Excavations on Bieta Giyorgis Hill, Aksum and Evidence for the Origins and Development of the Aksumite Kingdom

Aksum was an early African state that arose in the highlands of northern Ethiopia in the late 1st millennium B.C. The origins of this ancient kingdom are unclear, but archaeological excavations on Bieta Giyorgis hill at Aksum have revealed earlier evidence at the site of Ona Nagast of a large elite residential structure and elite burials in the associated cemetery at Ona Enda Aboi Zewgè. Ceramics from these sites are of an earlier phase than those of Aksumite culture, now called “Proto-Aksumite,” and associated radiocarbon dates for this phase suggest a range of 360–120/40 B.C. As the kingdom developed, expansion is seen both in the Ona Nagast settlement and the city of Aksum at the foot of Bieta Giyorgis hill. The results of the bioarchaeological investigations at Bieta Giyorgis also provide new insights into the environmental and adaptive setting in which the Aksumite state developed. Remarks on the characterizing features of Aksumite complexity are also proposed.