An Investigation of Metal Collections from Pre-AksumiteTombs at Yeha: Collections from the 1960/61 Excavations
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Date
2024-12-01
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Burial site of Da’ero Mikael is one of a very significant part in Archaeological site of Yeha
along with the great Temple and great palace of Be’alGuebri. It preserved rich intact
underground archaeological structures located around these monumental structures dating to
the early first millennium BCE. It covers a total area of 250 m² located about 300 m to the south
east of the Great Temple near to the Valley of Shillanat. The graves are excavated by Francis
Anfray in the 1960s and 1970s. There are a series of seventeen rock-cut graves that most likely
belongs to the rulers who lived at the palace of GratBea’lGeubri. The grave contents of these
tombs
included abundant pottery, different metal objects including those made out of gold, zoomorphic
seals dominantly made up of bronze, other tools such as beads and an alabaster vessel that
witness the artistic and techno-cultural advancement of the time. Within holistic archaeological
study of Yeha material culture, this study of metal collections tried to address the
gap in research concerning nature of the metal collections further in order to better understand t
he technology, distinctive metal style of Yeha people specifically, and the function of the metal
objects.
Through nondestructive preliminary methods of analyzing such as measuring of morphological
attribute, visual observation and comparative analyses, it has been tried to categorize the objects
based on their primary functions. The nation of primary function appeared to be important since
it is mandatory to feed our reflections in respect to the preliminary objective in which artisans
get in mind while fabricating the objects. That is synthesized from the morphological appearance
of the specific object. The essence of primary function should also understood from perspectives
that materials would be employed for different purposes after fabrication in which that could be
termed as secondary and tertiary function. Moreover, the appearance of the objects as grave
good has to be mentioned important in this case in line with the idea of mortuary practice that
could asserted as one subject in cultural study of Yeha.
The Morpho-typological investigation was conducted on a total of 100intact metal tools in
which bronze is the most dominant raw materials they made of: and remains of broken objects o
btained from various excavated tombs. These objects have been classified based on their
morphological type and function in to eleven groups as; bronze hoes, bronze chisels, bronze
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sickles, bronze hooks, bronze cups and cauldrons, bronze seals, Jewelries, Iron weapons,
different geometric objects, Aksumie bronze crosses and needles and rivets.Special emphasis has
been given to few selected tools in order to assess their cultural meaning in the context. Rather
than the simple morphological real, comparative analysis of these objects has been studied to
feed our reflections of the basic questioned I designed as guide map in this study.
85 % of the objects are made out of bronze in terms of raw material distribution: where we also
have Iron objects and three gold ear rings respectively. It was obstacle for me to expand my
thematic scope due to methodological restrictions. I was unable to do radiographic analysis, and
elemental composition analysis which would have been helpful in quests such of origin of
production. From archaeological perspective however, it was evident that some of the materials
are associated with another archaeological remains such as the great structures of Be`alGuibri
palace, the Al Moqah temple and the ceramics: not only they just found in the same cultural and
archaeological context, but also since there is a clear direct physical relation such as that
between the well-dressed block stone shafts used to construct the temple and the bronze chisels
most seemingly employed to dress them. Comparative observation of the objects with culturally
and chronologically contemporary sites such as Hawelti, Matara and Sobea also shows the
probability of trade exchange in addition to artistic homogeneity. Typological and
morphological variability’s has been interpreted from different perspective of cultural realms
and cultural practices that has been deciphered.
Key words:bronze,Morphology, Primary function, functional analysis, Typology, metal
collection, Yeha,Da`eroMika`el
Description
Keywords
bronze, Morphology, Primary function, functional analysis, Typology, metal collection, Yeha, Da`eroMika`el