Prof Tim Insoll, University of Exeter
These are the remains of a 12th Century mosque
A forgotten city thought to date back as far as the 10th century AD has been uncovered by a team of archaeologists in eastern Ethiopia.
Artefacts from Egypt, India and China have been found in the city in the Harlaa region.
The archaeologists also uncovered a 12th Century mosque which is similar to those found in Tanzania and Somaliland.
Archaeologists says this proves historic connections between different Islamic communities in Africa.
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“This discovery revolutionises our understanding of trade in an archaeologically neglected part of Ethiopia. What we have found shows this area was the centre of trade in that region,” lead archaeologist Professor Timothy Insoll from the University of Exeter said.
The team also found jewellery and other artefacts from Madagascar, the Maldives, Yemen and China.
Harlaa was a “rich, cosmopolitan” centre for jewellery making, Prof Insoll said.
“Residents of Harlaa were a mixed community of foreigners and local people who traded with others in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean and possibly as far away as the Arabian Gulf,” he said.
‘City of giants’
BBC Ethiopia correspondent Emmanuel Igunza says there was a local myth that the area was occupied by giants because the settlement buildings and walls were constructed with large stone blocks that could not be lifted by ordinary people.
However the archaeologists found no evidence of this.
“We have obviously disproved that, but I’m not sure they fully believe us yet,” said Prof Insoll.
Prof Tim Insoll, University of Exeter
These beads are signs of a lucrative trade in the region
Prof Tim Insoll, University of Exeter
Further excavations are expected to be conducted next year
A statement from the team says the remains of some of the 300 people buried in the cemetery are being analysed to find out what their diet consisted of.
Further excavations are expected to be conducted next year.
A religious crossroads
Ethiopia was one of the earliest places known to be inhabited by humans. In 2015 researchers discovered jaw bones and teeth in the north-west of the country dating to between 3.3m and 3.5m years old.
Coptic Christianity was introduced from Egypt and was adopted as the religion of the Kingdom of Aksum in 333 AD. The Ethiopian church maintains that the Old Testament figure of the Queen of Sheba travelled from Aksum in northern Ethiopia to visit King Solomon in Jerusalem.
Islam arrived in Ethiopia in the 7th Century as early Muslim disciples fled persecution in Mecca. The main seat of Islamic learning in Ethiopia was Harar, which is located near Harlaa. Harar is said to be among the holiest Islamic cities and has 82 mosques, including three dating from the 10th Century, and 102 shrines, according to Unesco.
Today there are about 30m Christians and 25m Muslims in the country, according to 2007 census figures.
SOURCE – BBC
Islamic Trade Center Uncovered in Ethiopia
Friday, June 16, 2017
EXETER, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that traces of a wealthy medieval city, complete with a twelfth-century mosque and Islamic burials and headstones, have been discovered at Harlaa, located in eastern Ethiopia. Pottery, glass vessel fragments, rock crystal, carnelian, glass beads, and cowry shells imported from Madagascar, the Maldives, Yemen, and China have been uncovered, along with bronze and silver Egyptian coins dating to the thirteenth century. Timothy Insoll of the University of Exeter explained that high-quality jewelry was made at the site with silver, bronze, semi-precious stones, and glass beads, using technology usually associated with jewelry made in India at that time. He thinks that jewelers from India may have been among the people who migrated to the cosmopolitan city at Harlaa. And, the mosque at the site resembles those built in Tanzania and Somaliland, which suggests that the people who lived at Harlaa also had contact with other Islamic communities in Africa. Human remains from the site are being analyzed for further information. For more, go to “Stone Towns of the Swahili Coast.”
A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America
Lost Ancient Muslim City Discovered in Ethiopia Could Reveal Details of Islam’s History in Africa
A lost city thought to be more than 1,000 years old has been discovered in Ethiopia and may offer insight into Islam’s origins in the country.
The settlement, located near Ethiopia’s second largest city of Dire Dawa, in the east of the country, consisted of buildings constructed with large stone blocks, which gave rise to a local myth that giants lived there. Researchers believe it may date back as early as the 10th century.
Archaeologists discovered a 12th-century mosque in the settlement at Harlaa, as well as evidence of Islamic burials and headstones. The team, from the University of Exeter and the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, also found artifacts from as far afield as India and China, suggesting that the region functioned as a hub for foreign traders.
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A 12th-century mosque discovered in Harlaa, in eastern Ethiopia. The mosque is similar in style to others found in East Africa, suggesting connections between Islamic communities in the region.
Archaeologists worked with the local community for two years to make the discoveries, which will be exhibited in a heritage centre run by local people designed to bring income to the area
Professor Timothy Insoll, who led the research, said: ‘This discovery revolutionises our understanding of trade in an archaeologically neglected part of Ethiopia. What we have found shows this area was the centre of trade in that region’
T. Insoll
Prophet Muhammad died in the mid-seventh century, and Islam is thought to have spread to the East African coastline sometime in the eighth century. But an earlier tradition holds that the Prophet Muhammad sent some of his first followers to Abyssinia—modern day Ethiopia—in the early seventh century.
There are almost 250 million Muslims in sub-Saharan Africa, around 30 percent of the region’s total population, according to the Pew Research Center. But Ethiopia has a strong Christian majority: Almost two-thirds of the population are Christian, while most of the rest are Muslim.
“Islamic archaeology has been neglected in Ethiopia because people have concentrated on other things,” professor Timothy Insoll, the project leader and an archaeologist at the University of Exeter, tells Newsweek .
A burial site located in Harlaa, in eastern Ethiopia. Researchers are analyzing the remains to try to determine the diet of the area’s ancient inhabitants.
T. Insoll
Ethiopia has been an important excavation site for research into the earliest human civilizations: Lucy, a 3.18 million-year-old fossil, who was a member of the early human ancestor Australopithecus afarensis, was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974.
“[The recent discovery] is addressing the almost complete absence of Islamic archaeology [in Ethiopia,]” says Insoll. The mosque bore similarities to others discovered in Tanzania and Somaliland, a region of Somalia that has declared its autonomy, suggesting contact and connections between early Islamic communities in East Africa.
For years, local legend has had it that an ancient city built by giants existed near Harlaa, in Eastern Ethiopia. Now, a new dig has revealed that such a city really did exist in the 12th century
Some of the jewellery found at the dig was also made using delicate pieces in silver, bronze and semi-precious stones and glass beads, which suggests it was made in India
The settlement, which is around 500m by 1,000m, has buildings and walls constructed with large stone blocks. This lead people to assume only those with enormous stature or strength could have built it and encouraging local legends about giants having inhabited the region
Amongst the findings were huge pieces of pottery from Madagascar, the Maldives, Yemen and China, suggesting that the city had thriving trade
The city was a rich, cosmopolitan centre for jewellery making and pieces were then taken to be sold around the region and beyond. Pictured is one of the archaeologists working at the site
Pictured are some of the huge stone blocks used to build the settlement, which lead local people to assume only those with enormous stature or strength could have built it
The remains of some of the 300 people buried in the cemetery are being analysed to see what their diet consisted of
The site was discovered in Harlaa. Findings within the city suggest that Eastern Ethiopia was well connected with the Gulf, Egypt and India hundreds of years ago
The researchers also discovered fragments of glass vessels, rock crystal, carnelian (a semiprecious gemstone), glass beads, cowry shells and pottery. Some of these artifacts came from India and China, and the team also found coins from 13th-century Egypt. Local farmers had occasionally come across objects such as Chinese coins.
Beads and other artifacts found in Harlaa, in eastern Ethiopia. Some of the objects came from India and China.
T. Insoll
The discoveries in Harlaa constitute the first evidence of links between Ethiopia and the Gulf, India and North Africa hundreds of years ago.
Archaeologists also located the remains of 300 people buried in a cemetery that are being examined to see what kind of diet they had.
Insoll says that the project took two years to complete and that further excavations could reveal even earlier artefacts.