean Plateau, was forested in earlier times (Pankhurst, 1990b, p. 275;
6 The Istituto Universitario OrientaleBoston University Archaeological Expedition at Aksum, directed

by Rodolfo Fattovich and Kathryn Bard, has conducted research at Bieta Giyorgis, Aksum, since 1993.

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Fig. 1. Ethiopia, with the location of Aksum, northern Tigrai.

Simoons, 1960, p. 210). The extent to which forest or woodland communities may have covered the region is unknown, however, as virtually no research has been done on the vegetation history of northern Ethiopia (DiBlasi, 1997, pp. 5051). In the absence of palaeobotanical evidence, the nature of past vegetation communities has been reconstructed using information on the composition, ecology, and bioclimatic distribution of extant forests, woodlands, and grasslands. Plant ecologists infer that the climax vegetation of Tigray was dry evergreen, montane forest dominated by Juniperus procera and Olea europea ssp. africana at altitudes above 2200 m, mixed Podocarpus graciliorJuniperus procera forest in moister

68 Bard, Coltorti, DiBlasi, Dramis, and Fattovich

Fig. 2. Locational map of Tigrai with the main sites quoted in the text.

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areas between 1400 and 2200 m, and deciduous wooded grassland (with species of Acacia, Ficus, Euphorbia, Cordia, Croton, Olea, Albizia, Lannea, Combretum, Terminalia, and Commiphora among the more important arboreal taxa) at altitudes below 2200 m (Ethiopian Mapping Agency, 1988; Feoli, 1994, pp. 1112; Friis, 1986; Wilson, 1977). The vegetation pattern of today, however, is dominated by montane grassland, with only small, remnant forests in isolated areas of the plateau (Butzer, 1981, pp. 474476; Feoli, 1994, pp. 1112; Wilson, 1977). Based on the accounts of the rst European travelers, the barren landscape of present-day northern Ethiopia dates to before the 17th century (Pankhurst, 1961, 1992; Pankhurst and Ingrams, 1988). It is likely that the Tigray region experienced the same Holocene climatic uctuations as the Horn of Africa, a pattern that shares common features with Holocene climatic uctuations of North Africa. In both areas present-day climatic conditions seem to have been established since the second millennium BC, but a subordinate humid phase is reported to have occurred between 500 BC and AD 500 (Adamson, 1982; Butzer, 1971, 1981, 1982a; Gasse et al., 1980; Gowlett, 1988; Grove, 1993; Hassan, 1997; Williams, 1982, 1988). The social and economic development of Tigray has been greatly affected by environmental factors. The region experiences major environmental hazards: rainfall uctuations causing droughts and famine, earthquakes, invasions of locust swarms, and epidemics (Ethiopian Mapping Agency, 1988; Pankhurst, 1990a; Zein and Kloos, 1988). Human activity has compounded the effects of environmental hazards through the diffusion of epidemics, warfare, and land-use practices (e.g., deforestation, overintensive cultivation, and livestock grazing, which accelerated soil erosion). Given the complex, dynamic nature of the interactions among the cultural and environmental components of the ecosystem, a processual approach to the reconstruction of humanenvironmental relationships in the Holocene is crucial for an understanding of past and present-day problems of environmental degradation and social development in the region (see Butzer, 1981, 1982b; Dramis and Fattovich, 1994). CULTURAL HISTORY: AN OUTLINE The prehistory of Tigray has received little archaeological attention and is poorly understood (Fattovich, 1997a). Lithic industries, possibly dating to the Early Holocene, have been recorded in the region of Aksum, but their signicance is still uncertain (Puglisi, 1941, 1946). Archaeological evidence from Gobedra rock-shelter, also near Aksum, spans the period from ca. 8000 BC to historic times and has furnished the rst dated succession of Later Stone Age industries in northern Ethiopia (Phillipson, 1977). Although the research at Gobedra yielded important data on stone tool technology and other aspects of cultural development in the Late Stone Age, the information available thus far is very limited and does not provide even a general understanding of this period.

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The Ethiopian and Eritrean highland region has long been recognized as an important center of African plant domestication and agricultural innovation, but our understanding of the beginnings of food production in this region is poor (see Brandt, 1984; Harlan, 1969, 1971, 1993; Phillipson, 1993). The highland Ethiopian agricultural complex is viewed as a combination of indigenous crops including teff (Eragrostis teff ), noog (Guizotia abyssinica), and perhaps nger millet (Eleusine coracana)that have been added to elements of the Near Eastern crop complex (Harlan, 1992, pp. 6768). The considerable number of endemic varieties of imported Near Eastern cereals (wheat and barley) and legumes (chick pea, lentil, and fava bean) found in Ethiopia suggests a rather long and complex history of local cultivation and genetic diversication there (Harlan, 1982, 1992). Archaeological data pertaining to this complex history, however, are quite limited (Bard, 1997b; Phillipson, 1990, 1993). Archaeological evidence from the lowlands along the EritreanSudanese borderland and the plateau in Eritrea suggests that food producing societies were living in these regions since the late fourth/third and second millennia BC, respectively (Clark, 1976, 1980, 1988; Fattovich, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1997a; Fattovich et al., 1988; Marks and Sadr, 1988; Sadr, 1991). This might point to an introduction of domesticated livestock and cultigens, such as wheat and barley, on the Tigray plateau in the Middle Holocene (Bard, 1997b). Linguistic evidence suggests that food production began on the plateau in the Early Holocene (Ehret, 1979) and that plow agriculture was being practiced in late prehistoric times (Simoons, 1965), but these assertions have yet to be conrmed by archaeological evidence (Bard, 1997b). The recent discovery of rock-pictures in Temben (southern Tigray) suggests that cattle herders were moving in this region in late prehistoric times (Negash, 1997). The Late Holocene history of the Tigrean Plateau was marked by the formation of states (Fattovich, 1993, 1997a,b; Munro-Hay, 1993). In the midrst millennium BC the kingdom of Daamat (ca. 700/600400/300 BC), a state-level urban society with strong South Arabian (Sabaean) characteristics arose on the Tigrean plateau as a result of long-term cultural and economic interaction between South Arabians and indigenous peoples. The material remains of this state are identied in the archaeological record with the Pre-Aksumite Culture. The territory of the Ethio-Sabaean state stretched from the Shir e plateau in northern Tigray to the Akkele Guzay region of central Eritrea. Yeha, near Adwa, was the major Daamat settlement in Tigray (Anfray, 1973, 1990; Conti Rossini, 1928; de Contenson, 1981; Drewes, 1962; Fattovich, 1990; Ricci, 1984). The Ethio-Sabaean state collapsed in Tigray (Late Pre-Aksumite Phase), and a new complex society with a different cultural pattern arose on the plateau near Aksum in the late rst millennium BC (Anfray, 1990; Fattovich, 1990). The material evidence of this new complex society is provisionally identied in the archaeological record with the so-called Proto-Aksumite remains (ca. 400 100 BC) recently discovered at Bieta Giyorgis to the northwest of Aksum (Bard

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and Fattovich, 1993, 1995; Bard et al., 1997; Fattovich and Bard, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997). Complex society in the region of Aksum developed into a proper state (kingdom of Aksum; ca. AD 50900) in the early rst millennium AD. The material evidence of this state is identied in the archaeological record with the Aksumite culture (Anfray, 1981, 1990). A settlement was established on Bieta Giyorgis hill at Aksum in the rst century BC (Fattovich and Bard, 1996), and in the rst century AD Aksum was the capital of a kingdom that progressively expanded its control over the entire plateau in Tigray and Eritrea (Early Aksumite Phase; ca. 100 BCAD 400). A crucial event in the development of the kingdom of Aksum was the introduction of Christianity in the early fourth century. In the midrst millennium AD, the Aksumite kingdom went through a period of apparent economic stagnation (transitional Early/Middle Aksumite Phase; ca. late fourthmid sixth centuries). In the sixth and seventh centuries Aksum was again the capital city of a prosperous kingdom and controlled the trade from the African hinterland to the Red Sea (Middle Aksumite Phase). In the late rst millennium AD, the kingdom declined (Late Aksumite Phase; ca. 8th9th centuries), and it eventually disappeared in the 10th century (Anfray, 1990; Conti Rossini, 1928; Fattovich, 1988, 1997c; Hable Sellassie, 1972; Kobishchanov, 1979, 1981; Mekouria, 1981; Munro-Hay, 1991). The spread of Islam along the African coast of the Red Sea most likely had a signicant role in the decline of the kingdom of Aksum. The rise of a Muslim sultanate at Dahlak Kebir, east of Massawa, in the 9th century AD, and the Islamic penetration from the coast into eastern Ethiopia in the 9th and 10th centuries AD, progressively isolated the Christian kingdom and restricted its access to the main Indian Ocean trade circuit (Conti Rossini, 1928; Cuoq, 1981). By the ninth century AD the Christian kingdom shifted southward to Lasta (Wollo Province) and the capital moved from Aksum to a locality named Kabar/ Kaban or Soper, according to Islamic and Coptic sources (Conti Rossini, 1928; Hable Sellassie, 1972; Tamrat, 1972). Apparently, no true town existed on the Tigrean plateau at this time. Archaeological evidence of this kingdom consists mainly of rock-hewn churches in central Tigray dating to the 10th15th centuries AD (Anfray, 1990; Fattovich, 1993; Lepage, 1975).

HOLOCENE HUMANENVIRONMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS Paleoenvironmental Evidence Much environmental diversity prevails in Tigray, and at present the geomorphologic, palynological, and archaeological research conducted in Tigray can provide only a broad outline of the dynamics of humanenvironmental relationships on the plateau during the Holocene (see Bard, 1997b; Bard and Fattovich, 1995;

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Bard et al., 1997; Brancaccio et al., 1997; Butzer, 1981, 1982b; Fattovich, 1994b; Fattovich and Bard, 1995, 1997; Michels, 1988, 1994). Geomorphologic research recently conducted in central and northern Tigray has demonstrated that these regions experienced alluvial sedimentation during the Upper Pleistocene, suggesting strong erosional dynamics on slopes largely deprived of vegetation cover (Brancaccio et al., 1997). Exactly when this sedimentation ceased is unknown, but it appears that the alluvial sediments were covered by dense vegetation up to the Middle Holocene. This is indicated by the fact that, where outcrops of the Upper Pleistocene alluvial sediments occur, vertisols and andosols (which develop under conditions of dense vegetation cover) are commonly encountered. The older radiocarbon dates of these soils, buried by more recent sediments along the Meskilo River, south of Mekelle, range between 8300 100 BP (Rome-516), calibrated to 7412, 7363, and 7313 BC, and 6730 90 BP (Rome-511), calibrated to 5593 BC (Stuiver and Reimer, 1993). The presence of a thick vegetation cover on the plateau in the Middle Holocene is also attested by travertine deposition, favored by the enrichment of carbon dioxide in soils through the decay of organic matter. The travertine of Mai Makden, 20 km north of Mekelle, provided radiocarbon dates between 7310 90 BP (Rome-518), calibrated to 6156, 6144, 6125, 6084, and 5070 BC, and 5160 80 BP (Rome-517), calibrated to 3969 BC. The travertine deposition was probably interrupted due to a reduction in vegetation cover, which may have been the result of both human activity and climatic change to more arid conditions. In other areas, close to the eastern edge of the plateau, the vegetation cover persisted up to the third millennium BC. This may indicate that present-day environmental conditions began in the second millennium BC (Beraki et al., 1995, 1997). Stratigraphic evidence and radiocarbon dates also show that central and northern Tigray were marked by a long period of soil erosion after the early second millennium BC. In many places, Early Holocene soils and travertine deposits are buried by alluvial sediments many meters thick. This sedimentation may have resulted from erosion caused by progressive vegetation clearance by human activity (Brancaccio et al., 1994). Geomorphologic data of the type described above suggest alternating periods of vegetation reduction and regeneration, but pollen studies are required to reconstruct the characteristics of vegetation communities and their changing patterns through time (DiBlasi, 1997). Although palynologists have investigated aspects of vegetation history and climatic change in central and southern Ethiopia (e.g., Bonnelle and Hamilton, 1986; Mohammed, 1994; Mohammed and Bonnelle, 1991), no pollen analyses have been published for the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia. Recently, however, exploratory studies of pollen deposition and preservation characteristics have begun on samples taken from archaeological sediments at Ona Enda Aboi Zewg e (OAZ) and Ona Nagast (ON), on Bieta Giyorgis hill,

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Aksum (Bard et al., 1997; DiBlasi, 1996, 2000).7 The initial results of these analyses offer insights on the characteristics of local vegetation cover in Aksumite and Pre-Aksumite times. The open vegetation pattern indicated by sedimentary evidence from the second millennium BC is also found in four pollen samples from a late Pre-Aksumite site (OAZ III) (DiBlasi, 1996). The pollen samples were taken from cultural deposits that can be dated to the middle to late rst millennium BC on the basis of associated pottery (Bard et al., 1997; Fattovich, 1994b, 1995). Each of the four samples shows a striking dominance of nonarboreal pollen taxa: shrubs and herbs/grasses comprise at least 70 to 86% of the total identiable pollen in each sample. Moreover, the nonarboreal pollen are overwhelmingly those of plant families commonly associated with an open vegetation cover and/or soil disturbance caused by human settlement and land-use activities (see Hamilton, 1972, p. 89; Wilson, 1977). These include members of the Gramineae, Compositae, and Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae families, which together comprise 66 to 77% of the total identiable pollen in each sample. Arboreal pollen types, especially those that can be considered forest-indicator species, are either absent or very poorly represented (0.6 to 1.0% of the total identiable pollen in only two samples). This is true even for trees (e.g., Podocarpus gracilior, Juniperus procera, Olea, and Celtis) that produce great amounts of pollen which are dispersed over large areas by wind and thus would be expected to be present in the pollen assemblages as a long-distance transport component (Hamilton, 1972, pp. 9199). In general, the archaeological pollen assemblages exhibit the same types and frequency distributions as observed in the analysis of pollen in a modern surface sample taken from Bieta Giyorgis, which is a settled area dominated by shrubs and herbaceous vegetation (DiBlasi, 1996, 2000). The preliminary results of the pollen-analytical studies suggest that in the middle to late rst millennium BC the vegetation cover on Bieta Giyorgis hill was dominated by shrubs and herbaceous plants characteristic of open vegetation and areas of human settlement. The very low arboreal pollen frequencies in the samples (and virtual absence of tree pollen normally transported very long distances by wind) suggest that trees were not common components of the vegetation in the general area of Aksum. Geoarchaeological investigations conducted at Aksum in the early 1970s by Butzer (1981, 1982a,b) indicate that soil erosion was accelerated in Early Aksumite times (ca. 100 BCAD 400) by more abundant seasonal rains and land-use activities that reduced the vegetation cover. The net effect, however, did not signicantly reduce soil productivity. By Late Aksumite times (ca. AD 650800) a phase of culturally induced environmental degradation, caused by intensive land-use
7 The

pollen analyses reported in this paper were conducted at the laboratories of the Department of Archaeology, Boston University. Detailed descriptions of sediment characteristics, sampling methods, laboratory extraction techniques, and pollen analysis protocols are given by DiBlasi (1996, 2000).

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practices and aggravated by periodic heavy rains, accelerated the destruction of topsoil at Aksum, denuding slopes and reducing the agricultural potential of the land (Butzer, 1981, p. 487). Pollen evidence from Early and Middle Aksumite deposits on Bieta Giyorgis hill is consistent with Butzers interpretation that soils had been degraded and that the vegetation cover in the greater Aksum area was of an open nature (DiBlasi, 2000). Four pollen samples taken from sediments at ON V, a large Aksumite settlement, represent a period from Early Aksumite to Middle Aksumite times (ca. 100 BCAD 650). Analysis of the samples shows similarity among them in terms of the types and proportions of pollen represented. Nonarboreal pollen types range from 78 to 90% of the total identiable pollen in each sample. Disturbed-soil indicator taxa (Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Compositae, and Gramineae) range from 70 to 88% of the total in each sample. Several forest- or woodland-indicator arboreal taxa (i.e., Podocarpus gracilior, Syzygium guineense, Terminalia, Celtis, and Ficus) are present but very rare; as a group they comprise less than 0.1% of the total identiable pollen in each sample (DiBlasi, 2000). Given the pollen production and dispersal characteristics of Podocarpus and Celtis, it is likely that their representation here is the result of long-distance wind transport; it is unlikely that they were growing in the vicinity of Bieta Giyorgis. Ficus, Syzygium, and Terminalia produce small amounts of pollen that are not very well dispersed; these trees may have been growing in the general area, but in small numbers. In the rst millennium AD the pollen samples indicate a local vegetation pattern dominated by shrubs and herbaceous plants that thrive in areas of disturbed soil. Historical sources record a famine and plague in AD 831849 (Pankhurst, 1990a), which suggests environmental deterioration in the ninth century. In the region of Adigrat, about 85 km northeast of Aksum, geomorphologic evidence points to a short phase of soil formation at about 1250 60 BP (Rome513), calibrated to AD 779, and 970 60 BP (Rome-515), calibrated to AD 1032. This phase of soil formation has been related to the recovery of vegetation after the overexploitation of the previous millennium (Brancaccio et al., 1997). It was later followed by the accumulation of alluvial sediments, which continued until more recent times. Decreased population pressure after the decline of the Aksumite kingdom possibly led to the abandonment of the higher parts of the plateau and the consequent recovery of vegetation. At Adi Kolen, a village located to the south of Mekelle below Amba Aradam (at an altitude of ca. 3000 m), this phase of soil evolution lasted until 300 60 BP (Rome-509), calibrated to AD 1641. This suggests that, at least in this part of the region, a new phase of intense land clearance began in recent times (Brancaccio et al., 1997). Other evidence of soil erosion from the region of Mekelle and Aksum conrms that the deterioration of the ground cover was intensied by land use activities during the last century (Butzer, 1981; Virgo and Munro, 1978).

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Archaeological Evidence The Pre-Aksumite Period With the rise of the Ethio-Sabaean state in the midrst millennium BC, food production increased. The subsistence economy of this state certainly relied on agriculture and herding, and Pre-Aksumite settlements on the plateau were located at altitudes over 2000 m and in areas with good soils for cultivation (Fattovich, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1997a) (Fig. 3). Archaeological research in the region from Aksum to Yeha points to the location of Pre-Aksumite sites on low-gradient, highly fertile land that was optimal for plow cultivation and in narrow alluvial valleys requiring frequent fertility intervention by means of irrigation. The settlement pattern consisted of small villages (ca. 13 ha in size) and hamlets (less than 1 ha in size), about 2 to 3 km apart, with a major town at Yeha and important ceremonial centers in the Aksum region, at Hawlti, and possibly at Adi Atero and Seglamien (Michels, 1988, 1994). The subsistence economy of the Ethio-Sabaean state surely relied on agriculture and herding. Botanical remains recently collected in a Pre-Aksumite assemblage at Aksum are suggesting that teff was already cultivated in the rst millennium BC (Boardman, 1998). Faunal remains from a Pre-Aksumite assemblage at Ona Nagast, on the Bieta Giyorgis hill, Aksum, included cattle, sheep/goats, an unidentied carnivore, and a bird (Chaix, 1997). One bone of a possible domestic ox, dated to the rst millennium BC, was also found in a rock-shelter at Gobedra, near Aksum (Phillipson, 1977). This evidence conrms that cattle and sheep/goats were bred in Tigray. At that time cultivation of cereals is suggested by a few bronze sickles from elite tombs at Yeha, and a ritual deposit at Hawlti, dating to the midrst millennium BC (Anfray, 1963; de Contenson, 1963; Fattovich, 1990). Several large bronze stamps from elite tombs at Yeha also suggest the presence of livestock. The use of articial irrigation on the plateau is suggested by a masonry dam at Safra (Qohaito) in the Akkele Guzay region of central Eritrea (Dainelli and Marinelli, 1912; Littmann et al., 1913). The Safra dam is usually dated to Pre-Aksumite times on the basis of very close similarities to hydraulic works in South Arabia of the early rst millennium BC (Manzo, 1995), but attribution to Aksumite times cannot be excluded. Evidence dating to the thirdrst centuries BC is scarce (Anfray, 1990; Fattovich, 1988, 1990), but plow cultivation of cereals was certainly practiced on the plateau at this time (Fattovich, 1990; Phillipson, 1993). This is supported by two clay models of a plow-yoke from Hawlti, dating to the late rst millennium BC (de Contenson, 1963; Fattovich, 1990). Clay animal gurines from the same assemblage at Hawlti show only humpless cattle (de Contenson, 1963), suggesting that zebu cattle were not yet introduced onto the plateau. A rock-painting of a plow drawn by humpless oxen occurs at Amba Focada, near Adigrat in northern

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Fig. 3. Archaeological map of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea with the main Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite sites.

Tigray (Graziosi, 1941; Leclant and Miquel, 1959; Mordini, 1941). The age of this painting is uncertain, but its very schematic style suggests an early historical date (Fattovich, 1988; Phillipson, 1993). Archaeological survey data indicate that the Late Pre-Aksumite settlement pattern in the region from Aksum to Yeha consisted of hamlets and villages located

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on land with both high and low fertility value, requiring frequent fertility intervention and irrigation (Michels, 1988, 1994). Yeha continued to function as an important Ethio-Sabaean ceremonial center, and minor ceremonial centers were located in the Aksum region at Hawlti and Melazo (Fattovich, 1990). However, a massive man-made stone platform, with rough stelae and pit-graves, at the site of Ona Enda Aboi Zewg e, as well as a monumental building at Ona Nagast (Bieta Giyorgis) suggest that a major new ceremonial center connected with elite funerary rituals emerged in the region of Aksum at the end of the rst millennium BC (Bard and Fattovich, 1993, 1995, 1997; Bard et al., 1997; Fattovich and Bard, 1993, 1995). The settlement pattern of the northern Tigrean Plateau suggests that population density was constant in the region during the rst millennium BC (Fattovich, 1993). In fact, there was no signicant increase in the number of settlements in the region between Aksum and Yeha through the entire Pre-Aksumite Period. On the contrary, the recorded sites suggest a major dispersal of population just before the rise of the Daamat kingdom, a concentration of population in a few larger settlements at the time of the kingdom, and another dispersal of population after the decline of Daamat (Michels, 1994). The Aksumite Period At present, very little is known about the Aksumite subsistence economy. Using circumstantial archaeological, historical, and ethnographic evidence, scholars have assumed that cereals such as wheat, barley, and possibly teff were cultivated in Aksumite times by means of ox-drawn plows, very much as they are today (Bard, 1997b; Phillipson, 1993, 1998). The importance of emmer wheat as a crop can be inferred from its representation on Aksumite coins (Phillipson, 1993). Until recently, however, archaeological research did not provide material evidence for the crops that were cultivated and when they were incorporated into the Aksumite subsistence economy. The implementation of systematic sampling and water-otation processing of sediments from archaeological sites, undertaken for the rst time in 1995, has contributed important information for the investigation of Aksumite subsistence patterns (Bard et al., 1997; Fattovich and Bard, 1995) (Fig. 4). Our earliest evidence comes from a Proto-Aksumite site (ON I), where numerous carbonized grains of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare), along with bovine bones, have been identied in the sediments of a refuse deposit (Bard et al., 1997; Hansen, 1995). These remains were associated with a sample of charcoal radiocarbon dated to 2335 220 BP (GX21002), calibrated to 390 BC. This evidence points to a mixed farming subsistence economy in the region of Aksum in the second half of the rst millennium BC. Macrobotanical evidence dating to the Early through Middle Aksumite phases has come from deposits at a large, elite settlement complex at Ona Nagast, where

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Fig. 4. Palaeobotanical and faunal remains from Bieta Giyorgis, Aksum.

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the cultivation of cereals and legumes is conrmed by carbonized remains of a variety of domesticates. Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) and possibly domesticated teff (Eragrostis teff ), as well as remains of lentils (Lens culinaris) and grapes (Vitis vinifera), have been identied in Early Aksumite room-ll sediments, while occupation strata dating to transitional Early/Middle Aksumite times (ca. AD 400550/600) have yielded carbonized remains of bread wheat (Triticum aestivum), emmer wheat, and ax (Linum usitatissimum) (DAndrea, 1997). Emmer wheat, bread wheat, barley (Hordeum vulgare), and teff have been found in Middle Aksumite deposits at Ona Nagast (DAndrea, 1997; Hansen, 1995). Greater consumption of teff might be suggested by the occurrence, in Late Aksumite assemblages, of large dishes similar to the traditional trays used for injera, a thin, at bread made from teff (Phillipson, 1993). Excavations at a middle-rank domestic area on the plain to the east of Bieta Giyorgis hill have yielded plant remains dating to the fth and sixth centuries AD (Phillipson and Reynolds, 1996). In addition to a variety of Near Eastern cereals (emmer wheat, bread wheat, and barley), the remains of grape, gourd (Cucurbita sp.), lentil, pea (Pisum sativum), and horse bean (Vicia faba) were identied, as were seeds of linseed/ax, cotton (Gossypium sp.), noog (Guizotia abyssinica), and possibly Brassica sp., which may have been used for oil (Phillipson and Reynolds, 1996). Abundant faunal remains from Early through Middle Aksumite deposits at Ona Nagast provide a large database for the investigation of Aksumite exploitation of animals. The faunal remains from this site included a very high proportion of cattle bones (ca. 75%), but sheep and/or goat bones were common (ca. 24%). A small quantity of dog, carnivore, gazelle, bird, and sh bones was also identied (Chaix, 1997; Negussi e, 1995). The evidence from Ona Nagast shows that the majority of the cattle represented in the faunal assemblages were old adult individuals (310 years), indicating that they were bred primarily for use as draft animals or milk producers rather than for their meat (Chaix, 1997). Humped cattle were most likely introduced into northern Ethiopia during the early rst millennium AD, as can be inferred from iconographical evidence (Bard, 1994; Clark, 1976; Marshall, 1989; Phillipson, 1993). The earliest representation is an inscribed bronze gurine of a zebu (from Zeban Kutur in the Akkele Guzay region of Eritrea), dated on paleographical grounds to the secondthird centuries AD (Drewes, 1962; Drewes and Schneider, 1976; Bernard et al., 1991, pp. 232 233; Ricci, 19551958). Moreover, two clay gurines of humped cattle, dating to Middle Aksumite times, were found at the site of Matara in the Akkele Guzay region of Eritrea (Anfray, 1967). The majority of Early Aksumite settlements were located at altitudes between 1000 and 2500 m, on land with good soils for agriculture. In Middle Aksumite times land with lower agricultural value was also occupied. The population density in the region of Aksum progressively increased in the early rst millennium AD,

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reaching a peak in Middle Aksumite times and decreasing dramatically in Late Aksumite times (Bard, 1994; Fattovich, 1993; Michels, 1994) (Fig. 3). Michels (1990, 1994) archaeological survey data offer a picture of changes in settlement patterns and population distribution in the region surrounding Aksum during the Aksumite phases. In the Early Aksumite Phase, the urban/ceremonial center at Aksum occupied an area of about 11 ha and was surrounded by several villages and hamlets, ranging in size from less than 1 ha to 3 ha. A major increase in settlement size and density occurred in the Middle Aksumite Phase, when Aksum became a metropolitan entity consisting of 14 towns and villages within a 3 km radius (Michels, 1994: 67). In addition, the urban center at Aksum was surrounded by a sustaining area of many small towns, villages and hamlets, ranging in size from less than 1 to 710 ha (Michels, 1994). In the Late Aksumite Phase, Aksum experienced a dramatic reduction in size and was surrounded by only a few villages and hamlets, less than 1 to 3 ha in size (see Michels, 1988, 1990, 1994). Post-Aksumite Times The available evidence suggests reduced demographic pressure and a possible regeneration of vegetation cover during Post-Aksumite times in the early second millennium AD. Archaeological evidence from the Aksum Plateau of northern Tigray shows that only the land immediately around Aksum was inhabited at this time (Michels, 1990, 1994). The subsistence economy relied on the oxplow complex, as in modern times. The occurrence of what are possibly injera trays (indicative of teff consumption) at the site of Seglamien (Ricci and Fattovich, 1987) and a seed of nger millet (Eleusine coracana) at Gobedra rock-shelter, radiocarbon dated to 820 200 BP (OXa-741) (Phillipson, 1977, 1990) point to the cultivation of these crops in Post-Aksumite times. Faunal remains from a Late to Post-Aksumite site at OAZ V included mainly bones of cattle along with sheep/goat (Chaix, 1997; Negussi e, 1995). SUMMARY From this fragmentary evidence we can infer the following processes: (1) The Tigrean Plateau was covered by dense vegetation in the Early Holocene, with a more humid climate than that of the present-day. (2) Soil erosion due to clearing vegetation began in the Middle Holocene, possibly as a combined result of a drier climate and human activity (agriculture?). (3) Agricultural activity was intensied in the Late Holocene during the humid episode from the midrst millennium BC to the midrst millennium AD to sustain a state-level urban society (Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite Periods).

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(4) Demographic pressure increased in the early rst millennium BC and reached a peak in the midrst millennium AD (Middle Aksumite Phase). The resultant intensied land use activities caused progressive soil degradation. (5) Environmental deteriorization occurred during the seventheighth centuries AD, with a famine in the ninth century, most likely as a consequence of soil exhaustion and erosion caused by heavy rains. (6) With a reduced carrying capacity of the land and a possible southward shift of the Aksumite kingdom in the late rst millennium AD, demographic pressure was reduced, which allowed a possible regeneration of the vegetation cover and a reduction in soil erosion in the early second millennium AD. (7) A new phase of soil erosion, perhaps due to progressive vegetation clearance on the plateau, began before the second half of the second millennium AD and has accelerated in the last 300 years. The above reconstruction of the environmental history of Tigray during the Middle and Late Holocene is tentative. It leaves many unanswered questions regarding interactions of cultural and environmental variables and their impact on environmental change in the region during the last ve thousand years. These questions must be addressed by multidisciplinary investigations into the dynamics of the human ecosystem and the environmental and cultural history of the Tigrean Plateau. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research described in this report was supported by grants from the National Geographic Society (USA), the Italian National Council for Research (CNR), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Italian Ministry for University, Scientic, and Technological Research. The authors wish to thank the Center for Research and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture, Addis Ababa, the Cultural Bureau of Aksum, and the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines and Natural Resources for their assistance in the research. REFERENCES CITED
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