The rock-cut churches of Lalibela and the cave church of Washa Mika'el: troglodytism and the Christianisation of the Ethiopian Highlands

Derat, Marie-Laure; Bosc-Tiessé, Claire; Garric, Antoine; Mensan, Romain; Fauvelle, François-Xavier; Gleize, Yves; Goujon, Anne-Lise

doi:10.15184/aqy.2021.20

Cited by 10 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 29 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Such changes in orientation, along with the use of stone slabs to cover some of the grave pits, precisely mirror the practices recorded in the Muslim cemetery at Harlaa (see Insoll et al 2021). This perhaps indicates that Muslim-Christian interaction was occurring at Lalibela, although the presence of ceramics in some graves (Derat et al 2021)-presumably as grave goods that are not usually found in Islamic contexts (Insoll 1999: 172)-suggests greater complexity. Finneran (2007: 225) has suggested that the late tenth-to mid twelfth-century Zagwe Dynasty re-aligned Ethiopian Christian culture away from the Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean.…”

Section: Timothy Insollmentioning

confidence: 68%

“…origins of the site have also been challenged through the identification of what is referred to as a 'troglodytic' culture, manifest also at Washa Mika'el, where pre-Christian iconography and space was appropriated and transformed to create the extant church (Derat et al 2021). In the western Ethiopian borderlands, 'vernacular cosmopolitanism' (González-Ruibal 2021) was evident, with awareness of other religious systems, material worlds and cultural traditions, but within a framework of marginality, and one that changed over time.…”

Section: Special Sectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

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

Insoll¹

2021

Antiquity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Timothy Insollmentioning

confidence: 68%

Section: Special Sectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Insoll¹

2021

Antiquity

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The structures were modified at a later date to become a shrine. The phenomenon of appropriation of Mereno Maryam echoes the example of Lalibäla in medieval times (Fauvelle et al 2010;Fauvelle & Mensan, 2019;Derat et al 2021). The team led by M.-L. Derat has highlighted earlier occupation at the complex in the form of a primitive phase described as troglodytic.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

In Richard Pankhurst’s Footsteps. Survey of rock-hewn sites in the Upper Awash Basin

Lamesa¹,

Routhiau²

2022

ethio

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Menée en novembre 2020, une semaine de prospection dans la région de l’Oromia a été organisée afin de visiter les sites rupestres mentionnés par Richard Pankhurst dans une série d’articles qu’il publia dans les années 1970. Ces prospections nous ont menés sur les bords des rivières Awash et Aqaqi, situées au sud de la capitale d’Addis Abeba. Seule une partie des sites mentionnés par le chercheur a pu être retrouvée. D’autres non mentionnés par lui ont été découverts par les auteures de cet article, dont un site particulièrement intéressant situé non loin de la ville de Melka Kunture. Après un état de la recherche concernant les sites rupestres et leur recensement depuis le milieu du xixe siècle, cet article présente les principaux sites visités. Sont enfin discutés la fonction de ces sites et le phénomène de réappropriation de ces lieux au cours du temps.

show abstract

“…In the 9 th century AD, the capital of the declining kingdom moved southwards towards Lake Hayk and, according to tradition, Queen Yudit completed its disappearance with her conquest in 980 (Butzer, 1981). The population became scarcer and power progressively shifted towards the south (Bard et al, 2000, Derat et al, 2021Gascon, 2006).…”

Section: Socio-ecological Systems and Impacts Of Anthropizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

From section to landscape(s): reconstructions of environmental and landscape changes for the past 8000 years around the site of Wakarida (Ethiopia) using chronostratigraphy

Blond¹,

Jacob-Rousseau

Bouchaud

et al. 2021

BSGF - Earth Sci. Bull.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Geoscience is a very useful tool for approaching the relationships between societies and their environment. However, it is not always possible to apply very advanced techniques or to perform a large number of analyses. This paper aims to show that chronostratigraphic studies can provide satisfying answers to the main geoarchaeological questions, “only” using sedimentological, stratigraphic and chronological analyses. The objective here is to move from the study of stratigraphic sections, uncovered in valley bottoms filled by sedimentary deposits, to the reconstruction of landscape and environmental changes, in connection with the archaeological site of Wakarida (northern Tigray, Ethiopia). The actual landscape around Wakarida is made of steeply sloping valleys, filled with accumulations of sediments several meters thick. These deposits are cultivated by the inhabitants thanks to the building of agricultural terraces. Archaeological excavations have uncovered an urban settlement in Wakarida, dating between the classical Aksumite (150-400/450 CE) and the post-Aksumite periods (800/850 CE), and more ancient (pre- and proto-Aksumite periods) structures in the area under survey. Such structures raise the question of the interactions of the populations with their environment through time. More precisely, they question their role in the deposition of the sediments. To tackle these questions, a method based on a combination of field work, sedimentological analyses and dating has been employed. Such a chronostratigraphic study made it possible to identify several phases in the establishment of the current landscapes around the Wakarida site. During Early Holocene, valleys were gradually filled by alluvial and/or colluvial processes of low energy. During Middle Holocene, ablation processes alternated with deposition, showing the effects of climatic and possible anthropogenic processes. From the 1st millennium BCE onwards, the impact of population on their environment is visible, but especially around the 14th – 17th centuries. An important part of these conclusions is based on the attention given to chronological inversions and the fact that these dates, "false" at first glance, reveal ablation and deposition phases within sedimentary cascades. It therefore seems important, from a methodological point of view, not to reject these dates a priori, but to consider them by giving them their full place in the chronostratigraphic reflection.

show abstract

The rock-cut churches of Lalibela and the cave church of Washa Mika'el: troglodytism and the Christianisation of the Ethiopian Highlands

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 10 publications

References 29 publications

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

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

In Richard Pankhurst’s Footsteps. Survey of rock-hewn sites in the Upper Awash Basin

From section to landscape(s): reconstructions of environmental and landscape changes for the past 8000 years around the site of Wakarida (Ethiopia) using chronostratigraphy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About