Niall Finneran

Ethiopian evil eye belief and the magical symbolism of iron working

Whilst undertaking an archaeological survey in the area around the northern Ethiopian town of Aksum in late 1995 I spotted what appeared to be an obvious short cut on our map. Suggesting to my Ethiopian colleague that we could take this route, he dismissed me with the statement: “we cannot go through that village. They are all Buda there.” What, I asked, was the Buda? The answer came back that these people were variously mad, dangerous, strange, outcast and had the power of the evil eye; they would be liable to curse us. This was not the first time that I had come across such a belief; it was well known in the town itself that many of the artisans engaged in metalworking possessed the power of the evil eye, and walking past green pea fields, what I had mistaken to be simple scarecrows (pieces of rag and plastic tied to poles) actually turned out to be amulets protecting the crop from those with the power to blast it.

Excavations at the Late Stone Age Site of Baahti Nebait, Aksum, Northern Ethiopia, 1997

The small rockshelter of Baahti Nebait was located during an archaeological survey by the author in 1995, and excavated as part of the author’s Ph.D research over a four-week period in 1997 (Finneran 1998, 1999). The site is located beside a track some 4.5 km northwest ofAksum on the south-western flank of Beta Giyorgis (fig. 1). The rockshelter is immediately noticeable from the track way in all directions, being located in a group of tall, pointed granitic rocks (fig. 2). The local soils are mainly vertisolic in character, and support a wide range of crops. The rockshelter is protected from the prevailing winds by the bulk of Beta Giyorgis, and several small, seasonal run-off, water courses were noted in the immediate vicinity of the site. The name Baahti Nebait may be translated into English as ‘cave of the tear drops’; this name refers to the presence of two small, close-set natural fissures -very much like eyes set in the northern wall of the chamber. Even during dry periods, these fissures ooze water, and this water is held locally to be a cure for eye problems. Within the site complex itself, the main chamber extends for circa ten metres from the drip-line to the rear of the cave, and at the opening of the cave attains a maximum width of three metres. The chamber then narrows sharply, and extends steeply uphill to the rear. A 1 x 1.5 m trench (excavation unit one) was set out utilising the available flat area in the front of the chamber beneath the drip-line (see fig. 3). The chamber opens outwards onto a flat field, and here a 1 x 1 m test pit (excavation unit two) was set out to sample what may be described, loosely, as talus deposits; nothing of importance was found in this unit which sampled a succession of heavy vertisolic sediments, and it will not be discussed further.

The Archaeological Landscape of the Shire Region, Western Tigray, Ethiopia: A Preliminary Report on the 2001 Field Season

Archaeological research on the Aksumite polity of northern Ethiopia has tended to focus upon its core zone (e.g. Fattovich et aL2000; Phillipson ZOOO), and its links eastwards towards the Red Sea littoral, but little attention has been paid to the putative cultural links westwards to the Sudan steppes and Nile valley. Recent work in eastern Sudan (Gash Delta) has thrown light on the archaeology of that region, and some evidence indicates socio-cultural links with the Ethiopian plateau (Fattovich 1993). Archaeologically, however, the north-western highlands of Ethiopia the interface between these two areas largely remain terra incognita (Phillips 1997a, 2000). The goal of the research outlined here is to assess archaeological potential of this zone. This project originated in several day-visits to Shire by team members of the 1993-97 BIEA excavations at Aksum, as guests ofAto Gebre Kidan Wolde Hawariat (TBCTI, Indaselassie), and this paper presents the results of our follow-up work there in November 2001. Further surveys are scheduled for 2003-4.

Settlement archaeology and oral history in Lasta, Ethiopia: some preliminary observations from a landscape study of Lalibela

The Ethiopian town of Lalibela is known for its magnificient rock-hewn churches said to date from the time of the Zagwe King Lalibela (twelfth century AD), but beyond the churches little is known about the towns archaeological context. This paper sets out preliminary observations of the landscape history of the town and argues that future work, integrating archaeological survey and oral history research, will yield a fuller picture of long-term human settlement in the region.

Lucy to Lalibela: heritage and identity in Ethiopia in the twenty-first century

Unusually for an African country, Ethiopia was only briefly colonised. As such, this multi-ethnic yet predominantly ancient Christian country, for hundreds of years ruled by an Imperial Dynasty, preserved a unique cultural identity underpinned by a powerful social memory. The ‘story of Ethiopia’ (which in the present article is given the label ‘heritage meta-narrative’) was carefully nurtured over hundreds of years in order to stress the ancient Christian Orthodox lineage of the country and an almost divine form of kingship prior to 1974, and was used to provide a strong centralising force for an ethically and culturally disparate population. In recent years, after a series of complex political events, these disparate Ethiopian populations are agitating for political change, if not outright independence, and in order to stress the legitimacy of these claims they are re-examining what their heritage means, and in turn are creating new heritage micro-narratives. Using sources drawn from official works, academic papers and popular Web-log (blog) posts, the present article charts the fracturing of the old Ethiopian heritage meta-narrative and the creation of new multiple heritage micro-narratives against the background of political change.

Built by angels? Towards a buildings archaeology context for the rock-hewn medieval churches of Ethiopia

Abstract The medieval rock-cut churches of northern and central Ethiopia bear witness to an ancient Christian heritage. Hitherto, their study has been largely confined to art-historical and architectural-historical disciplines, but this contribution argues that an archaeological approach may reveal much about their development, chronology and symbolism. Methodologies used in the study of the fabric and form of traditional ‘built’ churches may not be wholly applicable to the study of rock-cut structures, but there are other avenues which may be investigated using these techniques, and this paper outlines some of the approaches which might be usefully employed. Special attention is paid to the ‘functional’ engineering context of these structures as well as a consideration of some of the more symbolic ideas which might be ‘read’ from a study of architectural space.

B.I.E.A. Excavations at Aksum, Northern Ethiopia, 1995

This paper describes the results of the first two seasons of fieldwork at Aksum, Northern Ethiopia, particularly the excavation of a middle rank settlement of the Aksumite period.

Lalibela in its landscape: archaeological survey at Lalibela, Lasta, Ethiopia, April to May 2009

Lalibela is one of the most important historical sites in Africa. Although described as an Ethiopian medieval capital, very little focused archaeological research has been undertaken on the site. This paper describes the results of the University of Winchester survey of 2009, which took place as part of the wider French Centre of Ethiopian Studies (CFEE) Lalibela project, whose results are published elsewhere. The results of this survey enable us to rethink the nature, development and wider context of urbanism in Ethiopia after the end of Aksum.

The archaeology of the Jesuit missions in Ethiopia (1557-1632)

This exhaustive and handsomely produced volume presents the detailed results of fieldwork undertaken by a Spanish archaeological team (drawn mainly, but not exclusively, from the Universidad Complu...

Slaves to Sailors: the archaeology of traditional Caribbean shore whaling c.1850–2000. A case study from Barbados and Bequia (St Vincent Grenadines)

The archaeology of post-Emancipation periods in the Caribbean (i.e. after c. 1807 in the British Caribbean) remains relatively understudied. The collapse of the industrial-scale sugar plantation systems of the islands in the early 19th century saw a radical re-organisation of social and economic life. A new corpus of consumers was created, eking out a living on the margins of island society as sharecroppers or artisans, but never quite economically or culturally liberated. The archaeological implications for the study of this period, in terms of vernacular housing, material culture and ritual behaviour inter alia should be considerable. A major development within this trajectory sees the emergence, on many islands, of a strong Afro-Caribbean maritime culture focused upon ship building, fishing and whaling. The archaeology of whaling communities, highly distinctive functionally specific settlements, is relatively well understood from the perspective of north America, Australasia and Europe, but less so in the Caribbean. Using two case studies based upon recent excavation and survey work by the author, this paper attempts to shed light on a very distinctive maritime cultural response in the post-Emancipation Caribbean world and one which deserves wider consideration.