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Reconsidering Yeha, c. 800–400 BC

Article  in  African Archaeological Review · December 2009

DOI: 10.1007/s10437-009-9063-3

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Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290
DOI 10.1007/s10437-009-9063-3
O R I G I N A L A RT I C L E

Reconsidering Yeha, c. 800–400 BC

Rodolfo Fattovich

Published online: 28 January 2010

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

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.

R. Fattovich (*)
Dipartimento di Studi e Ricerche su Africa e Paesi Arabi, Università di Napoli ‘l’Orientale’,
Piazza San Domenico Maggiore 12, 08134 Naples, Italy
e-mail: rfattovich@libero.it
276 Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290

Keywords Archaeology . Ethiopia . Eritrea . Pre-Aksumite period .

Early state development

Introduction

Yeha in Tigray is the most impressive site in the northern Horn of Africa dating to
the mid-first millennium BC (e.g., Anfray 1990: 17–61; Phillipson 1998: 41–9;
Finneran 2007: 117–41; see Fig. 1 for map of region). The site has been known to
outsiders since the sixteenth century (Beckingham and Huntingford 1961: 140–2;
Salt 1814: 429–34; Bent 1893: 134–51; Littmann et al. 1913, II: 78–84). Extensive
excavations were conducted in 1960 and 1971–1973 by the Ethiopian Institute of
Archaeology under the direction of Francis Anfray (Anfray 1963b, 1971, 1972a,b,
1973a,b, 1997; Fattovich 1971, 1972a,b), and in 1998 by a French expedition under
the direction of Christian J. Robin (Robin and de Maigret 1998). An archaeological
survey of the area around Yeha was conducted by an American expedition under the
direction of Joseph W. Michels (2005) in 1974.
The occurrence of impressive ruins of a temple in a South Arabian style and
inscriptions in a South Arabian script was long regarded as the best archaeological
and epigraphic evidence of Sabean colonisation of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea in
the first millennium BC (Bent 1893: 134–51, 231–9; Conti Rossini 1928: 109–14;
Robin and de Maigret 1998; Phillipson 1998: 44), in conformity with the paradigm
of a South Arabian origin for an Ethiopian-Semitic state and civilization which had

Fig. 1 Map of the northern Horn, showing principal sites discussed in this issue (Luisa Sernicola)
Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290 277

dominated Ethiopian studies since the seventeenth century (Ludolf 1682: 7–9; Bent
1893: 134–51; Glaser 1895; Conti Rossini 1928: 109–14; Cerulli 1960; Ullendorff
1973: 45–55; Ricci 1984).
Beginning in the 1960s an acculturative process was suggested to explain the
occurrence in northern Ethiopia and central Eritrea of monuments and inscriptions in
a South Arabian style (de Contenson 1961, 1963a, 1981; Anfray 1967, 1968, 1990,
1994; Drewes 1962; Schneider 1973, 1976; Fattovich 1977, 1978a, 1990, 1997,
2004; Michels 2005). According to this interpretation an early state called, in the
unvocalised inscriptions, D‘MT appeared in Tigray and Eritrea in the mid-first
millennium BC as a consequence of contacts with South Arabians, and Yeha was a
major ceremonial centre or maybe the capital of this state (Drewes 1962; Schneider
1976; Anfray 1990; Fattovich 1990, 1997, 2004; Michels 2005; Finneran 2007:
117–41).
The period when impressive South Arabian elements occurred in northern
Ethiopia and central Eritrea was designated by Anfray (1967, 1968) as a ‘Pre-
Aksumite’ or, alternatively, an ‘Ethio-Sabean’ Period; a ‘Pre-Aksumite Culture’
was also suggested as a distinctive archaeological manifestation including all sites
with evidence for South Arabian elements and for ceramics similar in style to those
from Pre-Aksumite strata both at Yeha and at the other major site of this period,
Matara, in central Eritrea (de Contenson 1981; Anfray 1990; Fattovich 1990).
However, definitions of ‘Pre-Aksumite’ or ‘Ethio-Sabean’ periods and ‘Pre-
Aksumite Culture’ were vague and ambiguous, as they depended on an intuitive
perception of the available archaeological and epigraphic evidence (Phillipson
2009).
Today, recent fieldwork in Tigray at Inda Sellassie, Aksum and Gulo Makeda and
in the Greater Asmara region of Eritrea (Phillipson 2000: 267–379; Phillips 2004;
Finneran and Phillips 2003; Finneran et al. 2005; Schmidt et al. 2008; D’Andrea et
al. 2008) suggests that a ‘Pre-Aksumite Culture’ did not exist and that, during the
first millennium BC, South Arabian elements characterised a constellation of sites
scattered in a mosaic of different archaeological cultures (see also Curtis 2008). In
the present paper, I test this hypothesis by re-interpreting a comparison made in the
mid-1970s between the ceramics from Yeha (Fattovich 1976a,b, 1978b, 1981–2),
and those from Matara (Anfray 1966) and other sites of this period in northern
Ethiopia and Eritrea. Because recent research has not yet produced a widely
applicable replacement, the 1980 classification of ‘Pre-Aksumite’ pottery based on
19 groups (Fattovich 1980: 20–34) is retained; detailed accounts of this
classification, with illustrations, have already been published (Fattovich op. cit.)
and may be used for reference.
The 19 groups of ceramics were distinguished on the basis of fabric, surface
treatment and colour, in conformity with the classification procedure W. Y. Adams
(1962, 1964, 1967–1968) suggested for Lower Nubian ceramics. Each group
included distinctive forms and decorations and was provisionally described as a
different ‘ware’. The colour of the surface was also used to designate the ‘wares’, as
this attribute could be immediately perceived, though the colour largely depended on
manufacture technology and use (see Fattovich 1980: 3–6, 9–19). The ceramic
analysis had to rely on a macroscopic inspection of the samples as facilities for
petrographic analysis were not then available in Addis Ababa.
278 Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290

No full quantitative analysis of the ceramics and other artefacts could be applied
to the study of the ‘Pre-Aksumite’ assemblages collected in the late 1950s to early
1970s, when research in this area had a major focus on architecture, art and
inscriptions rather than other artefacts, and when stratigraphic sequences were very
approximate. Excavations were conducted in 10–25 cm artificial levels which did
not distinguish the interfaces between strata and artefact provenance was established
on the absolute depth of the finds. Thus, materials from different stratigraphic units
were sometimes mixed. Moreover, only a small quantity of selected fragments was
collected and retained for study.
In the mid-1970s, two sites, Yeha in Tigray and Matara in Eritrea, were
extensively excavated and provided stratigraphic sequences. These excavations
yielded groups of ceramics from contexts clearly overlaying one another or
associated with successive architectural phases and revealing clear similarities
between the two sites (see Anfray 1966; Fattovich 1978b). The ceramics at all other
sites either came from undifferentiated deposits with a possible mixture of materials
dating to different periods—as at Sobea and Hawlti (see Leclant and Miquel 1959;
de Contenson 1963b)—or were randomly collected on the surface, and often
consisted of just a few body sherds.
We must finally remark that the factual evidence dating to the first millennium BC
from Tigray and Eritrea is very scarce and any interpretation of this evidence must
be regarded as speculative and largely intuitive (Phillipson 2009).

Yeha

Yeha is located about 25 km northeast of the modern town of Adwa (Anfray 1963a:
171; Michels 2005: 60–1). At present, the recorded archaeological evidence dating
to the first millennium BC includes the Great Temple, a ‘palace’ at Grat Be’al Gebri,
and a cemetery with shaft-tombs at Daro Mikael (Littmann et al. 1913, II: 79–84;
Anfray 1963a, 1971, 1972a,b, 1973a, 1997; Robin and de Maigret 1998; Michels
2005: 69–71). A settlement at Enda Gully, about 1 km to the north-east of Yeha, and
two scatters of potsherds at Mai Ahu and Adi Haba, respectively c. 4 km north-west
of Grat Be’al Gebri and c. 3 km west of the Great Temple, were also recorded
(Michels 2005: 69; Fig. 2).
So far, only the Great Temple (Fig. 3), the ‘palace’ at Grat Be’al Gebri and the
cemetery at Daro Mikael have been excavated extensively. In addition, four
stratigraphic test-pits were opened to the north and east of the Great Temple, at
Gual Edaga to the west of the temple, and Grat Be’al Gebri 2 to the south-east of the
‘palace,’ respectively (Fattovich 1971, 1972a,b).
The excavation at the Great Temple demonstrated that the existing monument had
replaced an earlier small temple built in the same area. The ceramics from the
foundations of the temple were South Arabian in style (Robin and de Maigret 1998:
771–2, 778, fig. 47). The temple was eventually re-used as a Christian church
(Littmann et al. 1913, II: 79–84).
Two principal phases of construction and use were identified at Grat Be’al Gebri
(Anfray 1972a, 1973a, 1997). Initially, a monumental building was built with a
stepped podium and a porch with pillars in South Arabian style. This building was
Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290 279

Fig. 2 Archaeological map of Yeha, based on Anfray (1997)

apparently destroyed by fire and a new building with rough walls, perhaps
employing the Aksumite ‘monkey-head’ technique, was erected on top of the
former one. In addition, stratigraphic test-pits at the base of the podium
demonstrated that the area had been occupied before the construction of the
‘palace’, but no walls were found (Anfray 1973a).
The test-pits at Gual Edaga and Grat Be’al Gebri 2 respectively provided
stratigraphic evidence for occupation contemporary to the pre-‘palace’ occupation
and first phase of construction of the ‘palace’ at Grat Be’al Gebri. Those around the
Great Temple provided evidence of occupation in Aksumite and Post-Aksumite time
(first millennium AD) only (Fattovich 1972a,b). In all, three main ceramic
280 Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290

Fig. 3 A view of the

“Great Temple” at Yeha (photo
by R. Fattovich)

assemblages were tentatively distinguished at Grat Be’al Gebri and in the test-pits at
Gual Edaga and Grat Be’al Gebri 2 (Fattovich 1978b, 1980: 39–41).
The first assemblage was associated with the architectural remains of the second
phase of use of the ‘palace’ at Grat Be’al Gebri. The ceramics included fragments of
(1) red coarse ware (jars), (2) black polished coarse ware (jars and dishes), (3) red-
orange fine ware, (4) orange-grey fine ware, (5) dark red polished fine ware, (6)
black-topped polished ware (a few body sherds), (7) brown fine ware (very rare) and
(8) dark red (brick-red) fine ware (jars).
The second assemblage was associated with the remains of the podium and façade
of the ‘palace’ at Grat Be’al Gebri, the lower strata at Gual Edaga and the upper
strata at Grat Be’al Guebri 2. The ceramics included fragments of (1) red-orange fine
ware (very few body sherds), (2) orange-grey fine ware (very few body sherds), (3)
red-brown fine ware, (4) dark red polished fine ware (jars or bottles), (5) black-
topped polished ware (cups and bowls), (6) black polished fine ware (very few body
sherds), (7) orange-pink fine ware (jars), (8) pink fine ware, (9) light brown fine
ware and (10) brown fine ware (small spherical jars with an everted rim and incised
rhombi on the shoulder, jars with a cylindrical neck and incised horizontal
decorations on the neck, lids).
The third assemblage was recorded in the strata beneath the podium at Grat Be’al
Gebri, and the lower strata at Grat Be’al Gebri 2. The ceramics included fragments
of: (1) red-orange coarse ware (bowls with a horizontal groove along the rim and
sometimes a moulded horizontal rib, jars with a ring-foot, body sherds with a
moulded impressed line or chain), (2) orange-grey fine ware (bowls), (3) grey fine
ware (bowls), (4) dark red polished fine ware (jars and/or bottles), (5) orange-pink
fine ware (‘amphorae’, jars) and (6) brown fine ware (very few body sherds). Very
few fragments of black-topped polished ware were found immediately beneath the
podium at Grat Be’al Gebri.
Seventeen shaft-tombs with one to three burial chambers were excavated at Daro
Mikael (Anfray 1963a).1 They included eight tombs dating to the mid-first
millennium BC (T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T9, T11 and T12), one tomb of uncertain
age (T1), two tombs which were used in the late first to early second millennia AD
(T13 and T17) and six empty shafts (T7, T8, T10, T14, T15 and T16).

1
This type of tomb has not been recorded in South Arabia.
Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290 281

The ceramics from these tombs were the same as those from the settlement areas
noted above (Anfray 1963a; Fattovich 1980: 41–48). It seems, however, that vessels
of only a few types were used in funerary contexts: cups in red-brown fine ware with
painted decoration and a conical foot, pomegranate-shaped vessels in light red
polished fine ware, and tulip-shaped vessels in black-topped polished ware and dark
red polished fine ware.
The detailed sequence of these tombs is uncertain. The occurrence of fragments of
black polished coarse ware in all shafts may suggest that the tombs were disturbed at
the end of the ‘Pre-Aksumite Period’, as this ware only occurs in the strata
associated with the architectural remains of the second phase of the ‘palace’ at Grat
Be’al Gebri. In particular, three large jars of this ware were located on the surface
close to the opening of the shaft of tomb 12 suggesting special use of this tomb in
late ‘Pre-Aksumite’ times (Anfray 1963a: 185–188).2
A comparison of these ceramics with those from Grat Be’al Gebri may tentatively
suggest that T5 and T6 were contemporary with the second phase of the Grat Be’al
Gebri ‘palace’, as dark red (brick-red) fine ware was found in the chambers of these
tombs. T2, T3, T4, T9 and T11 may be linked with its earlier phase, as the same
wares occur in these tombs and the strata associated with the podium and façade of
the ‘palace’. T12 was probably contemporary with the end of the earliest pre-
‘palace’ phase at Grat Be’al Gebri as red-orange coarse ware occurs in all three
chambers of this tomb (Fattovich 1980: 57–60).
Nineteen fragmentary inscriptions on stone slabs and offering altars, one stone
seal and 13 copper/bronze filigree seals (‘identity marks’) were found at Yeha
(Bernand et al. 1991–2000, 1: 74–5, 111–27, 398, 406–12, Pls. 4, 28–40, 184, 187–
92). The inscriptions are in a South Arabian script, using a variant of the Sabean
language, and are ascribed to paleographic groups A and B, according to the
classification of Epigraphic South Arabic that Jacqueline Pirenne suggested in 1956
(Drewes 1962; Bernand et al. 1991–2000; Robin and de Maigret 1998: 780–94).
They include four inscriptions of group A and late group A/early group B, five of
group B, and nine which could not be attributed to any paleographic group. The
stone seal with an uncertain name was found in a stratum associated with the second
phase of construction at the top of Grat Be’al Gebri. Geometric and zoomorphic
filigree seals were found in the tombs at Daro Mikael: T3 (one geometric seal, RIE
295); T4 shaft (four geometric seals, RIE 296, 297 and 298); T6 chamber A (three
zoomorphic seals, RIE 299, 300 and 301), T6 chamber B (two zoomorphic
specimens, RIE 302 and 303); T9 chamber B (one zoomorphic seal, RIE 304); T12
shaft (three zoomorphic seals, RIE 305, 306 and 307).
At present, archaeological evidence from Yeha permits three main phases of
occupation to be distinguished (Fattovich 1980: 54–63, Fattovich 1990: 9–11):
Yeha I- This phase is represented by the strata beneath the podium at Grat Be’al
Gebri and the lower strata at Grat Be’al Gebri 2; it thus preceded the
construction of the ‘palace’ at Grat Be’al Gebri. Red-orange coarse ware,
orange-grey fine ware, grey fine ware and red coarse ware were the
dominant ceramics. The occurrence of vessels similar to specimens from
2
A similar jar was also found close to the opening of a Proto-Aksumite pit-tomb of the fourth-first
centuries BC at Bieta Giyorgis, Aksum (Fattovich and Bard 2001).
282 Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290

Yemen (mainly ‘amphorae’ and bowls or jars with a ring-foot) may point
to contacts with South Arabia. Black-topped ware appeared at the end of
this phase in the strata immediately beneath the podium at Grat Be’al
Gebri. Most likely, a temple (perhaps in South Arabian style) was built in
the area close to the Great Temple at this time (Robin and de Maigret
1998: 778; Manzo 2009). It is possible that the inscriptions of group A
date to the end of this phase. Tomb 12 at Daro Mikael may also date to the
end of this phase or the beginning of the Yeha II phase. An alabaster vessel
from this tomb might suggest a date in the eighth or seventh centuries BC,
based on comparison with Napatan specimens from Nubia (Fattovich
1990: 14).
Yeha II- The Great Temple and the ‘palace’ at Grat Be’al Gebri, the elite cemetery
at Daro Mikael and the inscriptions of group B can be ascribed to this
phase, suggesting a dramatic change in social hierarchy at this time. Red-
brown fine ware, dark red polished fine ware, black-topped polished ware,
pink fine ware, light brown fine ware and brown fine ware were the
dominant ceramics. Geometric filigree seals and copper/bronze weapons
were typical of this phase. Iron artefacts most likely appeared at the end of
it, as they were found in chamber B of tomb 6 and the shaft of tomb 4.
The similarity of the Great Temple to the earliest temple of Nakrah at
Barakish in the Hadramawt region of Yemen may suggest a date in the
seventh or sixth centuries BC (Robin and de Maigret 1998: 775–8). Four
calibrated C14 dates from the D Site at Kidane Mehret, Aksum, with
ceramics comparable to those of Yeha II, likewise support a date between
the seventh and fifth centuries BC (Phillipson 2000: 505).
Yeha III- This phase is represented by the late phase of construction at Grat Be’al
Gebri, and tombs T5 and T6 at Daro Mikael. The shaft of T12 was re-used
at this time, and three black pots were deposited close to its opening, most
likely representing votive offerings. Red coarse ware, black polished
coarse ware, red-orange fine ware and dark red (brick-red) fine ware were
the dominant ceramics. Black-topped polished ware significantly de-
creased in quantity during this phase; zoomorphic bronze filigree seals and
iron artefacts were used. In the absence of any radiometric dates, the
chronology of this phase is uncertain, but a date in the late first millennium
BC may be tentatively suggested.

Yeha in Regional and Inter-regional Contexts

A preliminary comparison between the ceramics from individual phases at Yeha and
those dating to the first millennium BC from the region between Adwa and Aksum
(central Tigray), Agame (eastern Tigray), Akkele Guzay and Hamasien (central
Eritrea), as well as Gash Delta (eastern Sudan), suggests (Fattovich 1980: 50–54,
Fattovich 1990):
1. Ceramics like those of Yeha I only occur in sites of central Tigray (Fattovich
1980: 50–3). In particular, red-orange coarse ware occurs at Sefra Abun and
Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290 283

Sefra Turkui, a short distance east of Yeha (Anfray 1973c: 17–18; Fattovich
1980: 39), and in sites recently recorded near Aksum (Sernicola 2008). These
ceramics may be related to a late prehistoric local tradition as they are frequently
decorated with horizontal bands of dots or triangles and horizontal moulded ribs
with impressed punctuations (Fattovich 1980: 41, Pls. XXVIII 11, XXX 6),
which are similar to decoration on potsherds from Gobedra and Anqqer Baahti,
Aksum (Phillipson 1977; Finneran 2000). A few fragments of red-orange coarse
ware similar in fabric to the material from Yeha I were also collected at Keskese
in Akkele Guzay (Fattovich 1980: 50–3).
The ceramics of Yeha I, by contrast, are different in style from those most
likely dating to the early to mid-first millennium BC from the lower strata at
Matara (Mat. IV, V, VI, VII and VIII) in Akkele Guzay (see Anfray 1966), as
well as some sites at Gulo Makeda (D’Andrea et al. 2008; D’Andrea 2009) and
Sobea in Agame (Leclant and Miquel 1959: Pl. LXIII; Fattovich 1980: 38–9).
Reddish-brown polished ware, black polished fine ware decorated with
engraved geometric motifs filled with a white or red paste, and black-topped
polished ware are the dominant ceramics in Akkele Guzay and Agame. The
ceramics from the Yeha I assemblages are also completely different from those
of the ‘Ancient Ona Culture’ of the Greater Asmara region (Schmidt et al. 2008:
163–77).
Farther afield, fragments of red-orange coarse ware similar to those of Yeha I
were collected at sites of the late Jebel Mokram group (mid-second/early first
millennia BC) in the Shurab el Gash area, c. 35 km south of Kassala (Fattovich
1989).

2. The ceramics of Yeha II are comparable to those from the Southern Deposit at
Hawlti (de Contenson 1963b; Fattovich 1980: 60) and the D Site at Kidane
Mehret, Aksum (Phillipson 2000: 303–12) in central Tigray, although each
assemblage also has vessel-types which do not occur in the others.
Ceramics basically similar to those of Yeha II also occur in sites at Gulo
Makeda (D’Andrea 2009) and the upper strata (III and IV) at Matara and in
three shaft-tombs (T4, T6 and T9) at Gual-Saim south of Matara (Anfray 1966,
1967; Fattovich 1980: 36–8, 55–6), most likely dating to the mid-first
millennium BC.3 Black-topped polished ware was a dominant component of
these assemblages. Black polished fine ware decorated with engraved geometric
motifs filled with a white or red paste, and tulip-shaped vessels similar to
specimens from Sobea and Matara were also present at Yeha in this phase
(Fattovich 1980: 50–3, 55–6). Moreover, a vase in the shape of a tulip and a jar
with a cylindrical profile and concave walls occur both at Yeha II and in tomb 1
at Keskese (Tringali 1978).
A jar with an S-profile, typical of the ‘Ancient Ona Culture’ (see Schmidt et
al. 2008: 163–77), came from tomb 3 at Yeha (Anfray 1963a: Pl. CXXXVI f).
Single jars with an S-profile similar to Ancient Ona vessels also occur at Addi
Gerameten in Akkele Guzay, and at Hawlti, Gobochela and Kidane Mehret in

3
All tombs at Gual-Saim had been disturbed and re-used in Aksumite times, thus only very little ‘Pre-
Aksumite’ material remained.
284 Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290

central Tigray (Duncanson 1947: Pl. VIII; de Contenson 1963b: Pl. LVI a, b;
Phillipson 2000: Fig. 266e, 269b).

3. The ceramics of Yeha III resemble those from the area of the small temples at
Hawlti (de Contenson 1963b; Fattovich 1980: 61) and an isolated monolith
(OAZ III) on the top of Bieta Giyorgis hill near Aksum (Fattovich 1994). At
present, these ceramics have been recorded only in the region from Yeha to
Aksum.4 At Matara, the earliest evidence of Aksumite settlement (stratum II)
directly overlaps the ‘Pre-Aksumite’ strata (III–IV) with ceramics similar to
those of Yeha II (Anfray and Annequin 1965; Anfray 1966).
In turn, a comparison of the ceramics from Yeha with those from South Arabia
and Nubia suggests:
1. Very few ceramics from Yeha are similar in style to South Arabian pottery
(Anfray 1963b; Fattovich 1977, 1990; Robin and de Maigret 1998; see also
Durrani 2005: 119–20). Those vessels which do show South Arabian affinities
mostly occur in the strata and tombs of Yeha II. The occurrence of fragments of
cups with a ring-foot and ‘amphorae’ in the upper strata of Yeha I and in the
foundations of the Great Temple may suggest that contacts with South Arabia
started at the end of this phase, when a small temple was apparently built in the
area of the Great Temple.
2. Very few ceramics from Yeha are comparable in style to Napatan and Meroitic
pottery. Again from Phase II, they include bell-shaped beakers and jars or bottles
with a long neck (Fattovich 1980: 80–1).

General Remarks

The archaeological evidence I have tentatively reviewed in the previous pages

suggests the following:
First, indigenous sedentary people with at least three distinct ceramic traditions
occupied central Tigray (Yeha I, Sefra Abun, Sefra Turkui and Aksum region),
Agame and Akkele Guzay (Gulo Makeda, Sobea and Matara VIII–V) and Hamasien
(‘Ancient Ona’), respectively, in the early first millennium BC. Cattle herders were
also moving at the margins and across these regions at this time, and most likely
contributed to the development in an exchange network among them, and between
the communities on the highlands and those in the lowlands and coastal regions (see
Finneran 2007: 92–8).

4
Detailed information has not yet been published about first millennium BC material recently discovered
in the Shire area of western Tigray and at Gulo Makeda near Adigrat. No description of the ‘Pre-
Aksumite’ ceramics from Inda Sellassie, Tigray, has been published so far (Finneran and Phillips 2003;
Phillips 2004; Finneran et al. 2005). Only preliminary reports of fieldwork in progress at Gulo Makeda
near Adigrat are available (D’Andrea et al. 2008), and the ‘Pre-Aksumite’ ceramics still need a detailed
examination (D’Andrea personal communication, Sept. 2008; A. Manzo, personal communication, June
2009).
Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290 285

The culture historical meaning of these three main ceramic traditions is still
unknown. They might represent either three variants in pottery manufacture by the
same people with a common subsistence economy and settlement pattern (and
perhaps language) or three separate populations (see also Curtis 2009). The ‘Ancient
Ona Culture’ in the Greater Asmara region (Hamasien) might be ascribed to a
separate population as this culture is characterised by some specific features, such as
ritual stone bulls heads, which do not occur in the other regions (Schmidt 2009).
Moreover, an alignment of six collapsed monoliths with roughly rectangular cross-
sections at Keskese might suggest that this was an important ceremonial centre in the
early first millennium BC, and may point to the emergence of a hierarchical society
in Akkele Guzay at this time. These monoliths are in neither a South Arabian nor
Aksumite style and may thus be ascribed to a local tradition (see also Curtis and
Habtemichael 2008: 321–3).
The way the populations living in these three main regions interacted with each
other is uncertain as well. At present, there is no sure evidence of any interaction
between the populations living in Eritrea and Tigray in the early first millennium
BC. A few fragments of red-orange coarse ware like that of Yeha I in central Tigray
have been collected on the surface at Keskese in Akkele Guzay and might suggest
some contacts between these regions (Fattovich 1980: 35), but this evidence is much
too scarce to be conclusive. Red-orange coarse ware like that of central Tigray was
also collected in sites of the lowlands near Kassala, and may suggest contacts
between these regions in the early first millennium BC.
The occurrence of the same types of vessels at Matara (IV–III), Gulo Makeda,
Yeha (Yeha II), Hawlti and Kidane Mehret suggests that a common ceramic tradition
spread over Akkele Guzay, Agame and central Tigray in the mid-first millennium
BC (Fattovich 1980: 50–4). This might indicate greater interaction between the
populations inhabiting these regions, through either massive circulation of ceramics
within a more intense exchange network or movement of female potters in both
directions as a consequence of marriages. Black-topped polished ware was a major
component of the ceramics, suggesting a possible origin of this tradition in Akklele
Guzay and Agame rather than in central Tigray, where red-orange ware most likely
disappeared.
The ‘Ancient Ona’ people in Hamasien indisputably maintained their ceramic
tradition (and thus perhaps a specific cultural identity) at this time. The occurrence
of jars in the style of the ‘Ancient Ona Culture’ at sites in Akkele Guzay and central
Tigray, as well as a geometric bronze filigree seal comparable to specimens from
Yeha II, Hawlti and Sobea at Mai Chiot may point to some contacts with the regions
to south and east of Asmara (Schmidt et al. 2008: Fig. 6.42; Leclant and Miquel
1959: Pl. LVIII; de Contenson 1963b: Pls. XLII b, LIII a; Anfray 1963a: Pls. CLII h-
k, CLIV e-h). Moreover, a few fragments of storage jars from Sembel (Tringali 1978:
Fig. 24c), which are similar to those of the Jebel Mokram group in the western
Eritrean-Sudanese lowlands, as well as fragments of Ona jars from sites near
Agordat (Brandt et al. 2008), and Ona-like small stone and clay bulls’ heads from
Sabir near Aden (Buffa and Vogt 2001: fig. 3.3) may suggest contacts both with the
western lowlands in Eritrea and Sudan and with the coastal regions of Yemen.
Finally on this point, the occurrence of different ceramics at Yeha III and the late
‘Pre-Aksumite’/early Aksumite (according to Anfray’s chronological sequence;
286 Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290

Anfray 1967) occupation at Matara may suggest the re-emergence of two separate
ceramic traditions in central Tigray and Akkele Guzay in the late first millennium
BC.
Second, so far, ceramics in a South Arabian style occur only in sites of central
Tigray, Agame and Akkele Guzay, and form a minor (almost insignificant)
component of the pottery assemblages at these sites (Fattovich 1980). These
ceramics thus do not support the presence of any consistent South Arabian
community on the Ethiopian/Eritrean highlands in the first millennium BC. Most
of them may also be local imitations of South Arabian prototypes, such as bowls
with a ring-foot and possibly the so-called ‘amphorae’ (see Phillipson 2009).
In any case, these pots may suggest that both the people of central Tigray and
those of Agame and Akkele Guzay had some contacts with the populations of
southwestern Arabia beginning in the early first millennium BC. Ceramics in a
South Arabian style occur in the earliest strata at Yeha (Yeha I), where they may be
contemporary to the construction of a small temple probably in a South Arabian
(Hadramawt?) style in the eighth century BC (Robin and de Maigret 1998; see also
Manzo 2009). A few fragments of big jars similar in the style to those from Sabir
(Aden) were collected in the lower strata at Matara (Anfray 1966; Fattovich 1980:
76, 84), and may point to contacts with the coastal regions of Yemen in the early first
millennium BC. These contacts are also supported by rock inscriptions in the region
of Qohaito recording the names of individuals (not ‘tribes’ or colonists) who
penetrated from South Arabia into central Eritrea as early as the ninth or eighth
centuries BC (Ricci 1994). So far, however, there is no archaeological evidence of
their presence, suggesting they were completely amalgamated with the local
population(s).
Bowls with a ring-foot and the so-called ‘amphorae’, which were typical of Yeha
I, also occur in the ceramic assemblages of Yeha II and Matara IV–III suggesting
that they were incorporated into the common ceramic tradition of central Tigray,
Agame and Akkele Guzay in the mid-first millennium BC, but represent an
insignificant component of this tradition (Fattovich 1980: 51–52).
Finally, these vessels completely disappear in the ceramic assemblages of Yeha
III, suggesting they were no longer used in the late first millennium BC when a new
(proto-Aksumite) ceramic tradition emerged in the region of Aksum (Fattovich 1990,
2004; Fattovich and Bard 2001).
Third and last, at present, only the ceramics of Yeha II and Matara IV–III,
ascribable to a common tradition of central Tigray, Agame and Akkele Guzay, can
be safely associated with monuments, votive altars, offering tables and inscriptions
in a South Arabian style (Fattovich 1990).5 All other sculptures, inscriptions and
votive altars in a South Arabian style, which are usually dated to the mid-first
millennium BC on a comparison with possible prototypes in Yemen, have been
recorded out of context, and thus cannot provide any firm cultural or historical
information. We can tentatively assume they were associated with a few ceremonial
centres scattered from central and eastern Tigray to central Eritrea (Fattovich 1990,
2004), and were possibly contemporary with the sites with ceramics similar to those

5
A small ceremonial centre with sculptures and inscriptions of Group A has been very recently discovered
at Makeber Gae‘wa near Wuqro (eastern Tigray), but no publication of the finds is yet available.
Afr Archaeol Rev (2009) 26:275–290 287

of Yeha II and Matara IV–III. These artefacts suggest that a powerful elite emerged
in the highlands, most likely in the mid-first millennium BC, and adopted some
South Arabian symbols as a manifestation of their power (Fattovich 1990; Curtis
2008; Manzo 2009). A few votive altars with inscriptions apparently recording
individuals from Yemen (Saba) may suggest that some South Arabians, maybe
traders or craftsmen, were living in Tigray as well (Schneider 2003: 613).

Conclusion

An exhaustive synthesis of the cultural history and the social, economic and
ideological transformations in the early- to mid-first millennium BC is still
premature as most of the northern Horn of Africa is archaeologically unexplored
and the collected evidence is mainly from surface surveys (see e.g., Fattovich 2005:
12–15; Curtis 2008).
The very scarce archaeological data we have may only suggest that two different
ceramic traditions merged into one common tradition in the region from Aksum to
Matara, and a major ceremonial centre with monumental buildings in a South
Arabian style and an elite cemetery was located at Yeha in the mid-first millennium
BC. Two separate ceramic traditions again emerged in the same region when Yeha
declined in the late first millennium BC (Yeha III).
This evidence might reflect the development of a hierarchical society, most likely
at a state-level of complexity, which was characterised by the manufacture of similar
ceramics and the use of symbols of power in a South Arabian style, in central Tigray,
Agame and Akkele Guzay in the mid-first millennium BC. However, the
identification of the Tigrean/Eritrean ceramic tradition of the mid-first millennium
BC with a specific polity, such as D‘MT, is questionable in the absence of a more
detailed analysis of the rate of similarity between the ceramics in the single sites,
which might support or reject the existence of a discrete archaeological culture, and
a proper archaeological context for most buildings and artefacts in a South Arabian
style in the region.

Acknowledgments I am very grateful to Prof. David W. Phillipson and two anonymous reviewers for
their useful and constructive comments on my paper.

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