From the imposing stelae at Axum to the churches at Lalibela carved out of solid rock, Ethiopia has an incredibly rich heritage. Travel writer Judith Baker takes us on a journey through the North to discover more.
Ethiopia: When climate changes
Over the past two summers Timothy Clack and Marcus Brittain have directed the first archaeological teams in the Lower Omo Valley, a remote part of south-western Ethiopia, to research long-term human responses to environmental change. What did they find there?
Tool use pushed back 1 million years
The butchered bones of cow and goat-like animals from a riverbed in Dikika, in the Afar region of northern Ethiopia, show early humans were using tools 3.4m years ago – more than a million years earlier than previously thought. Until the discovery, it was believed tools were first employed by Homo habilis – hence the [...]
Lucy
November 3, 2008
Filed Under: Issue 32, Ethiopia, Great Discoveries
A snapshot of the Australopithecus afarensis, otherwise known as ‘Lucy’.
Lalibela, Ethiopa, Rock-Hewn Churches
July 7, 2006
Filed Under: Issue 18, Celebrating World Heritage, Ethiopia, Features
One of the original 12 sites to be added to the World Heritage list, Lalibela is one of the most important pilgrimage places of Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity and famed for its 11 Medieval churches, all of which are hewn into the rock. These exceptional buildings are said to have been built during the 25 year reign of King Lalibela – with more than a little help from the angels. But archaeologists question miracles; and here, David Phillipson, Professor of African Archaeology at Cambridge, introduces us to the wonders of Lalibela and offers a new interpretation of its chronology and creation.
Aksum
One of the first civilisations to be converted to Christanity: but what was there before Christanity?
Welcome to Current World Archaeology, the magazine that studies archaeology round the world.
