Archaeological

Just over the bridge, turn right to follow a dirt road to the archaeological site of Melka Konture. (It is best that you check with the Antiquities Administration in Addis first.) Since 1965, geologists and archaeologists have had a compound here, set up to excavate this area at the entrance to the gorge where, two million years ago, the earliest ancestors of mankind had a home. They left behind tools, as well as traces of meals and shelters. In the lowest levels pebble tools have been found and, in the higher levels, men of the Middle and Late Stone Age have left many examples of beautiful two-edged hand-axes, obsidian scrapers, and sets of 'bolas' - the round stones used together in nets to throw at animals. Fossilized bones of hippopot­amus, rhinoceros, elephant, and various antelope have also been found here.

 

If you walk upstream along the banks of the river, some of these Stone Age tools can often be seen, particularly in the dry washes. Remember, however, that collect­ing of Stone Age artefacts is prohibited, and local citizens help to enforce this re­striction. 




Tiya Stones
 

The Stele site of Tiya in Gurage Zone is registered in the UNESCO world heritage list as world heritage sites in 1980. Tiya is distinguished by 36 standing stones or stelae. They are marking a large, prehistoric burial complex of an ancient Ethiopian culture.

The site contains more than 40 ancient stelae. The largest of which stands up to 3.9m high. They form only one cluster and are intriguing and mysterious. Almost nothing is known about the monoliths carves or their purpose. Most of the stones are engraved with enigmatic symbols, notably swords.  French excavations have revealed that the stelae mark mass graves of individuals aged between 18-30 years.

Yeha - Temple of the Moon

Ethiopia's earliest known capital, Yeha, is less than two hours' drive from Axum through some dramatic highland scenery. As the birthplace of the country's earliest high civilization, it is well worth visiting. To get there, head east for twenty kilometres (12 miles) to Adwa. Continue along the main road towards Adigrat for another twenty-four kilometres (15 miles) and then turn north on to a short dirt track, where you will see the imposing ruins of Yeha's Temple of the Moon about four kilometres (2.5 miles) to the right of the track.

The ruins of this large, pre-Christian temple, erected around the fifth century Be, consist of a single roofless oblong chamber twenty metres (66 feet) long by fifteen metres (50 feet) wide. The windowless ten­metre-high (33-foot-high) walls are built of smoothly polished stones, some of them more than three metres (ten feet) long, carefully placed one atop the other without the use of mortar.

Immediately beside the temple is a modern church dedicated to Abune Aftse, one of the Nine Saints from Syria who founded many important monasteries in northern Ethiopia in the fifth and sixth centuries. The building's front facade has been fitted with stones from the original temple, which are decorated with reliefs of ibex with lowered horns. The church contains many crosses, old manuscripts and stones bearing ancient Sabaean inscriptions, which can be seen on request.

Archaeological research at Yeha has unearthed many historical treasures, including a number of Sabaean inscrip­tions and a variety of animal figurines. Several of these antiquities are on display in the National Museum in Addis Ababa.

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