The rock-cut churches of Ethiopia have long intrigued visitors and historians -and have frustrated archaeologists seeking their sequence of construction. Do they belong to one grand ceremonial monastic plan, or a long-lived ritual centre, continually refashioned over time? Since the churches are cut into live rock, the conventional signals of archaeological phasing are hard to find. The authors address these problems at the famous site of Lalibela, showing that, embedded in the cuts and openings, the spoil heaps, and even in the now vanished sediments, the stratigraphic sequence is there to be read.

Prehistory of the Central Main Ethiopian Rift (Ziway-Shala basin) : Establishing the Late Stone Age sequence in Eastern Africa Supported by the CFEE, ARCCH, MAEE, INRAP and the laboratory TRACES, this project, " Late Stone Age sequence in Ethiopia", is devoted to the collection of new data on the late prehistory of the Horn of Africa. To answer to this objective, several fieldwork seasons have been carried out since 2007 in the area of lakes Ziway, Langano and Abijata, located in the central part of the Main Ethiopian Rift Valley. Over the course of this project, we have intensively explored different geological contexts, and in particular the fluvio-lacustrine plain of the Bulbula river and the impact of volcanic eruption on the landscape and on human acquisition strategies. This area provides an ideal terrain for the study of prehistoric human/ environment relationships in the context of a shifting natural environment (lake fluctuations / volcanic activity). This collaborative program, developed in a region with a uniquely rich and well preserved sedimentary and archaeological record, has supplemented new data establishing the geomorphological and geological setting, with a stratigraphic sequence in which several new archaeological sites have been discovered and studied. Most notable are several sites dating to around 30,000 BP, a period previously poorly documented in Ethiopian Prehistory, and several sites dating to the transition between the Pleistocene and Holocene periods (between 12,000 and 9,000 cal BC). The archaeological sequence we have identified in the Bulbula plain is discontinuous because it is linked to lakelevel fluctuations but also to arid and volcanic events. Nevertheless, the different windows of preservation identified shed new light on a variety of issues regarding the late Prehistory of this area. It concerns particularly a final stage of the MSA (contemporary OIS3) and diverse expressions of the LSA. The signature of this diversity is both technical and economical, around the role of hunting and fishing practices. This interdisciplinary project combines geomorphological and archaeological perspectives with detailed work on raw material sampling and analysis.

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Based on the evidence related to funerary inscriptions and archaeological remains, this article provides a tentative reconstruction of the penetration routes of Islam and the zones of Muslim presence in pre-sixteenth-century Ethiopia and the Horn. Two routes and two areas appear, respectively, along the Eastern escarpment of the central plateau and the Čärčär massif. Adding this information to the sources written in Arabic, particularly al-'Umarī's description of Ethiopian Muslim polities of the fourteenth century, the article discusses the chronological sequence of Muslim penetration. A discussion of the process of Islamization, compared to such processes at work elsewhere in Africa, ends the article.

Le Late Stone Age (LSA) d'Afrique orientale est une vaste période débutant entre 40.000 et 20.000 BP, caractérisée par une première phase marquée par la mise en place des dernière sociétés de chasseurs-cueilleurs nomades, puis par l'introduction d'une économie de production entre 7.000 et 5.000 BP. La documentation de cette tranche chronologique revêt une importance majeure, liée aux problématiques de la transition entre les sociétés du Middle Stone Age (MSA) et du LSA et de la néolithisation de l'Afrique orientale. La mission de prospection dont rend compte le présent article est destinée à localiser des séquences attribuables au LSA. La région de reconnaissance est celle des « lacs Galla » située à environ 150km au sud de la capitale. Cinq sites ont été examinés, guidés par les données archéologiques (notamment pour Waso Hill et Macho Hill) et par les données géologiques abondantes pour ce secteur. Différentes périodes sont documentées : MSA, LSA, occupation médiévale et/ ou moderne, mais également l'Acheuléen pour Bole. Les premières analyses du matériel indiquent que le mobilier de Waso pourrait appartenir à une phase postérieure à 10.000 BP, si l'on se base sur la présence de nombreux microlithes géométriques (lunates), et antérieure à 2.000 ou 3.000 BP, du fait de la domination des productions laminaires et lamellaires.