The Archaeology of the Jesuit Missions in Ethiopia (1557–1632)

The cosmopolitan borderland: western Ethiopiac. AD 600–1800

“…This had much to do with the impact of the Jesuit Mission (AD 1557-1632), which resulted in deep internal conflict and eventually a rejection of foreign values and innovation for over two centuries. Thus, despite extensive archaeological work on royal residences at the core of the Ethiopian Kingdom (Fernández et al 2017), only one sherd of Chinese pottery has been found, whereas we have located at least four different Chinese vessels at Funj-period sites in our study area. Furthermore, we have collected 12 tobacco pipes from our sites, as opposed to only two from the royal residences-a scarcity relating to a strong religious opposition to smoking.…”

The archaeology of complexity and cosmopolitanism in medieval Ethiopia: an introduction

“…Three Jesuit sites in the Gondär region have been investigated: Gorgora Nova, Särka and Gännätä Iyasus (de Torres Rodríguez 2017; Fernández et al . 2017) (Figures 1 & 5). Notably, nothing specifically relating to the Jesuits was found, probably due to their short residence and subsequent re-use of the sites, with material all post-dating their occupation (de Torres Rodríguez 2017: 227–28; Fernández et al .…”

“…The latter were influenced by Indian and Ottoman architecture (Fernández et al . 2017: 469–70), producing castle-like structures of unique form, with the earliest built by Emperor Fasiladas (1632–1667) (Wordekal 1985: 119).

Figure 4.Amba Māryām, Mesḥāla Māryām (photograph by M.-L. Derat, Mission Mesḥāla Māryām, 1997).

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“…Notably, nothing specifically relating to the Jesuits was found, probably due to their short residence and subsequent re-use of the sites, with material all post-dating their occupation (de Torres Rodríguez 2017: 227–28; Fernández et al . 2017: 158–59 & 288). An indirect marker of the former Jesuit presence, however, is apparent at Gännätä Iyasus, where changes in ceramic forms illustrate a shift from communal to more individual patterns of food consumption in the mid seventeenth century.…”