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Aksum: Environmental Archaeology
Cross-References
▶ Living Communities: Local Communities in
Site Management and Advocates for Site
Preservation
▶ Petra, Archaeology of
▶ Petra National Trust and the Challenge of Site
Management at Petra
▶ World Heritage List: Criteria, Inscription, and
Representation
▶ World Heritage Objectives and Outcomes
Further Reading
AKRAWI, A. 2003. NGO & government collaboration in
archaeological site management, Jordan (Petra case),
in M. Greenburg (ed.) Of the past, for the future:
integrating archaeology and conversation: 29-34.
Los Angeles: The Getty Conservation Institute.
- 2009. Issues at world heritage sites – Petra case study, in
F. al-Khraysheh (ed.) Studies in the history and
archaeology of Jordan. Amman: Department of
Antiquities.
- 2012. Site management, history, and status, in D. Comer
(ed.) Tourism and archaeological heritage manage-
ment at Petra: driver to development or destruction:
30-77. New York: Springer.
AKRAWI, A. & L. SHEKEDE. 2010. Unique Nabataean wall
painting in Petra: conservation in situ, in Conservation
and the eastern Mediterranean: contributions to the
2010 IIC Congress, Istanbul: 214-19. International
Institute for Conversation of Historic and Artistic
Works.
COMER, D. (ed.) 2012. Tourism and archaeological
heritage management at Petra. Driver to development
or destruction? New York: Springer.
Aksum: Environmental Archaeology
Federica Sulas
Anthropology and Archaeology, University of
Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
Introduction
Rising above the Sudanese lowlands to the north
and the Red Sea coastal plains to the east, the
highlands of northern Ethiopia and Eritrea have
129 A
long been recognized as a center of plant domesti-
cation and host of some of the earliest complex
societies of sub-Saharan Africa. The intensification A
of contacts with southern Arabia in the first millen-
nium BCE favored the development of complex
societies and, later, the emergence of the Kingdom
of Aksum (BCE 50–CE 800). Aksum is located on
a gentle plain at the heart of the Tigray highlands
(Fig. 1) which provided excellent ground for the
new kingdom to thrive for almost a 1,000 years by
engaging in long-distance trade and commerce,
developing literacy and coinage. The adoption of
Christianity in the mid-fourth century CE furthered
Aksum’s importance within and beyond northeast
Africa. This historical significance has fostered
intensive archaeological research in the region,
but the history of its diverse environment has
received little scholarly attention until recently.
Today, Aksum (UNESCO World Heritage Site,
1981) is one of the most important archaeological
sites of Africa and remains the leading religious
center for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. As envi-
ronmental archaeology in Ethiopia and Eritrea
grows, the historical contexts of landscape change
are becoming increasingly prominent in current
debates about land degradation and sustainable
resource uses.
This review begins by outlining the environ-
mental aspects that have been explored by
archaeological research at Aksum. The historical
background traces the emergence of archaeolog-
ical research through three main phases: the “dis-
covery” (1900s–1940s), the “consolidation”
(1970s–1980s), and the “diversification” of the
last two decades. A third section explores the
emerging critique of environmental history
models in the light of new research findings and
changing perspectives. The review ends with
a remark on the emphasis on the role of environ-
mental archaeology (and history) to current
debates on heritage management, land degrada-
tion, and sustainable resource use.
Definition
Environmental archaeology in the northern high-
lands of Ethiopia has focused on three main
A 130 Aksum: Environmental Archaeology

Aksum: Environmental Archaeology, Fig. 1 Map of Aksum: (top row) regional map and the location of Tigray;
(bottom row) the Aksum area (contours are at 20 m interval)

topics: (1) the development of settlement and its
impact on the landscape, (2) the availability and
management of environmental resources, and
(3) the legacy of past land uses into present-day
landscapes and societies. The emphasis on these
topics is much the result of advances in archaeo-
logical methods and the sociopolitical
transformations that have shaped modern Ethio-
pia. Intensive archaeological survey and recon-
naissance records have provided data for
reconstructing the settlement history of the
Aksum plain. However, while the research focus
on the development of the kingdom has produced
well-defined settlement trajectories for the first
Aksum: Environmental Archaeology
millennium CE, the records for the periods before
the emergence of Aksum and following its
decline are patchy, and there are important gaps.
For example, excavations at rockshelter sites
have elucidated aspects of the later prehistoric
occupation (c. ninth/eight millennia BCE) in the
hills surrounding the Aksum plain (Phillipson
2000), but the landscape that hosted these early
groups is poorly understood. In fact, no solid
environmental record is available from Aksum
for this period, though regional and continental
datasets of past climate are available. The
regional record of significant climate ameliora-
tion at the beginning of the Holocene (c. 10,000
BCE) has been linked to the peopling of the area
(though sporadic occurrences of Early Stone Age
and Middle Stone Age material point to much
earlier frequentation). Substantial environmental
records are available only for the Aksumite
periods, broadly encompassing the rise of social
complexity and the demise of the kingdom
(c. 700 BCE–CE 800). Studies of plant and ani-
mal remains, and geoarchaeological investiga-
tions have contributed to illuminating aspects of
the subsistence base of the kingdom and its
impact on the landscape. Archaeobotanical and
zooarchaeological studies have concentrated on
settlement sites and funerary contexts, and
geoarchaeological data come mainly from
landscape sequences and buried soils (or
paleosols). Regional climatic records provide
further sources of information, but the physical
diversity of the northern Ethiopian-Eritrean
highlands together with patchy archaeological
records makes it difficult to build solid correla-
tions (see below). The cultural and environmental
history following the decline of the Aksumite
kingdom (c. 800 CE onwards) is poorly under-
stood, but there is now indication that Aksum’s
countryside was not abandoned (Fattovich 2008).
In addition, buried soil records, palaeobotanical
data, and historical sources provide supporting
evidence for prolonged settlement and arable
land use throughout the second millennium CE.
Over the last decade or so, the implications of
environmental reconstructions beyond archaeo-
logical research have begun to emerge. Geomor-
phological and land evaluation studies have often
131 A
linked past land uses to present environmental
degradation (e.g., Nyssen et al. 2004). The links
between intensifying agriculture and the decline A
of the Aksumite kingdom feed into discussions
about traditional land uses and their contribution
to present environmental conditions. This highly
debated topic is unlikely to find consensus
until a far more coherent and richer body of data
is available. In fact, while Aksum is arguably the
place where most archaeological research has
taken place, environmental and land evaluation
studies have targeted other areas of the
Ethiopian-Eritrean highlands and beyond. Thus,
correlations between local archaeological
evidence and regional environmental proxies
rely on questionable geographical, cultural, and
temporal uniformities.
Historical Background
Discovery (1900s–1940s)
Archaeological investigation at Aksum begun in
the early 1900s with the Deutsche Aksum-
Expedition (hereinafter DAE) led by Enno
Littmann. The German team comprehensively
recorded ancient monuments at Aksum and
other sites of Tigray and Eritrea. The detailed
analysis of ancient architecture, inscriptions,
and material culture was published in four vol-
umes (Littmann et al. 1913) and laid the founda-
tions of Aksumite archaeology. Although this
team was not particularly concerned with envi-
ronmental aspects, the expedition’s photographic
archive includes several panoramic views of
Aksum’s landscape in 1906 and, thus, before the
occurrence of main reforestation programs, infra-
structure building, and urban development,
which later transformed significant parts of the
Ethiopian highlands. This is a remarkable source
of information that remains largely untapped.
The DAE publication offered the first detailed
description of the local archaeology, which
Carlo Conti Rossini (1928) discussed within
a coherent historical context and linked to textual
and oral sources. This includes, for example,
reference to oral traditions linking the “fall” of
Aksum to the destruction caused by the external
A 132
Aksum: Environmental
Archaeology,
Fig. 2 View of Aksum’s
landscape, November
2007: taken from Beta
Giyorgis hillside, near “D
site,” and looking
northward (Photo: F. Sulas)
invasions, droughts, and famines. However old
some of these local traditions may be, they are
preserved in manuscript texts compiled in much
later periods than those to which they refer. That
said, these sources offer remarkable information
on Aksum’s landscape, and some have long
been referenced in support of archaeological
interpretation (see Fattovich 2008).
In the 1930s and 1940s, systematic excavations
at Aksum included the recording of landscape
stratigraphy. In 1937, while in Aksum for the
relocation of a stele to Rome, Ugo Monneret de
Villard (1938) conducted a topographic study of
the area and investigated the stratigraphic
sequence of the plain. He identified two main
phases of sediment depositions next to the Cathe-
dral Maryam Seyon (Fig. 2): the earliest phase
would have preceded the rise of Aksum, and, in
particular, it would have occurred before the erec-
tion of the monoliths at the Northern Stele Park;
a second phase would have taken place after the
decline of the kingdom. Shortly afterward, further
sedimentary data were collected by Salvatore
Puglisi (1941), who led the Missione Archeologica
Italiana at Aksum and sought to expand research
beyond the then known archaeological area by
surveying other sectors of the plain. Puglisi exca-
vated a main residential building and conducted
test excavations to the west and northeast of the
old town where he recorded a stratigraphic
Aksum: Environmental Archaeology
sequence of cultural layers interspersed by alluvial
deposits (Fig. 2). In the 1950s and 1960s, the
newly established Ethiopian Institute of Archaeol-
ogy (Addis Ababa, 1952) sponsored further
systematic research by French scholars who exca-
vated important monumental structures and sites.
The results of these studies provided new evidence
for outlining the early cultural sequence of Aksum
and its surroundings.
Consolidation (1970s–1980s)
The early 1970s saw the beginning of large-scale
excavations and surveys at Aksum and its
surroundings by British, Italian, and American
archaeologists. The new research programs were
designed to examine the environmental factors
and cultural processes involved in the develop-
ment of the Aksumite kingdom (e.g., Munro-Hay
1989; Ricci 1990; Michels 2005). However, these
were cut short by widespread sociopolitical
unrest that culminated in the demise of the Ethi-
opian monarchy in 1974 and the establishment of
the Derg regime (1974–1991). The new political
setting halted field research for nearly two
decades, but this interruption provided time for
elaborating and publishing the results of the
research conducted in the early 1970s. In partic-
ular, two main works laid the foundations
for subsequent modeling of the environmental
and settlement history of Aksum. In 1972,
Aksum: Environmental Archaeology
Butzer (1981) had conducted preliminary
geoarchaeological investigations in the Aksum
plain, which included the application of soil
micromorphology. The results were elaborated
into an “archaeo-sedimentary” sequence that,
for the first time, provided an integrated frame-
work for linking cultural developments and envi-
ronmental change. Although the chronological
frame available in the 1970s has now been
revised, Butzer’s sequence remains the main ref-
erence point for any environmental reconstruc-
tion of the Aksum area. The analysis of several
sections in the core archaeological area (Fig. 1)
led Butzer to conclude that four aggradation
phases had occurred at Aksum. The first aggra-
dation phase (c. BCE 150–CE 150) was associ-
ated with a period of increased precipitation and
the growth of Aksum as a regional political cen-
ter. The second aggradation phase was linked to
the erosion of degraded agricultural lands
upslope as a result of heavier rains and settlement
and demographic increase (see below). The last
two phases of aggradation occurred several cen-
turies after the decline of the Aksumite kingdom.
Shortly after Butzer’s work at Aksum, the
American team led by Joseph W. Michels
conducted a systematic survey of the region com-
prised between Aksum and Yeha (Fig. 1). During
the 6 months of intense fieldwork, the survey
documented over 250 ancient sites, and the
resulting database not only included archaeolog-
ical information but also a new classification of
settlement types and records of modern land uses
(Michels 2005). The results of Michels’ work
(2005; an interim report was published in 1984)
were fundamental in showing the intensity of
ancient settlement over a diversified environment
and the links between landscape characteristics
and land uses.
Diversification (Since the Early 1990s)
Following the establishment of the Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia in the early
1990s, the country regained enough political sta-
bility for resuming fieldwork. New research pro-
grams began investigating the development of
farming and livestock holding, the settlement sys-
tem and subsistence base of the Aksumite
133 A
kingdom, and the short- and long-term impact of
land use practices on the environment. In 1993,
two large-scale archaeological projects started at A
Aksum: David W. Phillipson (2000) led the British
Institute in Eastern Africa’s research in the plain,
and the Italian-American expedition directed by
Rodolfo Fattovich and Kathryn A. Bard resumed
research on the adjacent hill of Beta Giyorgis
(Fattovich et al. 2000). In addition to sharing
a multidisciplinary approach, both projects com-
bined large-scale excavations and systematic sur-
veys for over a decade, and, thus, they ensured an
unprecedented continuity of research. The British
expedition excavated a number of sites to the north
and west of the town. The excavations of
rockshelter sites, as mentioned, clarified aspects
of later prehistoric occupation. Research on later
periods included the excavations at Aksumite sites
and, significantly, the first rural settlement known
as “D site” (domestic). This low-status satellite
farming settlement was located to the north of
the old town (Figs. 1 and 2) and yielded evidence
for two distinct occupations: an early farming-
based settlement (c. 700–400 BCE) and, after
a significant hiatus, a lower-status occupation in
the sixth century CE. Botanical and faunal
assemblages revealed a widening of the resource
base from the early phase and included the first
appearance of African cereals such as tef
(Boardman 1999; Phillipson 2000). The records
from “D site” and other sites show that Near East-
ern and African crops were grown from at least the
mid-first millennium BCE and possibly earlier
(Bard et al. 2000; D’Andrea 2008). Near Eastern
plants (i.e., barley, emmer wheat, flax) were the
most common groups and were most likely asso-
ciated with dry farming. Since the mid-first mil-
lennium CE, there is evidence for an increase in
food plants, cereals, pulses, oil, and fiber plants
(Boardman 1999). With the exception of few spe-
cies (grape, sorghum, finger millet), there is
a remarkable continuity between the later
Aksumite times and today (Phillipson 2000:
420). A similar scenario is illustrated by the results
of exploratory pollen analyses on archaeological
sediments from Beta Giyorgis hill, which point to
the presence of an open grassland vegetation cover
with tree patches from the mid-first millennium
A 134
Aksum: Environmental
Archaeology,
Fig. 3 Archaeologists at
Aksum, May 2006, from
the left: Charly French,
Marco Madella, and
Rodolfo Fattovich (Photo:
F. Sulas)
BCE (DiBlasi in Bard et al. 2000). While further
palynological studies have yet to be undertaken,
research on plant resources and vegetation history
has gradually diversified. Recent developments
include ethnobotanical approaches to reconstruct
crop processing and taphonomic processes
(D’Andrea 2008) and analyses of phytoliths and
charred wood, from buried soils and sediments to
acquire information on the vegetation history
(French et al. 2009). As for zooarchaeological
studies, the faunal assemblages from settlement
sites at Beta Giyorgis and Aksum show
a predominance of domesticated mammals (cattle,
sheep, and goat), suggesting that animals were
kept for meat, by-products, and labor (Bard et al.
2000; Phillipson 2000). These first studies showed
the potential of zooarchaeology for investigating
environmental and resource use aspects of the
Aksumite culture. However, no further research
in this direction has been conducted and, in the
absence of taphonomic studies, the role and use of
animal resources is still poorly understood.
The last decade has witnessed the first local
archaeologists working at Aksum (Tekle Hagos
2001) and the opening of the first archaeology
department in the country (2006) at the newly
established Axum University. New research
projects were set up to investigate the local land-
scape history by combining geoarchaeological,
palaeobotanical, and remote sensing techniques
Aksum: Environmental Archaeology
(Schmid et al. 2008; French et al. 2009). At the
same time, Fattovich and his team (Fattovich
2008) resumed intensive and systematic survey-
ing to complete the archaeological map of the
greater Aksum area (Fig. 3). Other recent studies
also include geo-pedological research on past soil
erosion (Ciampalini et al. 2008). As detailed in
the following section, these new developments
provide the basis for rethinking a series of aspects
concerning the theories and methodologies of
environmental archaeology in the region.
Key Issues/Current Debates
Recent research advances call now for
a reconsideration of a series of long-established
ideas about Aksum’s past. First, new archaeolog-
ical findings from Tigray and Eritrea indicate that
a mosaic of cultures and subsistence strategies
populated the region during the first millennium
BCE (Phillipson 2012). This evidence calls for
a rethinking of former cultural sequences empha-
sizing the importance of a single culture (namely,
the Pre-Aksumite culture) and farming. While
these were part and parcel of Aksum’s develop-
ment as a kingdom, other cultures and ways of
life played important roles in the broader region
that was later under the control of the Aksumite
kingdom. Second, there are substantial temporal
Aksum: Environmental Archaeology
and spatial discrepancies between the archaeolog-
ical and landscape data at regional and local scale.
A wide range of regional data about past environ-
ment and climate come from lake deposits and
landscape sequences in areas and regions (see,
e.g., Nyssen et al. 2004), for which archaeological
evidence is very limited, if not absent altogether.
On the other side, the remarkably rich cultural
record from Aksum has been associated with lim-
ited local landscape data until recently; these were
almost exclusively based on Butzer’s ‘archaeo-
sedimentary’ sequence, linking the rise and
demise of Aksumite cultures to increased rainfall,
population growth, and intensified land use. Since
the mid-1990s, the study of plant and animal
remains and, more recently, geoarchaeological
research have provided new local data that suggest
a more complex scenario. Studies of plant macro-
and microfossils (seeds, charred wood, pollen, and
phytoliths) indicate the presence of a woody
savannah vegetation cover at Aksum before,
during, and after the kingdom was in place, and
there is no evidence for the occurrence of wood-
land and, subsequent, land clearance. This is fur-
ther illustrated in the sedimentary record from the
hilltop of Beta Giyorgis, hillsides, and river
valleys north of the town (Fig. 1) that indicates
prolonged landscape stability associated with per-
manent settlement and land uses from the mid-
fourth millennium BCE until about 1600 CE
(French et al. 2009). On hilltops and uplands,
buried thick soil horizons were associated with
settlement and farming, while buried soil records
from hillside deposits may have been linked to
pastures. The botanical remains (phytoliths and
charred wood) from the buried soils reflect
a substantially stable woody savannah vegetation
cover with tree patches nearby watercourses and
settlements, of which palm trees were a significant
component. However, the impact of the climatic
fluctuations on the vegetation is still unclear, but
the cyclical alternating of wet and dry pulses,
possibly including thunderstorms and aridity
peaks, is likely to have had some impact on
selected landscape niches. The possibility of local-
ized, intense, and climate-driven events, such as
natural fires and the partial removal of vegetation
by erratic rainfall, requires careful consideration.
135 A
Today, Ethiopia is undergoing major
landscape transformations due to urban develop-
ment and agricultural programs, and these A
changes are having a significant impact on the
“traditional” lifestyles of the rural population.
Modern Aksum is situated in a buffer position
between international borders, a war-prone zone
where rain/crop failure and political instability
are actual rather than potential threats. A main
theme of current research targets precisely the
debate about present-day landscape conditions:
are they the results of mismanagement since
people permanently settled down, started
farming, and ultimately transformed Aksum’s
landscape? Or have both human and natural
forces contributed to change? If so, what lesson
can be learned from the past? These questions
highlight the need for studies designed to under-
stand the interrelated histories of land use and
degradation. As outlined above, archaeological
research has long focused on the development
of settlement and the emergence of social
complexity, and only a limited number of studies
have addressed the potential effects of agriculture
and other land uses on the landscape.
International Perspectives
Since the early 1980s, the decline of the kingdom
in the late first millennium CE has been linked to
environmental degradation due to population
pressure, arable land use intensification, and
increased precipitation. This thesis has then
been integrated with large-scale survey data on
settlement patterns and applied for modeling
a cultural history of Aksum, whereby human-
induced factors inhibited landscape
readjustments to climatic shifts. However, recent
work has begun to question a number of assump-
tions based on earlier research. First, recent large-
scale landscape investigations using a variety of
archaeological science techniques are now
regularly able to elucidate finer details from
buried landscapes that indicate intrinsic linkages
between human exploitation of landscapes, soil
and vegetation change, and long-term climate
change. The development of geoarchaeology
A 136
has had a fundamental role in placing human
activity in changing landscape settings by
deciphering long-term trajectories of landscape
change and by identifying the effects of human
settlement on the sustainability of landscapes
under human pressure. In Ethiopia, human activity
as a factor of soil formation and development has
rarely, if ever, been considered. Instead, an
increasing number of studies, particularly
pertinent to tropical environments, are showing
how important the perception of local people is
for addressing soil issues. In addition, recent
archaeological survey has also indicated a greater
time depth and gradual intensification of settle-
ment development in the northern Aksum area
over at least the last four millennia. As such,
archaeology has moved beyond simple equations
linking state formation, settlement expansion,
agricultural intensification, and consequent defor-
estation, erosion, and soil degradation. Rather than
raising new questions, these considerations refo-
cus perspectives and viewpoints for old issues:
was intensification of agriculture a result of
decreased land productivity, or environmental/cli-
matic worsening or increased population/market
demands, or a combination of all of these?
Future Directions
Throughout the twentieth century, the understand-
ing of the relationship between the development of
subsistence systems and environmental changes at
Aksum was based on a combination of multi-scale
and multidisciplinary data. The interpolation of
environmental data, which informs our wider
research question of human settlement, was
drawn from regional scale and context-specific
archaeological records. The Aksumite urban
development has long been linked to the idea of
an agricultural substratum dependent on irrigation
and responsible for land clearance. However, it is
now clear that woods were not a common feature
of the local landscape either before or during the
Aksumite period and that agriculture relied on
rainfall. Even if some aspects of ancient resource
management have been investigated, site-specific
studies and informed research are still very few.
Aksum: Environmental Archaeology
Furthermore, important issues such as terracing
and field systems have yet to be addressed, albeit
clearly priorities within the context of a changing
landscape. A greater amount of environmental and
archaeological records are needed particularly
now that relevant comparable datasets are being
acquired from elsewhere in Tigray (e.g., Gebru
et al. 2009). The retrieval of landscape information
is needed to contextualize non-environmental fac-
tors affecting societal decision-making over time.
A greater amount of archaeological and historical
data on the typology/typologies and distribution of
rural settlements is necessary to address urban
development and, subsequently, the decline of
the Aksumite kingdom. The trajectories of settle-
ment and land use diversification need to be
addressed within their environmental and ecolog-
ical contexts. Indeed, the paucity of buried
landscape records implies that any attempt at
modeling synchronous histories of forest
expansion/clearance or the impact of changing
rainfall, to mention just two important topics, has
to rely on assumptions of environmental and cul-
tural uniformity across vast regions.
Perhaps, the most compelling task currently
facing archaeology and cognate disciplines con-
cerns the development of multiple “applied
approaches”. In this respect, there are a number
of opportunities and challenges for archaeological
research at Aksum. The applied nature of archae-
ology has often been confined to the spheres of
heritage creation and conservation, and tourism
development. However, archaeology has much to
offer to integrated, environmental research and can
act as a bridge to link theories and methods from
the humanities and earth sciences. Past societal
responses to environmental stresses and opportuni-
ties were chosen from within a range of cultural
and ecological constraints, and the understanding
of these responses informs contemporary responses
to present and future environmental risks.
Cross-References
▶ Archaeobotany
▶ Archaeobotany of Early Agriculture:
Macrobotany
Aksum: Environmental Archaeology
▶ Archaeobotany of Early Agriculture:
Microbotanical Analysis
▶ Butzer, Karl W.
▶ Geoarchaeology
▶ Landscape Archaeology
▶ Oral Sources and Oral History
▶ Phytolith Studies in Archaeology
▶ Plant Domestication and Cultivation in
Archaeology
▶ Soil Pollen Analyses in Environmental
Archaeology
▶ Taphonomy: Definition
▶ Zooarchaeology
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Aksum-Yeha region of Ethiopia: 700 NC–AD 850
(British Archaeological Reports International series
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topografia generale. Rome: Pontificium Institutum
Biblicum.
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directed in 1972–74 by the later Dr Neville Chittick.
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environment in the Ethiopian and Eritrean high-
lands – a state of the art. Earth-Science Review 64:
273–320.
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sation. Aksum and the northern Horn, 1000BC-AD
1300. Woodbridge, UK: James Curry.
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1993–7. London: British Institute in Eastern Africa
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Further Reading
ANFRAY, F. 1990. Les anciens éthiopiennes. Paris: Armand
Colin.
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human ecology of northern Ethiopia in the Late Holo-
cene. Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale.
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24–45.
DE CONTENSON, H. 2005. Antiquités éthiopiennes d’Axoum
à Haoulti. Saint-Maur-des-Fosses: Éd. Sépia.
FINNERAN, N. 2007. The archaeology of Ethiopia.
Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
FRENCH, C. 2010. People, societies, and landscapes.
Science 328: 443–4.
MACHADO, M.J., A. PÉREZ-GONZÁLEZ & G. BENITO. 1998.
Palaeoenvironmental changes during the last 4,000
years in the Tigray, northern Ethiopia. Quaternary
Research 49: 312–21.
 A 138
PHILLIPSON, L. 2009. Using stone tools: the evidence
from Aksum, Ethiopia (British Archaeological
Reports, International series 1926). Oxford, UK:
Archaeopress.
SULAS, F., M. MADELLA & C. FRENCH. 2009. State-forma-
tion and water resource management in the Horn of
Africa: the Aksumite kingdom of Ethiopia. World
Archaeology 41(1): 1–15.
Akurgal, Ekrem
Ece Birçek
Istanbul, Turkey
Basic Biographical Information
Ekrem Akurgal was born on the family farm
in the village of Haifa, near Tulkarem, Palestine,
in 1911. At the age of two, his family returned
to Turkey and he started his education at home.
He graduated from Istanbul Males High School
in 1932. As a requirement of the period of which
the Turkish Republic was recently established,
and due to new cultural and historical policies,
he was sent to Germany as a scholarship student
in 1932 and studied classical archaeology
under Gerhart Rodenwaldt until 1940. In 1941
he was promoted to associate professor in
Ankara University’s Faculty of Languages, His-
tory and Geography and in 1949 became profes-
sor and professor emeritus in 1957. Akurgal
served as the dean of the faculty from 1958 to
1959.
Major Accomplishments
Akurgal founded an archaeology library in the
faculty that contains nearly 6,000 books which
are mostly published in foreign languages.
This provides students and scholars with conve-
nient access to an important reference resource.
Akurgal excavated and revealed ancient sites
such as Foça (Phokaia), Çandarlı (Pitane), and
Çeşme - Ildırı (Erythrai) veBayraklı (old
Smyrna). He has written numerous publications
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Akurgal, Ekrem
on ancient Greek, Hittite – Hatti, and ancient
Anatolian civilizations in various languages. He
was a member of seven academies in Europe and
also an honorary member of many scientific insti-
tutions: the University of Bordeaux (1961), the
University of Athens (1988), the University of
Lecce (1990), and the Anatolian University
(1990) where he was awarded the title of honor-
ary doctor.
Ekrem Akurgal received the Order of Merit of
the Federal Republic of Germany (1979), Goethe
Medal (1979), Republic of Turkey Ministry of
Culture Great Award (1981), Italian
Commendatore Order (1987), and French Légion
d’Honneur Officier (1990). He died in İzmir in
2002. His studies were continued by his wife,
Meral Akurgal, who was an archaeologist and
the closest assistant of Akurgal when he was
alive.
Cross-References
▶ Architecture, Roman
▶ Hellenistic and Roman Anatolia, Archaeology of
Further Reading
AKURGAL, E. 1942. Griechische Reliefs aus Lykien. Berlin:
DAI.
- 1945. Remarques Stylistiques sur les reliefs. Ankara:
Hittite.
- 1962. The art of the Hittite. London: Thames & Hudson.
- 1966. Treasures of Turkey. New York. (In German,
French, Italian and Spanish).
- 1968. Urartaische und Altiranische Kunstzentren.
Ankara: TürkTarihKurumu.
- 1980. The art and architecture of Turkey. Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
- 1993. Ancient civilizations and ruins of Turkey. Istan-
bul: NET Yayınları.
- 1993. Eskiçağ’da Egeve I˙zmir. İstanbul: YaşarHolding,
Yayınları.
- 1995. Hattive Hitit Uygarlıkları. İzmir.
- 1998. Türkiye’nin Kültür Sorunları. Ankara:
BilgiYayınev.
€
- 1998. Anadolu Kültür Tarihi (TUBİTAK). Ankara:
Yayınları.
- 2000. Ege Batı Uygarlığının Doğduğu Yer. Doğu Hellen
€ 1050–333. İzmir: İzmir BB
KültürTarihi İ.O.
KültürYayınları.