An accidental discovery at the church ʾƎndā Ṣǝyon Māryām (Ḥawzen)A previously unknown Sabaic inscription found?
15 November 2023
(guest notice by Hagos Gebremariam, Department of Sociology; Amanuel Abrha, Department of Archaeology and Heritage Management, Adigrat University)
While looking for a fitting collection for the Inventorying Manuscripts Workshop (offered by Dr Denis Nosnitsin on behalf of the project Beta maṣāḥǝft: Manuscripts of Ethiopia and Eritrea on 18 November 2023 at Ṭāqot Māryām) we contacted and visited several churches of the region. One of the places which we visited shortly before the workshop, accompanied by Mr. Hadgu Gebreselassie from Mekelle, was the church ʾƎmbā ʾƎndā Ṣǝyon Māryām Ḥaramāt, in ṭābiyā Dagāmbā (Dagā ʾAmbā), waradā Ḥawzen, southwest from the town of Sǝnqāṭā/ Frewayni. The church is an old foundation. Local people related several traditions about it, for instance, how the Ark of the Covenant stayed at ʾƎndā Ṣǝyon for a while, how King Galāwdewos (r. 1522/23—1559) took shelter at ʾƎndā Ṣǝyon, and how the local chief Rǝʾǝsa Hāymānot entrenched at the ʾǝmbā and successfully resisted Rās Mikāʾel Sǝḥul for a while. The church owns a number of manuscripts, but, being located on the flat top mountain (ʾǝmbā), it has been found unsuitable for the workshop as too distant and too difficult to access.
By chance ʾƎmbā ʾƎndā Ṣǝyon turned out to be of great interest due to other reasons. The church building appears to have been rebuilt several times, and was again in the process of reconstruction at the time of the visit. Some 400 m away from the church, in a field, there is a spot with processed stones partly covered with soil (fig. 1). It has become a source of material for the construction work at the church and for the repairing of the houses of the small community living on the ʾǝmbā. The place is located close to the verge of the ʾǝmbā on its north-eastern side (fig. 2). Recently two stone slabs have turned up there, which bear incised inscriptions in the Ancient South Arabian script. Both slabs are broken at the ends and damaged at the edges. One is some 50 cm long and 10-15 cm wide, its weight being c.6-7 kg. Some twelve characters are visible on the slab (fig. 3). The information about the second inscribed slab came later, sent by the members of ʾƎmbā ʾƎndā Ṣǝyon. The second slab is reportedly much heavier, also damaged and broken at both ends; at least nine characters are readable on it. More remains have been seen at the site of the church construction during the visit (figs. 4, 5, 6) hinting at the possible archaeological importance of the place, which appears to be unknown to the scholars. Neither Ethio-Sabaean sites nor other Sabaic inscriptions have been reported also from the area around ʾƎmbā ʾƎndā Ṣǝyon.
A detailed report of this work will be announced soon with the collaborative research works in the ground in cooperation with the project 'Kulturelle Kontakte zwischen Südarabien und Äthiopien' (University of Jena, PI Norbert Nebes, field coordinator Dr Wolbert Smidt).
Fig. 1. Archaeologist Amanuel Abrha (left) and a member of the local community inspecting the place of the finds
Fig. 2. View of ʾƎmbā ʾƎndā Ṣǝyon, location of the place of the finds marked with an arrow
Fig. 3. The first inscription (photo in part)
Fig. 4. Archaeological remains at the site of the church construction
Fig. 5. Archaeological remains at the site of the church construction
Fig. 6. A stone found at the site of the church construction (length ca. 15 cm)
Fig. 7. Hagos Gebremariam (first left), Hadgu Gebreselassie (second left) and the members of the community of ʾƎmbā ʾƎndā Ṣǝyon