The Environmental History of Tigray (Northern Ethiopia) in the Middle and Late Holocene: A...

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African Archaeological Review [aar] PL125-81 July 11, 2000 9:51 Style file version Nov. 19th, 1999

African Archaeological Review, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2000

The Environmental History of Tigray (NorthernEthiopia) in the Middle and Late Holocene:A Preliminary Outline

Kathryn A. Bard, 1 Mauro Coltorti, 2 Michael C. DiBlasi,3 Francesco Dramis,4

and Rodolfo Fattovich5

This paper outlines the environmental history of the Tigrean Plateau (northernEthiopia) during the Holocene, based on the available geomorphological, palyno-logical, archaeological, and historical evidence. At present, it seems that (1) theplateau experienced a more humid climate with a denser vegetation cover duringthe Early Holocene; (2) Soil erosion due to clearing vegetation began in the Mid-dle Holocene; (3) agricultural activity was intensified in the Late Holocene, as aconsequence of the rise of a state; (4) demographic pressure increased from theearly first millennium BC to the mid–first millennium AD, causing soil erosion;(5) environmental degradation and demographic decline occurred in the late firstmillennium AD; (6) the vegetation cover was regenerated in the early second mil-lennium AD; and (7) progressive vegetation clearance started again in the secondhalf of the second millennium AD.

Cet article trace l’histoire ambiante du Plateau Tigreen dans l’Holocene en util-isant les donnees geomorphologiques, palynologiques, archeologiques et his-toriques. Il semble que (1) dans l’Holocene ancien le plateauetait caracterise parune phase humide avec une dense vegetation; (2) l’erosion causee par l’abbattagede la vegetation commença dans l’Holocene moyen; (3) l’activite agricoles’intensifiaa la fin de l’Holocene, par consequence de l’essor d’unetat; (4) lapression demographique augmenta de plus en plus du debut du premier millenaire

1Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts02215.

2Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Siena, Siena, Italy.3African Studies Center and Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts02215.

4Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Universita di Roma III, Roma, Italy.5Dipartimento di Studi e Ricerche su Africa e Paesi Arabi, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Piazza SanDomanico Maggiore 12, 80134 Napoli, Italy.

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66 Bard, Coltorti, DiBlasi, Dramis, and Fattovich

av. J.-Ch.a la moitie du premier millenaire ap. J.-Ch.; (5) la degradation am-biante et la diminution demographique se verifierenta la fin du premier millenaireap. J.-Ch.; (6) une regeneration de la vegetation se verifia au debut du secondemillenaire ap. J.-Ch.; et (7) l’abbatage de la vegetation recommença dans la sec-onde moitie du seconde millenaire ap. J.-Ch.

KEY WORDS: Holocene; environment; history; Tigray; Ethiopia.

INTRODUCTION

We present in this contribution the major episodes in the environmental historyof the Tigrean Plateau (northern Ethiopia) during the Middle and Late Holoceneusing the available geomorphologic, palynological, archaeological, and historicalevidence. The work presented here is the product of a collaborative, multidis-ciplinary research project on the cultural and environmental history of Tigray,in progress under affiliation agreements among Addis Ababa University, BostonUniversity, and the Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples.6

The main goals of the project are to reconstruct the dynamics of human–environmental relationships in northern Ethiopia from the rise of complex societyto the present and to contribute to an understanding of present-day land degradationand its causes. The project involves fieldwork conducted in northern Tigray, whereAksum, the capital of a powerful African state, arose in the late first millenniumBC (Fattovich, 1994a) (Fig. 1). Previous reports detailing the project’s researchdesign and fieldwork were presented at the Twelfth International Conference ofEthiopian Studies held at Michigan State University, East Lansing, in September1994 (Assefa and Russo, 1994; Bard, 1994, 1997a; DiBlasi, 1994; McCann, 1994;Bard and Fattovich, 1997).

ENVIRONMENTAL BACKGROUND: AN OVERVIEW

Tigray is the northernmost region of modern Ethiopia (Fig. 2). The geologyof Tigray is, for the most part, the result of volcanic activity, and the topographyof the region is dominated by a broken plateau that forms a rolling upland rangingfrom about 1000 to more than 3500 m in altitude (Ethiopian Mapping Agency,1988; Wilson, 1977). The climate of the plateau is temperate, but environmentalconditions vary with altitude; annual temperatures range between 15 and 25◦C,and the mean annual rainfall ranges from 700 to 1200 mm, mostly in the sum-mer months (June–August). Most of the plateau is covered by soils with low togood agricultural potential (Ethiopian Mapping Agency, 1988).

It has been suggested that a large part of the highlands of northern Ethiopia, in-cluding the Tigrean Plateau, was forested in earlier times (Pankhurst, 1990b, p. 275;

6The Istituto Universitario Orientale–Boston University Archaeological Expedition at Aksum, directedby Rodolfo Fattovich and Kathryn Bard, has conducted research at Bieta Giyorgis, Aksum, since 1993.

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Environmental History of Tigray in the Middle and Late Holocene 67

Fig. 1. Ethiopia, with the location of Aksum, northern Tigrai.

Simoons, 1960, p. 210). The extent to which forest or woodland communities mayhave covered the region is unknown, however, as virtually no research has beendone on the vegetation history of northern Ethiopia (DiBlasi, 1997, pp. 50–51).In the absence of palaeobotanical evidence, the nature of past vegetation com-munities has been reconstructed using information on the composition, ecology,and bioclimatic distribution of extant forests, woodlands, and grasslands. Plantecologists infer that the climax vegetation of Tigray was dry evergreen, montaneforest dominated byJuniperus proceraandOlea europeassp.africanaat altitudesabove 2200 m, mixedPodocarpus gracilior–Juniperus proceraforest in moister

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areas between 1400 and 2200 m, and deciduous wooded grassland (with speciesof Acacia, Ficus, Euphorbia, Cordia, Croton, Olea, Albizia, Lannea, Combretum,Terminalia, andCommiphoraamong the more important arboreal taxa) at altitudesbelow 2200 m (Ethiopian Mapping Agency, 1988; Feoli, 1994, pp. 11–12; Friis,1986; Wilson, 1977). The vegetation pattern of today, however, is dominated bymontane grassland, with only small, remnant forests in isolated areas of the plateau(Butzer, 1981, pp. 474–476; Feoli, 1994, pp. 11–12; Wilson, 1977). Based on theaccounts of the first European travelers, the barren landscape of present-day north-ern Ethiopia dates to before the 17th century (Pankhurst, 1961, 1992; Pankhurstand Ingrams, 1988).

It is likely that the Tigray region experienced the same Holocene climaticfluctuations as the Horn of Africa, a pattern that shares common features withHolocene climatic fluctuations of North Africa. In both areas present-day climaticconditions seem to have been established since the second millennium BC, but asubordinate humid phase is reported to have occurred between 500 BC and AD 500(Adamson, 1982; Butzer, 1971, 1981, 1982a; Gasseet al., 1980; Gowlett, 1988;Grove, 1993; Hassan, 1997; Williams, 1982, 1988).

The social and economic development of Tigray has been greatly affectedby environmental factors. The region experiences major environmental hazards:rainfall fluctuations causing droughts and famine, earthquakes, invasions of locustswarms, and epidemics (Ethiopian Mapping Agency, 1988; Pankhurst, 1990a; Zeinand Kloos, 1988). Human activity has compounded the effects of environmentalhazards through the diffusion of epidemics, warfare, and land-use practices (e.g.,deforestation, overintensive cultivation, and livestock grazing, which acceleratedsoil erosion). Given the complex, dynamic nature of the interactions among thecultural and environmental components of the ecosystem, a processual approachto the reconstruction of human–environmental relationships in the Holocene iscrucial for an understanding of past and present-day problems of environmentaldegradation and social development in the region (see Butzer, 1981, 1982b; Dramisand Fattovich, 1994).

CULTURAL HISTORY: AN OUTLINE

The prehistory of Tigray has received little archaeological attention and ispoorly understood (Fattovich, 1997a). Lithic industries, possibly dating to theEarly Holocene, have been recorded in the region of Aksum, but their significanceis still uncertain (Puglisi, 1941, 1946). Archaeological evidence from Gobedrarock-shelter, also near Aksum, spans the period from ca. 8000 BC to historictimes and has furnished the first dated succession of Later Stone Age industriesin northern Ethiopia (Phillipson, 1977). Although the research at Gobedra yieldedimportant data on stone tool technology and other aspects of cultural developmentin the Late Stone Age, the information available thus far is very limited and doesnot provide even a general understanding of this period.

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The Ethiopian and Eritrean highland region has long been recognized as animportant center of African plant domestication and agricultural innovation, butour understanding of the beginnings of food production in this region is poor(see Brandt, 1984; Harlan, 1969, 1971, 1993; Phillipson, 1993). The highlandEthiopian agricultural complex is viewed as a combination of indigenous crops—including teff (Eragrostis teff), noog (Guizotia abyssinica), and perhaps fingermillet (Eleusine coracana)—that have been added to elements of the Near Easterncrop complex (Harlan, 1992, pp. 67–68). The considerable number of endemicvarieties of imported Near Eastern cereals (wheat and barley) and legumes (chickpea, lentil, and fava bean) found in Ethiopia suggests a rather long and complexhistory of local cultivation and genetic diversification there (Harlan, 1982, 1992).Archaeological data pertaining to this complex history, however, are quite limited(Bard, 1997b; Phillipson, 1990, 1993).

Archaeological evidence from the lowlands along the Eritrean–Sudanese bor-derland and the plateau in Eritrea suggests that food producing societies were livingin these regions since the late fourth/third and second millennia BC, respectively(Clark, 1976, 1980, 1988; Fattovich, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1997a; Fattovichet al.,1988; Marks and Sadr, 1988; Sadr, 1991). This might point to an introductionof domesticated livestock and cultigens, such as wheat and barley, on the Tigrayplateau in the Middle Holocene (Bard, 1997b). Linguistic evidence suggests thatfood production began on the plateau in the Early Holocene (Ehret, 1979) and thatplow agriculture was being practiced in late prehistoric times (Simoons, 1965),but these assertions have yet to be confirmed by archaeological evidence (Bard,1997b). The recent discovery of rock-pictures in Temben (southern Tigray) sug-gests that cattle herders were moving in this region in late prehistoric times (Negash,1997).

The Late Holocene history of the Tigrean Plateau was marked by the for-mation of states (Fattovich, 1993, 1997a,b; Munro-Hay, 1993). In the mid–firstmillennium BC the kingdom of Daamat (ca. 700/600–400/300 BC), a state-levelurban society with strong South Arabian (Sabaean) characteristics arose on theTigrean plateau as a result of long-term cultural and economic interaction be-tween South Arabians and indigenous peoples. The material remains of this stateare identified in the archaeological record with the “Pre-Aksumite Culture.” Theterritory of the Ethio-Sabaean state stretched from the Shiré plateau in northernTigray to the Akkele Guzay region of central Eritrea. Yeha, near Adwa, was themajor Daamat settlement in Tigray (Anfray, 1973, 1990; Conti Rossini, 1928; deContenson, 1981; Drewes, 1962; Fattovich, 1990; Ricci, 1984).

The Ethio-Sabaean state collapsed in Tigray (“Late Pre-Aksumite Phase”),and a new complex society with a different cultural pattern arose on the plateaunear Aksum in the late first millennium BC (Anfray, 1990; Fattovich, 1990). Thematerial evidence of this new complex society is provisionally identified in thearchaeological record with the so-called “Proto-Aksumite” remains (ca. 400–100 BC) recently discovered at Bieta Giyorgis to the northwest of Aksum (Bard

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and Fattovich, 1993, 1995; Bardet al., 1997; Fattovich and Bard, 1993, 1994,1995, 1997).

Complex society in the region of Aksum developed into a proper state (king-dom of Aksum; ca. AD 50–900) in the early first millennium AD. The materialevidence of this state is identified in the archaeological record with the “Aksumiteculture” (Anfray, 1981, 1990). A settlement was established on Bieta Giyorgishill at Aksum in the first century BC (Fattovich and Bard, 1996), and in the firstcentury AD Aksum was the capital of a kingdom that progressively expanded itscontrol over the entire plateau in Tigray and Eritrea (Early Aksumite Phase; ca.100 BC–AD 400). A crucial event in the development of the kingdom of Aksumwas the introduction of Christianity in the early fourth century. In the midfirstmillennium AD, the Aksumite kingdom went through a period of apparent eco-nomic stagnation (transitional Early/Middle Aksumite Phase; ca. late fourth–mid–sixth centuries). In the sixth and seventh centuries Aksum was again the capitalcity of a prosperous kingdom and controlled the trade from the African hinterlandto the Red Sea (Middle Aksumite Phase). In the late first millennium AD, thekingdom declined (Late Aksumite Phase; ca. 8th–9th centuries), and it eventuallydisappeared in the 10th century (Anfray, 1990; Conti Rossini, 1928; Fattovich,1988, 1997c; Hable Sellassie, 1972; Kobishchanov, 1979, 1981; Mekouria, 1981;Munro-Hay, 1991). The spread of Islam along the African coast of the Red Seamost likely had a significant role in the decline of the kingdom of Aksum.

The rise of a Muslim sultanate at Dahlak Kebir, east of Massawa, in the9th century AD, and the Islamic penetration from the coast into eastern Ethiopia inthe 9th and 10th centuries AD, progressively isolated the Christian kingdom andrestricted its access to the main Indian Ocean trade circuit (Conti Rossini, 1928;Cuoq, 1981).

By the ninth century AD the Christian kingdom shifted southward to Lasta(Wollo Province) and the capital moved from Aksum to a locality named Ka’bar/Ka’ban or Soper, according to Islamic and Coptic sources (Conti Rossini, 1928;Hable Sellassie, 1972; Tamrat, 1972). Apparently, no true town existed on theTigrean plateau at this time. Archaeological evidence of this kingdom consistsmainly of rock-hewn churches in central Tigray dating to the 10th–15th cen-turies AD (Anfray, 1990; Fattovich, 1993; Lepage, 1975).

HOLOCENE HUMAN–ENVIRONMENTAL RELATIONSHIPS

Paleoenvironmental Evidence

Much environmental diversity prevails in Tigray, and at present the geomor-phologic, palynological, and archaeological research conducted in Tigray can pro-vide only a broad outline of the dynamics of human–environmental relationshipson the plateau during the Holocene (see Bard, 1997b; Bard and Fattovich, 1995;

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Bardet al., 1997; Brancaccioet al., 1997; Butzer, 1981, 1982b; Fattovich, 1994b;Fattovich and Bard, 1995, 1997; Michels, 1988, 1994).

Geomorphologic research recently conducted in central and northern Tigrayhas demonstrated that these regions experienced alluvial sedimentation duringthe Upper Pleistocene, suggesting strong erosional dynamics on slopes largelydeprived of vegetation cover (Brancaccioet al., 1997). Exactly when this sed-imentation ceased is unknown, but it appears that the alluvial sediments werecovered by dense vegetation up to the Middle Holocene. This is indicated bythe fact that, where outcrops of the Upper Pleistocene alluvial sediments oc-cur, vertisols and andosols (which develop under conditions of dense vegetationcover) are commonly encountered. The older radiocarbon dates of these soils,buried by more recent sediments along the Meskilo River, south of Mekelle, rangebetween 8300± 100 BP (Rome-516), calibrated to 7412, 7363, and 7313 BC,and 6730± 90 BP (Rome-511), calibrated to 5593 BC (Stuiver and Reimer,1993).

The presence of a thick vegetation cover on the plateau in the Middle Holoceneis also attested by travertine deposition, favored by the enrichment of carbon diox-ide in soils through the decay of organic matter. The travertine of Mai Makden,20 km north of Mekelle, provided radiocarbon dates between 7310± 90 BP(Rome-518), calibrated to 6156, 6144, 6125, 6084, and 5070 BC, and 5160±80 BP (Rome-517), calibrated to 3969 BC. The travertine deposition was prob-ably interrupted due to a reduction in vegetation cover, which may have beenthe result of both human activity and climatic change to more arid conditions.In other areas, close to the eastern edge of the plateau, the vegetation cover per-sisted up to the third millennium BC. This may indicate that present-day envi-ronmental conditions began in the second millennium BC (Berakiet al., 1995,1997).

Stratigraphic evidence and radiocarbon dates also show that central and north-ern Tigray were marked by a long period of soil erosion after the early secondmillennium BC. In many places, Early Holocene soils and travertine deposits areburied by alluvial sediments many meters thick. This sedimentation may have re-sulted from erosion caused by progressive vegetation clearance by human activity(Brancaccioet al., 1994).

Geomorphologic data of the type described above suggest alternating periodsof vegetation reduction and regeneration, but pollen studies are required to recon-struct the characteristics of vegetation communities and their changing patternsthrough time (DiBlasi, 1997). Although palynologists have investigated aspectsof vegetation history and climatic change in central and southern Ethiopia (e.g.,Bonnefille and Hamilton, 1986; Mohammed, 1994; Mohammed and Bonnefille,1991), no pollen analyses have been published for the Tigray region of northernEthiopia. Recently, however, exploratory studies of pollen deposition and preser-vation characteristics have begun on samples taken from archaeological sedimentsat Ona Enda Aboi Zewgé (OAZ) and Ona Nagast (ON), on Bieta Giyorgis hill,

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Aksum (Bardet al., 1997; DiBlasi, 1996, 2000).7 The initial results of these anal-yses offer insights on the characteristics of local vegetation cover in Aksumite andPre-Aksumite times.

The open vegetation pattern indicated by sedimentary evidence from the sec-ond millennium BC is also found in four pollen samples from a late Pre-Aksumitesite (OAZ III) (DiBlasi, 1996). The pollen samples were taken from cultural de-posits that can be dated to the middle to late first millennium BC on the basisof associated pottery (Bardet al., 1997; Fattovich, 1994b, 1995). Each of thefour samples shows a striking dominance of non–arboreal pollen taxa: shrubsand herbs/grasses comprise at least 70 to 86% of the total identifiable pollen ineach sample. Moreover, the non–arboreal pollen are overwhelmingly those of plantfamilies commonly associated with an open vegetation cover and/or soil distur-bance caused by human settlement and land-use activities (see Hamilton, 1972,p. 89; Wilson, 1977). These include members of the Gramineae, Compositae, andChenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae families, which together comprise 66 to 77% ofthe total identifiable pollen in each sample. Arboreal pollen types, especially thosethat can be considered forest-indicator species, are either absent or very poorlyrepresented (0.6 to 1.0% of the total identifiable pollen in only two samples). Thisis true even for trees (e.g.,Podocarpus gracilior, Juniperus procera, Olea, andCeltis) that produce great amounts of pollen which are dispersed over large areasby wind and thus would be expected to be present in the pollen assemblages asa long-distance transport component (Hamilton, 1972, pp. 91–99). In general, thearchaeological pollen assemblages exhibit the same types and frequency distri-butions as observed in the analysis of pollen in a modern surface sample takenfrom Bieta Giyorgis, which is a settled area dominated by shrubs and herbaceousvegetation (DiBlasi, 1996, 2000).

The preliminary results of the pollen-analytical studies suggest that in themiddle to late first millennium BC the vegetation cover on Bieta Giyorgis hill wasdominated by shrubs and herbaceous plants characteristic of open vegetation andareas of human settlement. The very low arboreal pollen frequencies in the samples(and virtual absence of tree pollen normally transported very long distances bywind) suggest that trees were not common components of the vegetation in thegeneral area of Aksum.

Geoarchaeological investigations conducted at Aksum in the early 1970s byButzer (1981, 1982a,b) indicate that soil erosion was accelerated in Early Aksumitetimes (ca. 100 BC–AD 400) by more abundant seasonal rains and land-use activitiesthat reduced the vegetation cover. The net effect, however, did not significantlyreduce soil productivity. By Late Aksumite times (ca. AD 650–800) a phase of“culturally induced environmental degradation,” caused by intensive land-use

7The pollen analyses reported in this paper were conducted at the laboratories of the Department ofArchaeology, Boston University. Detailed descriptions of sediment characteristics, sampling methods,laboratory extraction techniques, and pollen analysis protocols are given by DiBlasi (1996, 2000).

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practices and aggravated by periodic heavy rains, accelerated the destruction oftopsoil at Aksum, denuding slopes and reducing the agricultural potential of theland (Butzer, 1981, p. 487).

Pollen evidence from Early and Middle Aksumite deposits on Bieta Giyorgishill is consistent with Butzer’s interpretation that soils had been degraded and thatthe vegetation cover in the greater Aksum area was of an open nature (DiBlasi,2000). Four pollen samples taken from sediments at ON V, a large Aksumite set-tlement, represent a period from Early Aksumite to Middle Aksumite times (ca.100 BC–AD 650). Analysis of the samples shows similarity among them in termsof the types and proportions of pollen represented. Nonarboreal pollen types rangefrom 78 to 90% of the total identifiable pollen in each sample. Disturbed-soil indi-cator taxa (Chenopodiaceae/Amaranthaceae, Compositae, and Gramineae) rangefrom 70 to 88% of the total in each sample. Several forest- or woodland-indicatorarboreal taxa (i.e.,Podocarpus gracilior, Syzygium guineense, Terminalia, Celtis,and Ficus) are present but very rare; as a group they comprise less than 0.1%of the total identifiable pollen in each sample (DiBlasi, 2000). Given the pollenproduction and dispersal characteristics ofPodocarpusand Celtis, it is likelythat their representation here is the result of long-distance wind transport; it isunlikely that they were growing in the vicinity of Bieta Giyorgis.Ficus, Syzy-gium, and Terminalia produce small amounts of pollen that are not very welldispersed; these trees may have been growing in the general area, but in smallnumbers.

In the first millennium AD the pollen samples indicate a local vegetationpattern dominated by shrubs and herbaceous plants that thrive in areas of disturbedsoil. Historical sources record a famine and plague in AD 831–849 (Pankhurst,1990a), which suggests environmental deterioration in the ninth century.

In the region of Adigrat, about 85 km northeast of Aksum, geomorphologicevidence points to a short phase of soil formation at about 1250± 60 BP (Rome-513), calibrated to AD 779, and 970± 60 BP (Rome-515), calibrated to AD 1032.This phase of soil formation has been related to the recovery of vegetation afterthe overexploitation of the previous millennium (Brancaccioet al., 1997). It waslater followed by the accumulation of alluvial sediments, which continued untilmore recent times. Decreased population pressure after the decline of the Aksumitekingdom possibly led to the abandonment of the higher parts of the plateau andthe consequent recovery of vegetation. At Adi Kolen, a village located to thesouth of Mekelle below Amba Aradam (at an altitude of ca. 3000 m), this phaseof soil evolution lasted until 300± 60 BP (Rome-509), calibrated to AD 1641.This suggests that, at least in this part of the region, a new phase of intense landclearance began in recent times (Brancaccioet al., 1997).

Other evidence of soil erosion from the region of Mekelle and Aksum confirmsthat the deterioration of the ground cover was intensified by land use activitiesduring the last century (Butzer, 1981; Virgo and Munro, 1978).

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Archaeological Evidence

The “Pre-Aksumite” Period

With the rise of the Ethio-Sabaean state in the mid–first millennium BC, foodproduction increased. The subsistence economy of this state certainly relied onagriculture and herding, and Pre-Aksumite settlements on the plateau were locatedat altitudes over 2000 m and in areas with good soils for cultivation (Fattovich,1988, 1990, 1993, 1997a) (Fig. 3). Archaeological research in the region fromAksum to Yeha points to the location of Pre-Aksumite sites on low-gradient, highlyfertile land that was optimal for plow cultivation and in narrow alluvial valleysrequiring frequent fertility intervention by means of irrigation. The settlementpattern consisted of small villages (ca. 1–3 ha in size) and hamlets (less than 1 hain size), about 2 to 3 km apart, with a major town at Yeha and important ceremonialcenters in the Aksum region, at Hawlti, and possibly at Adi Atero and Seglamien(Michels, 1988, 1994).

The subsistence economy of the Ethio-Sabaean state surely relied onagriculture and herding. Botanical remains recently collected in a Pre-Aksumiteassemblage at Aksum are suggesting that teff was already cultivated in the first mil-lennium BC (Boardman, 1998). Faunal remains from a Pre-Aksumite assemblageat Ona Nagast, on the Bieta Giyorgis hill, Aksum, included cattle, sheep/goats, anunidentified carnivore, and a bird (Chaix, 1997). One bone of a possible domesticox, dated to the first millennium BC, was also found in a rock-shelter at Gobedra,near Aksum (Phillipson, 1977). This evidence confirms that cattle and sheep/goatswere bred in Tigray. At that time cultivation of cereals is suggested by a few bronzesickles from elite tombs at Yeha, and a “ritual” deposit at Hawlti, dating to themid–first millennium BC (Anfray, 1963; de Contenson, 1963; Fattovich, 1990).Several large bronze “stamps” from elite tombs at Yeha also suggest the presence oflivestock. The use of artificial irrigation on the plateau is suggested by a masonrydam at Safra (Qohaito) in the Akkele Guzay region of central Eritrea (Dainelliand Marinelli, 1912; Littmannet al., 1913). The Safra dam is usually dated toPre-Aksumite times on the basis of very close similarities to hydraulic works inSouth Arabia of the early first millennium BC (Manzo, 1995), but attribution toAksumite times cannot be excluded.

Evidence dating to the third–first centuries BC is scarce (Anfray, 1990;Fattovich, 1988, 1990), but plow cultivation of cereals was certainly practicedon the plateau at this time (Fattovich, 1990; Phillipson, 1993). This is supportedby two clay models of a plow-yoke from Hawlti, dating to the late first millen-nium BC (de Contenson, 1963; Fattovich, 1990). Clay animal figurines from thesame assemblage at Hawlti show only humpless cattle (de Contenson, 1963), sug-gesting that zebu cattle were not yet introduced onto the plateau. A rock-painting ofa plow drawn by humpless oxen occurs at Amba Focada, near Adigrat in northern

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Fig. 3. Archaeological map of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea with the main Pre-Aksumite andAksumite sites.

Tigray (Graziosi, 1941; Leclant and Miquel, 1959; Mordini, 1941). The age of thispainting is uncertain, but its very schematic style suggests an early historical date(Fattovich, 1988; Phillipson, 1993).

Archaeological survey data indicate that the Late Pre-Aksumite settlementpattern in the region from Aksum to Yeha consisted of hamlets and villages located

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on land with both high and low fertility value, requiring frequent fertility inter-vention and irrigation (Michels, 1988, 1994). Yeha continued to function as animportant Ethio-Sabaean ceremonial center, and minor ceremonial centers werelocated in the Aksum region at Hawlti and Melazo (Fattovich, 1990). However, amassive man-made stone platform, with rough stelae and pit-graves, at the site ofOna Enda Aboi Zewgé, as well as a monumental building at Ona Nagast (BietaGiyorgis) suggest that a major new ceremonial center connected with elite funer-ary rituals emerged in the region of Aksum at the end of the first millennium BC(Bard and Fattovich, 1993, 1995, 1997; Bardet al., 1997; Fattovich and Bard,1993, 1995).

The settlement pattern of the northern Tigrean Plateau suggests that popula-tion density was constant in the region during the first millennium BC (Fattovich,1993). In fact, there was no significant increase in the number of settlements inthe region between Aksum and Yeha through the entire Pre-Aksumite Period.On the contrary, the recorded sites suggest a major dispersal of population justbefore the rise of the Daamat kingdom, a concentration of population in a fewlarger settlements at the time of the kingdom, and another dispersal of populationafter the decline of Daamat (Michels, 1994).

The Aksumite Period

At present, very little is known about the Aksumite subsistence economy. Us-ing circumstantial archaeological, historical, and ethnographic evidence, scholarshave assumed that cereals such as wheat, barley, and possibly teff were cultivatedin Aksumite times by means of ox-drawn plows, very much as they are today(Bard, 1997b; Phillipson, 1993, 1998). The importance of emmer wheat as a cropcan be inferred from its representation on Aksumite coins (Phillipson, 1993). Untilrecently, however, archaeological research did not provide material evidence forthe crops that were cultivated and when they were incorporated into the Aksumitesubsistence economy.

The implementation of systematic sampling and water-flotation processingof sediments from archaeological sites, undertaken for the first time in 1995, hascontributed important information for the investigation of Aksumite subsistencepatterns (Bardet al., 1997; Fattovich and Bard, 1995) (Fig. 4). Our earliest evidencecomes from a “Proto-Aksumite” site (ON I), where numerous carbonized grains ofwheat (Triticum aestivum) and barley (Hordeum vulgare), along with bovine bones,have been identified in the sediments of a refuse deposit (Bardet al., 1997; Hansen,1995). These remains were associated with a sample of charcoal radiocarbon datedto 2335± 220 BP (GX21002), calibrated to 390 BC. This evidence points to amixed farming subsistence economy in the region of Aksum in the second half ofthe first millennium BC.

Macrobotanical evidence dating to the Early through Middle Aksumite phaseshas come from deposits at a large, elite settlement complex at Ona Nagast, where

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Fig. 4. Palaeobotanical and faunal remains from Bieta Giyorgis, Aksum.

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the cultivation of cereals and legumes is confirmed by carbonized remains ofa variety of domesticates. Emmer wheat (Triticum dicoccum) and possibly do-mesticated teff (Eragrostis teff), as well as remains of lentils (Lens culinaris) andgrapes (Vitis vinifera), have been identified in Early Aksumite room-fill sediments,while occupation strata dating to transitional Early/Middle Aksumite times (ca.AD 400–550/600) have yielded carbonized remains of bread wheat (Triticum aes-tivum), emmer wheat, and flax (Linum usitatissimum) (D’Andrea, 1997). Emmerwheat, bread wheat, barley (Hordeum vulgare), and teff have been found in MiddleAksumite deposits at Ona Nagast (D’Andrea, 1997; Hansen, 1995). Greater con-sumption of teff might be suggested by the occurrence, in Late Aksumite assem-blages, of large dishes similar to the traditional trays used forinjera, a thin, flatbread made from teff (Phillipson, 1993).

Excavations at a “middle-rank” domestic area on the plain to the east of BietaGiyorgis hill have yielded plant remains dating to the fifth and sixth centuries AD(Phillipson and Reynolds, 1996). In addition to a variety of Near Eastern cereals(emmer wheat, bread wheat, and barley), the remains of grape, gourd (Cucurbitasp.), lentil, pea (Pisum sativum), and horse bean (Vicia faba) were identified, aswere seeds of linseed/flax, cotton (Gossypiumsp.), noog (Guizotia abyssinica), andpossiblyBrassicasp., which may have been used for oil (Phillipson and Reynolds,1996).

Abundant faunal remains from Early through Middle Aksumite deposits atOna Nagast provide a large database for the investigation of Aksumite exploitationof animals. The faunal remains from this site included a very high proportion ofcattle bones (ca. 75%), but sheep and/or goat bones were common (ca. 24%). Asmall quantity of dog, carnivore, gazelle, bird, and fish bones was also identified(Chaix, 1997; Negussié, 1995). The evidence from Ona Nagast shows that the ma-jority of the cattle represented in the faunal assemblages were old adult individuals(3–10 years), indicating that they were bred primarily for use as draft animals ormilk producers rather than for their meat (Chaix, 1997).

Humped cattle were most likely introduced into northern Ethiopia during theearly first millennium AD, as can be inferred from iconographical evidence (Bard,1994; Clark, 1976; Marshall, 1989; Phillipson, 1993). The earliest representationis an inscribed bronze figurine of a zebu (from Zeban Kutur in the Akkele Guzayregion of Eritrea), dated on paleographical grounds to the second–third centuriesAD (Drewes, 1962; Drewes and Schneider, 1976; Bernardet al., 1991, pp. 232–233; Ricci, 1955–1958). Moreover, two clay figurines of humped cattle, datingto Middle Aksumite times, were found at the site of Matara in the Akkele Guzayregion of Eritrea (Anfray, 1967).

The majority of Early Aksumite settlements were located at altitudes between1000 and 2500 m, on land with good soils for agriculture. In Middle Aksumitetimes land with lower agricultural value was also occupied. The population densityin the region of Aksum progressively increased in the early first millennium AD,

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reaching a peak in Middle Aksumite times and decreasing dramatically in LateAksumite times (Bard, 1994; Fattovich, 1993; Michels, 1994) (Fig. 3).

Michels’ (1990, 1994) archaeological survey data offer a picture of changesin settlement patterns and population distribution in the region surrounding Aksumduring the Aksumite phases. In the Early Aksumite Phase, the urban/ceremonialcenter at Aksum occupied an area of about 11 ha and was surrounded by severalvillages and hamlets, ranging in size from less than 1 ha to 3 ha. A major increase insettlement size and density occurred in the Middle Aksumite Phase, when Aksumbecame a “metropolitan entity consisting of 14 towns and villages within a 3 kmradius” (Michels, 1994: 67). In addition, the urban center at Aksum was surroundedby a “sustaining area” of many small towns, villages and hamlets, ranging in sizefrom less than 1 to 7–10 ha (Michels, 1994). In the Late Aksumite Phase, Aksumexperienced a dramatic reduction in size and was surrounded by only a few villagesand hamlets, less than 1 to 3 ha in size (see Michels, 1988, 1990, 1994).

Post-Aksumite Times

The available evidence suggests reduced demographic pressure and a possibleregeneration of vegetation cover during Post-Aksumite times in the early secondmillennium AD. Archaeological evidence from the Aksum Plateau of northernTigray shows that only the land immediately around Aksum was inhabited atthis time (Michels, 1990, 1994). The subsistence economy relied on the ox–plowcomplex, as in modern times. The occurrence of what are possiblyinjera trays(indicative of teff consumption) at the site of Seglamien (Ricci and Fattovich,1987) and a seed of finger millet (Eleusine coracana) at Gobedra rock-shelter,radiocarbon dated to 820± 200 BP (OXa-741) (Phillipson, 1977, 1990) pointto the cultivation of these crops in Post-Aksumite times. Faunal remains from aLate to Post-Aksumite site at OAZ V included mainly bones of cattle along withsheep/goat (Chaix, 1997; Negussié, 1995).

SUMMARY

From this fragmentary evidence we can infer the following processes:

(1) The Tigrean Plateau was covered by dense vegetation in the EarlyHolocene, with a more humid climate than that of the present-day.

(2) Soil erosion due to clearing vegetation began in the Middle Holocene,possibly as a combined result of a drier climate and human activity(agriculture?).

(3) Agricultural activity was intensified in the Late Holocene during thehumid episode from the mid–first millennium BC to the mid–first mil-lennium AD to sustain a state-level urban society (Pre-Aksumite andAksumite Periods).

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(4) Demographic pressure increased in the early first millennium BC andreached a peak in the mid–first millennium AD (Middle Aksumite Phase).The resultant intensified land use activities caused progressive soildegradation.

(5) Environmental deteriorization occurred during the seventh–eighth cen-turies AD, with a famine in the ninth century, most likely as a conse-quence of soil exhaustion and erosion caused by heavy rains.

(6) With a reduced carrying capacity of the land and a possible southwardshift of the Aksumite kingdom in the late first millennium AD, demo-graphic pressure was reduced, which allowed a possible regeneration ofthe vegetation cover and a reduction in soil erosion in the early secondmillennium AD.

(7) A new phase of soil erosion, perhaps due to progressive vegetation clear-ance on the plateau, began before the second half of the second millen-nium AD and has accelerated in the last 300 years.

The above reconstruction of the environmental history of Tigray during theMiddle and Late Holocene is tentative. It leaves many unanswered questions re-garding interactions of cultural and environmental variables and their impact onenvironmental change in the region during the last five thousand years. Thesequestions must be addressed by multidisciplinary investigations into the dynamicsof the human ecosystem and the environmental and cultural history of the TigreanPlateau.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The research described in this report was supported by grants from theNational Geographic Society (USA), the Italian National Council for Research(CNR), the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Italian Ministry for Univer-sity, Scientific, and Technological Research. The authors wish to thank the Centerfor Research and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage, Ministry of Culture, AddisAbaba, the Cultural Bureau of Aksum, and the Ethiopian Ministry of Mines andNatural Resources for their assistance in the research.

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The Environmental History of Tigray (Northern Ethiopia) in the Middle and Late Holocene: A...

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