Only in the Tomb of the Brick Arches was there time to carry out proper clearing, and even this was only the tip of the iceberg. I found that the arches all had broken blocking. Robbers had been there before. Work was difficult. I had to wear a hat continuously, despite the unpleasantly hot and stuffy atmosphere, as the heat from my lamp---we had no electricity in those days---dried out the rough rock-cut roof. Jagged stones would occasionally fall on me. But I was well rewarded. In the tomb many grave-goods still remained. There were fragments of gold and silver jewellery, beads, bronze objects, including plaques inlaid with glass in floral or geometric patterns that had once adorned now-collapsed wooden chests, iron weapons, exquisite glassware goblets and flasks, beautifully-decorated pots, even wood and leather preserved by the damp. Much of Aksum's domestic production was peculiar to itself, individual, just as is the coinage I noted above.
Only part of the tomb's contents could be was cleared at the time. Further in were small loculi where the dead were laid to rest. These, though planned, were never touched. In 1974 we left Ethiopia on the eve of revolution, and the work was never resumed. It was frustrating to leave things unfinished---information half assembled. For example, I found two pieces of a broken glass bowl, with Greek or Latin letters; twenty years later I still wonder what the rest of the inscription, undoubtedly there among the piles of broken objects, read.
Though, sadly, events made it impossible for me to rejoin the team, the British Institute's work, under Dr. David Phillipson, at last resumed after nearly two decades in 1993. The Tomb of the Brick Arches was reopened, and more treasures revealed, this time including finely carved ivory, panels perhaps from some splendid chair or throne. The work continued until 1997, and Dr. Phillipson published his report in two volumes in 2001.
Text copyright Stuart Munro-Hay 1998
Only part of the tomb's contents could be was cleared at the time. Further in were small loculi where the dead were laid to rest. These, though planned, were never touched. In 1974 we left Ethiopia on the eve of revolution, and the work was never resumed. It was frustrating to leave things unfinished---information half assembled. For example, I found two pieces of a broken glass bowl, with Greek or Latin letters; twenty years later I still wonder what the rest of the inscription, undoubtedly there among the piles of broken objects, read.
Though, sadly, events made it impossible for me to rejoin the team, the British Institute's work, under Dr. David Phillipson, at last resumed after nearly two decades in 1993. The Tomb of the Brick Arches was reopened, and more treasures revealed, this time including finely carved ivory, panels perhaps from some splendid chair or throne. The work continued until 1997, and Dr. Phillipson published his report in two volumes in 2001.
Text copyright Stuart Munro-Hay 1998
More Information
- Royal Kingdom of Aksum
- Aksum a bit on the site
- Aksum trivia quiz
