, Capitals and Landscapes of Ancient Author(s): Karl W. Butzer Source: Archaeology, Vol. 35, No. 5 (September/October 1982), pp. 30-37 Published by: Archaeological Institute of America Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41727795 Accessed: 13-03-2015 20:58 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Archaeological Institute of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Archaeology.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ancient times,glimpses of teriorto rescue one of theirconsuls a forbiddenland hidden away who had been held hostage. Al- Sincein the mountainfastness of though Ethiopia fendedoff the first Ethiopia have been allowed only to a wave of European colonialismby veryfew. Byzantine traders,mis- wipingout an Italian armyin 1893, sionaries and diplomats traveled the countryfell to Mussolini in therebetween the fourthand sixth 1935-36.Yet ironicallythis defeat centuriesafter Christ, when the early served to open Ethiopia to the Ethiopian state was reckonedone modernworld. Because ofthis turbu- of the fourworld powers. Hundreds lent ,it was not untilthe of years later,beginning in the four- early 1960s that Ethiopia's archaeo- teenthcentury, fabulous reportsof logical heritagebecame visible to a Christianking of interiorAfrica the outside worldwhen, for the first knownas the Prester(Priest) John time,the obelisks of Classical intriguedEuropeans. Portuguese , the rock-cutchurches of soldiers rescued Ethiopia from Mediaeval , and the castles Somalian invaders in A.D. 1543,and of Renaissance became ac- Catholic missionariesfollowed to try cessible by air. to wean the conservativemountain Ethiopia, one of the oldest people fromtheir long traditionof nations in ,is a land of con- Coptic ,but they were trastinglandscapes : hot drylow- expelled by the in lands are separated fromtemperate 1632. The chroniclesof the English- well-wateredplateaus by steep and man , dating to the inaccessible escarpmentswith , reportedsuch bizarretales of gorges rivalingthe Grand Canyon. lifeat the that they In the southernhighlands the werereceived with much skepticism grazing herds and the tropicalcrops in enlightenedBritain. contrastdramatically with the Later,in 1869, a British-Indian Near Eastern plow agricultureof the forcetrekked into the rugged in- north.Scholars wereat firstat-

Thelargest standing obelisk ofAxum, which was oncethe capitalof a worldempire , simulates a nine-storiedpalace. Some23 metershigh , it wasengraved on a singleblock of rock duringthe fourth century after Christ.

This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions tractedto Ethiopia to study its writ- ten Semitic languages - Sabaean, Gheez, Tigre, and .The tra- ditional view saw Ethiopia as a derivativesphere of the Near Eastern world.More recently,however, archaeologists and anthropologists have begun to project a new image of a richindigenous culture.Al- thoughthe earlyreligious and politi- cal beliefsas well as irrigation techniques wereevidently intro- duced fromthe area now called ,many otheraspects are uniquely Ethiopian. The domesti- cated plants are clearlynative to Ethiopia, and such characteristic Ethiopian featuresas plow farming and the Semitic languages are very much older than the South Arabian colonists of the last millennium B.C. Germanand Italian explorations conducted in Ethiopia since 1906 and Frenchand Britishexcavations since the 1950s placed the earliest political and urban centersin north- ernmostEthiopia. A systematic surveyof the northby Joseph Michels of Pennsylvania State Uni- versityin 1974 identifiedstrong Sabaean influencesfrom South Arabia duringa firstperiod of seden- tary settlementbetween 500 and 300 B.c. These early settlements weredispersed and small. Subse- quently,from 300 to 100 B.c., settle- mentcoalesced into largertowns centeredamid irrigatedlands. This integratedsocio-political system later disintegrated,but a new cycle of urbanizationbegan once again duringthe second centuryafter Christ. By A.D. 300 a powerfulkingdom had emergedin northernEthiopia centeredat Axum. Coins were minted,much of the to the west was conquered,and a of Axumite kings began to estab- lish strongcommercial links via the

(Above)The steep and forbidding forestedescarpment of the plateau near Adulisdefended Axum and thelater EthiopianEmpire during the last 2,000 years.(Below) Rounded wooden housesand storagebuildings nestle in theluxuriant countryside ofBegemder, a littlenorth of Gondar. This humid environment,with its bountifulsoils and twoor three crops per year, supplied thenew Ethiopian emerging duringthe Mediaeval period.

September/October1982 31

This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions withthe Mediterranean this instability,raiding villages at in Roman rituals; to this day ex- world,Arabia, Persia, and even dis- will and settlingmuch of the north- tensive stands of incense trees sur- tant . By A.D. 400 Axum had ern before vive along the escarpmentsof the been Christianizedand grewfrom a a.D. 870. Even the king gave up his northernplateau. Musk, extracted small ceremonialcenter to a popu- residenceat Axum, movingfur- fromthe wild civet cat to make a lous city.This metropolisreached its thersouth, and a littlelater the perfumebase, was probablyex- zenithof political prestigein A.D. metropolitanbishop also took refuge portedfrom Axum just as it was 525, when the neighboringArabian in the distant mountaininterior. duringthe nineteenthcentury. In- state of Yemenacross the Red Sea cense, timberand elephants came was incorporatedas part of Axum. fromareas around Axum while Axumite kings continuedto meddle TT he rise and fallof Axum can only ivory,horn, hides, civet,and slaves in Arabian affairson and offuntil be properlyunderstood in an eco- wereobtained fromthe interior a.D. 769. Axum's unsuccessful nomic context. By 2500 b.c. the plateau; gold was minednear the attack on Mecca in A.D. 702 was fol- of distant wereal- distant Sudanese border.Since lowed by Arab retaliation.They ready seeking gold and ebony from directpolitical controlwas limited destroyedthe crucial port of inland areas south and east of the to the northernplateau, it is prob- and seized permanentcontrol of Red Sea. As early as the first able that withinEthiopia many of the adjacent Red Sea islands by A.D. centurythe Roman Pliny mentions these commoditieswere exchanged 715. Withina shorttime coins Ethiopian trade; the third-century forthe cattle, sheep and that ceased to be minted,and afterA.D. maritimemanual The Periplus of Axum had obtained as tributefrom 765 Axum was largelyabandoned. the ErythraeanSea lists ivory, lowland herders,or in exchange Herders fromthe lowlands to the rhinoceroshorn, hippopotamus forthe ironbars, metal tools and northand west took advantage of hides, and slaves as exports from ornaments,and brightlydyed the Red Sea harborof Adulis. Egyptian textilesthat had been pro- accounts of A.D. 525-30 cessed in Axum. Beit one the Byzantine Gabriel, of youngerMedia- The of Axum evalrock-cut churches at Lalibela, is specifylarge-tusked elephants, metropolis cutdown into red sandstone . ivory,gold dust, and hides from flourishedas a gateway city that literally" Four monkeyheads" frame the door in Axum that were shipped out via the funneledmaterials from the con- ancientAxumite tradition , but the port of Adulis. During the same tinentalhinterland into a maritime windowsand theirframes recall Gothic period,Axum also controlledtrade exchange network,reaching as far counterparts. in frankincense,a treegum burned as Spain, the Crimea and . But

This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions this maritimetrade could function only while the sea lanes remained open, eitherthrough good interna- tional relationsor naval strength, and only as long as Axumite luxury goods founddemand in foreign empires.Axum's role as a leading entrepotof the classical worldwas severelyweakened by the long Byzantine-Persianwars of A.D. 540-61and 602-32,which impover- ished all of Byzantium and lefthos- tile Persian fleetsin controlof the seas. A centurylater, it was the Arabs' turnto dominatethe coast, and Ethiopia was once again land- locked withonly intermittent authorityover Adulis. As soon as internationalprofits from its ex- change networkdeclined, Axum lost its abilityto dominateits disparate raw material suppliers. But the eclipse of Axum repre- sents more than the collapse of a gateway city severedfrom interna- tional trade outlets. The archaeo- logical recordin and around Axum documents several periods of build- ing and population growthending a littleafter A.D. 600. At its height Axum coveredan area of 75 hec- tares (compared withonly 53 in 1973), withnumerous multistory stone buildings and even a subur- ban fringeof elite villas. Here resided at least 10,000inhabitants, and possibly as many as 20,000. Yet by the eighthcentury after Christ, Axum had ceased to exist- except fora cathedral compound,a few satellite villages, and a temporary clusterof well-protectedelite villas around the periphery.It was not until about 700 years later,during the fourteenthcentury, that building activityresumed. Traditionally,the declinein trade has been cited as the cause of Axum's decline.But in 1971and 1973, geoarchaeological investigationsin the area around Axum uncovered evidenceof anothercause. The strik- ing population changes wereas

(Above)A 1640castle at Gondar,built withbattlements, sloping towers, archeddoorways, and balconies,is sug- gestiveof Portuguese architectural style. (Below)Soils commonlyare thin on thelava plateaus thatform the coreof the Axumite Empire that once dominatedArabia and theSudan . Climatetoday is marginalfor agricul- turein some years, but tropical woodlandsthrived here prior to ecologi- cal deterioration.

September/October1982 33

This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions much a matterof agriculturalpro- ductivityas theywere of external trade relations.This explanation is substantiatedby the soils that coverthe ruins of Axum. Today the humid plateau of northernEthiopia is a denuded land- scape. Its stonyslopes, stripped of soil by erosion,are coveredonly by shrubs and bush. Although this ecological degradation has not yet been documentedby botanical work, the soil and geomorphicrecord servesinstead. Vegetation,soils and erosionare interlinkedby the hydrologicalcycle of groundcover, rainwaterinfiltration into the soil, and surfacewater runoff. Changes in hydrologyaffect soil formation and can cause erosionwhich rede- posits the originalsoil downslope or downstream.By studyingthe pro- fileof disturbed or truncatedsoils, rainwashor stream beds, and ero- sional gullies in archaeologically controlledsituations, it is possible to identifythe deteriorationof the landscape caused by ac- tivities. The cumulativeimpact of land use, director indirect,is clearest in and around major occupation sites such as Axum. In abandoned living quarters or ceremonialareas refuse and rubble accumulated rapidly even priorto collapse. The cave-inof a roofor a wall- whethergradual or sudden- will eventuallycreate large masses of stone, brick,adobe, and otherrubble. Subsequent rainwashand soil movementsfurther erode the ruins,progressively reducingthe site'sslopes and spread- ing surfacesediment from the centerto its peripheries.Sloping sur- faces of soil wash may feedinto nearbystream channels, carrying withthem debris that can be studied today as a stratigraphieaid as well as an index, fardownstream, of indirecthuman activities. Such archaeological sediments in and around a site, and in combination withburied or truncatedsoils, offer an overviewof the distributionof human occupation duringspecific periods. At Axum this geoarchaeological recordis exposed in threediffer- ent settings: on the banks of the small streamthat cuts through the settlementcenter, in the faces ofnumerous natural excavations near the watershedwithin Axum, and along the foothillson either

34 Archaeology

This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions side of the city.These many "cuts" structionaldebris fromabandoned once was heavier,with more relia- documenttwo phases of active soil living quarters,eroded soils, and ble springrains duringthe heydayof erosion,the firstbetween about rubble frommonumental buildings Axumite poweruntil the early a.D. 100 and 350, and the second link the finalstages of this second eighthcentury. If this is true,the fromabout A.D. 650 to 800. phase withdepopulation and land lengthof the rainyseason would The firstphase (called Aggrada- abandonment.Unused fieldsare par- have been doubled,vastly improving tionI) lefta meteror two of dark ticularlysusceptible to soil erosion, the water supply and soil moisture. clayeysoil wash and related stream especially duringthe heavy rain- Such a subtle environmentalshift beds spread out along the foothills falls experiencedin northern explains how one of the marginal and fillingthe broad valley bottom; Ethiopia duringJuly and August. A agriculturalenvironments of Ethio- Axum's cathedralwas built on top switchfrom crop cultivationto pia could support the large popu- ofthis soil levelduring the late fourth goat or sheep grazing would also lations of the farflungAxumite centuryafter Christ. Floods were increase pressureon the fragilehill- commercialempire. It is equally unusually high duringthis period, side ecosystems. But we know that plausible that the same rainfall and some slope soils show traces of the second erosion phase followed anomaly ultimatelyaccelerated soil viscous movementswhich could directlyupon a major period of erosionduring the seventh-century onlyhave been caused by substantial building activityand urban expan- population expansion. But it is im- amounts ofwater. This evidence sion at Axum. This historicalfact possible to demonstratewhether suggests that topsoil erosion was implies a link betweenthe soil or not increasinglyunreliable rain- partlydue to unusuallyheavy or pro- erosion and ecological stress. The fall patternsduring the eighth tractedrains. Yet the amount of second erosion phase may have been centuryactually created a crisis in erosionwithin a fewcenturies is too triggeredby overintensiveland Axumite agricultureand reduced great to be explained by physical use, although the cumulative and its carryingcapacity, precipitating processes alone. Clearing of the disastrous impact was also height- population decline. originalforests and cultivationand ened by the ensuing land aban- Whateverthe detailed causal in- grazingof adjacent slopes and hill- donment.There can be littledoubt terrelationships,at the timeAxum tops werecertainly also involved. that the finalerosion phase exacer- was abandoned environmentalpro- The second soil erosion phase bated Axumite economic decline. ductivityin termsof crop yields, (Aggradation II) includes one or grazing,timber and fuel,as well as two metersof light-colored,sandy I-iooking beyondthese develop- wildlifehad been catastrophically soil wash spread out along the foot- ments at Axum, the two erosion reduced. Beforethe eighthcentury, hills,or locally concentratedin phases also had dire consequences therewas no attemptto colonize sheets of stonysediment or lobes of forthe surroundingregion. The the moister,more fertile, and natu- large rocks; these formationsindi- heavierrains duringthe firsterosion rallymore productive lands ofcen- cate strongflash floods and soil gra- phase meant that the lowlanddesert tral Ethiopia,judging by the absence vitymovements, which were not lakes held morewater duringmost ofAxumite coins and potterysouth impededby ground vegetation.At of the firstmillennium after Christ. of Nazret. By contrast,according this time,upland soils had evidently The floods,derived primarily to traditionalEthiopian historiesre- been largelydestroyed, exposing fromthe and workedduring the late thirteenth the underlyingrocks over wide areas. drainage of the Ethiopian plateau, or fourteenthcenturies, royally WithinAxum, debris fromdeteri- began a long-termincrease early sponsored,large-scale oratingbuildings was incorporated in the Christianera, followedby a activitytook settlersinto central in rainwashbeds that now buried decline afterA.D. 760 and abnor- Ethiopia as early as the mid-ninth the abandoned villas and churches. mally low levels fromA.D. 930 to century.A new royalresidence and a These soil erosionphenomena as 1080. The low waterlevels ofthe Nile major monasterywith 300 clerics seen in Classical Axum are verysimi- itself,which are partlyrelated to fromAxum wereestablished deep in lar to those documentedin many the early springrains over Ethiopia, the interioraround Lake Hayq, parts of the MediterraneanBasin in already averaged below normal probably beforeA.D. 870. At the Late Classical or Mediaeval times froma.D. 730 to 805. Today in the same time,much of the Axumitecore fromepisodes of widespread land area of the Axumite core settlement area seems to have been abandoned abandonment,or resultingfrom only one harvest can be cultivated to invading sheep herders,judging the devegetationof fragile per year on unirrigatedland after by the almost total absence of ninth environments. the big rains ofJuly and August. For or tenth-centuryrock-cut churches At Axum the two soil erosion the centraland southernplateau, in what is today .Axum itself phases had differentimplications however,where reliable early rains is again mentionedby Coptic- foragricultural productivity. Al- fall duringMarch and April,two Arabic sourcesin A.D. 978 thatrecord thoughthe firstperiod endangered or even threecrops can be planted the destructionof the townby a the slope soil balance, it probably annually on a single plot. pagan queen fromthe interiorpla- did not change overall soil quality A traveler'sreport of about A.D. teau, but this has not been verified significantly.But the second phase 300 alludes to heavy snows in the archaeologically.Royal powerwas in was generallydisastrous, remov- high Semién Mountains, a condition fact assumed in the mountainre- ing soil and rockfrom uphill and normallyassociated with spring gion of by a non-Semitic buryingthe fertiletopsoils further ratherthan summermoisture. This dynasty,the Zagwé, at some un- downslopeunder stonyand sandy reportand the phenomena dis- knownpoint afterA.D. 940. During material.The soil mixtureof con- cussed here suggest that rainfall this period the non-Semitictribes

September/October1982 35

This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions ofLasta became Christianized,while Semitic agriculturalexpansion con- tinued southwardalong the densely forestedspine ofEthiopia to modern , and westwardto the shores of , wherea radiocarbon-datedcave sequence recordscolonization by A.D. 1100. Mediaeval Ethiopia rose on a new interiorpower base, initiallyled by the tribes that supportedthe Zagwé in Lasta and later,after A.D. 1270,centered in the modern Amhara heartlandof the fertile, rollinguplands of Shoa. Lamentably littleis knownabout the Zagwé era because later manuscriptcopyists failed to preservemany contempo- raryrecords of what was considered a "usurping" dynasty. The 11 monumentalrock-cut churchesof the capital of Lasta are all attributedto a single king, Lalibela (ca. A.D. 1195-1235),who gave his name to the town.They include a varietyof architectural styles rangingfrom such late ninth-centuryAxumite elementsas alternating,recessed and project- ing wall levels and protrudingstone "monkey-heads"at windowcorners, to mid-fifteenth-centurypainted walls and a single,non-basilica cruci- formground plan whichpossibly dates to the fourteenthcentury. TVa- ditional Ethiopian documents claim that King Yimrha-Kristos,who is linkedwith the Egyptian Coptic patriarchsCyril II (a.D. 1077-92) and Michael IV (a.D. 1092-1102), importedEgyptian artisans and special materialsfor church construc- tion. This chronologyimplies that building activitywas underwaybe- foreA.D. 1100.Although Lalibela himselfis also said to have welcomed Egyptian Coptic refugees,his rock- cut churchesand those at othersites in Lasta and Tigré reflecta logical indigenous developmentbased on Axumite prototypes.What Lalibela did attemptwas to fashionhis as a "new ,''presuma- bly modeled on the reports of Ethiopian monks returningfrom the Holy Land: juniper trees were plantedin place ofcedars, the stream runningthrough Lalibela was named the JordanRiver, and a grove ofAfrican olives became the Mount of Olives. TIME GRAPH During the twelfthcentury, the OF Agaw of Lasta gave Ethiopia an ETHIOPIAN unparalleledcultural heritage, but HISTORY the political fortunesof the Zagwé wereinauspicious. Little morethan

36 ARCHAEOLOGY

This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions nominalcontrol was exertedover werebuilt around the town. At the was not until 1889,with the corona- Tigré and Shoa, and duringthe thir- monasteryof , artists tion of Menelik II, that Ethiopia teenthcentury both areas were recentlyrecreated the incomparable reemergedas a modernnation and penetratedby . The eventual Coptic paintings lost in the A.D. resumed its historicrole as a displacementof the Zagwé by a 1531 destructionof the Shoan mon- colonizer.Amid woods of freshly SemiticAmhara dynastyfrom Shoa astery of the same name. This planted Australian eucalypts the signaled the beginningof a new ex- mural art is perhaps closest to the modernEthiopian capital ofAddis trovertedpolitical role. thirteenth-centuryChristian fres- Ababa was laid out in 1893 on a hill- Amda Siyon (a.D. 1314-44)began to coes uncoveredin 1961 at Faras in side below a destroyedMediaeval subjugate the south, and then de- . Yet Gondar architecturehas monastery. cisivelydefeated the of a strongEuropean flavor:during The historyof Ethiopia unfolds eastern Ethiopia in a.D. 1332. A re- the firsthundred years of construc- througha succession of new land- formedmonastic movementunder tion,a watercastle and a library scapes. In each phase, churchand royalprotection evangelized the wereerected, all reminiscentof state collaborated in evangelization, frontierdistricts from Tigré to the fifteenth-centuryprototypes near agriculturalcolonization, and the RiftValley. Round wooden and stone Lisbon in a style that is sometimes subjugation and assimilationof non- churches,emulating rural domestic attributedto the descendants of the Semitic borderpeoples. Each new architecture,were built on mountain Portuguese. The interiorsand par- landscape became the fòcus of tops overlookingthe hot lowlands ticularlythe sumptuous rectangular differentcultural and artistic or on islands in the fever-ridden hall of (built in the 1720s), expressions- the ostentatious lake basins such as Tana or Zwai. however,are in the Renaissance obelisks, palaces and basilicas of Political subjugation accompanied style.But the wholeis unmistakably Classical Axum; the rock-cut these Christianizationefforts. coherent,individual, and most of churchesof Early Mediaeval Lasta; Throughoutthe fifteenthcentury, all, distinctlyEthiopian. the now lost monasteriesof Late Amhara colonists continuedto trick- The political powerof the Gon- Mediaeval Shoa; the castle complex le into southernShoa, Gojam and darineemperors was eclipsed in 1735 of Renaissance Gondar; and finally, the area betweenLake Tana and the when Galla tribesmenpenetrated the diversifiedmodern capital of Semién Mountains. By the 1520s a the countrysideand looted at will. It Ethiopia. ChristianAmhara nation dominated the Ethiopian plateau and sus- taineda flourishingecclesiastical art. ■-yfHPRf wMãmWW&fm _if 'Pil ffflriit vil laEwm But by this time a new constel- Ethiopia: JiumwBroce, Thiwfe ¿o ; ptogyas Human Ecobgy (Cam- ' lationof political forces had emerged. bridgeUniversityPresSj NewYork The strongIslamic urban culture 111 1982), develops Utemethods and ofeastern Ethiopia, supportedby Dublm 1790); Buxton, 77u? goals of geoarchaeology; H.N. Chit- il'ht tát nim ~ ^ Somali tribesmen,found a charis- : ^«ri, uy&xtntuns fww iws tick,"Excavations at Aksum," «historical overview Azonie 9 matic leader in Ahmed Gragn, who 1970), give« (1974): 159-205,report* ' routedthe Christianemperor in A.D. of art Mdw-cfeitecture;G.W.B. on the British excavations of 1972- 1527. Subsequently Gragn ravaged YLxmiin^oTÚ,The PresterJohn of 74; Y.M. Kobishchaaov, Axum • one upland districtafter another, ih* (The IWktaytSociety, (Pennsylvania State University destroyingthe provinceof Shoa and G«imW^geíMl»2 volniiiesj.ifi Pmm»,University Park, PA 1979), Is all its pricelesschurch art. Tigré a translaüonol Portligoese contri- the authoritativevolume forthe and Axum wereput to the torchfour butions: O.A. Jaeger and Ivy : Axamiteperiodbnèdi»ÍBiai8]rM years later.After a Portuguese ¥e*rce, Antiquities ofNorthern u; writtensources; Sergew hable musketeerkilled Gragn in A.D. 1543, iKsgaa Panl,London .i;*Sellessie, Ancient and Medieval the reunitedEthiopian armies were 1974),is a usefulguide to the major Ethiopian History to 1270 (Halle able to breakthe powerof the Islamic Selassie UniversityPress, Addis East in a.D. 1577. But at the same D.N.Levhxe, GreaterEthiopia: The" . Ababa, Ethiopia 1972), bringsto- > time,pagan pastoralists fromthe ¿I Evolutionof a Multi-EthnicSo- gethertranslations from traditional south,the Galla, invaded the disor- . cùrfy( University of Chicago Pren, Ethiopian sources on these periods. ganized empireand uprootedAm- Cfucago l974)vgive8 a frt»han- On Mediaeval Ethiopia: Mor- hara agriculturalsettlement in most dechai Abir,Ethiopia: The Era of the of Shoa duringA.D. 1545-70. Vma¡kkmt,AHlntrodactümtothe Princes (Praeger,New York 1968), In the early the Ethiopian Economic , analyzes the decline of Gondar; emperorsbegan to reconsolidate (Sidgwick and Jackson, London Irmgard Bidder,Lalibela (Praeger, theirpower among the fertileplains 1961),pi^de#aninformative,the- New York 1959), is án introduction and lush hillsides of ,de- maticoutlbteof all aspects ofeco- to the rock-cutchurches at Lalibela.; velopinga permanentroyal residence nomic lifefrom Axumite times Georg Gerster,Churches in Rock at Gondar after1636. Although a (Praegen New York1970), documenta OntheAxumite splendidsecular city rose here,it was period: K.W. the inaccessible rock-cutmonu- at the sacrificeof the traditional Butzer,"The Rise and Flailof Axum, mentsof northernEthiopia; ledesse royalmobility and effectivefrontier Ethiopia: A Geoarchaeological In- Ihmrat, Churchand State in Ethio- control.Today the seventeenth- terpretation,"American Antiquity pia 1270-1527(Clarendon Press, centurywalls of the residencestill 46 (1981): 471-96,is a discussion 6f Oxford,England 1972), is the key enclose a myriadof partlyruined historicalland degradation and its study of Mediaeval Ethiopia. castles. Several new monasteries

September/October 1982 37

This content downloaded from 128.62.59.252 on Fri, 13 Mar 2015 20:58:08 UTC All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions