Aksum is the capital of ancient Aksumite Kingdom and one of the most important archaeological site in Ethiopia. It has been registered on World Heritage List in 1980. Its archaeological and cultural heritage continues to be a victim of urbanization, development, erosion and deposition. Despite increased awareness and issues within the field of archaeology, the destruction of archaeological and cultural heritage sites of Aksum has been staggering. Although considered as an outstanding universal heritage site, very little focused cultural heritage management has been undertaken in Aksum. All archaeological excavations conducted thus far in Aksum focused on unearthing elite tombs and palaces. Both acts of destruction are relevant to current research on the cultural heritage management aspect in Aksum in general. This research provides an analysis of the destruction of the archaeological and heritage sites and monuments in Aksum based on ancient documents, archaeological excavations and field observation. It examines the extent the sites have been excavated, documented and preserved. Three sites have been selected for case study for the present research. The research revealed that the archaeological and heritage sites in Aksum have been deeply affected by urbanization in general. Evidently, the absence of integrated development planning by the municipality, lack of professionals in the field of archaeology and lack of public education have contributed significantly to the loss of the archaeological record. This thesis attempts to evaluate the current state of documentation and preservation of the cultural heritage resource in Aksum.

Aksoum (Ethiopia) : an inquiry into the state of documentation and preservation of the archaeological and heritage sites and monuments

Aksumite Settlement Patterns: Site Size Hierarchies and Spatial Clustering

This paper presents the results of survey and excavations carried out in the Wakarida region by the French Archaeological Mission in eastern Tigray, Ethiopia. Here we discuss a series of late first-millennium BC occupation sites. The sites, material culture, and landscape evolution are reviewed in relation to current arguments concerning Sabaean influence on highland cultural development in Ethiopia during the pre-Aksumite period. This contribution underlines the strong cultural continuity of pottery traditions throughout the period until the development of the Aksumite polity at the end of the first millennium BC, highlighting the lack of a ‘proto-Aksumite’ equivalent in eastern Tigray. The absence of any clear traces of South Arabian influence on local cultures in this region, despite its relative proximity to sites such as Meqaber Gaʿewa and Ziban Adi which demonstrate links to the Daʿmat polity, are discussed.

https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02926829/document

On the nature of South Arabian influences in Ethiopia during the late first millenium BC: a pre-Aksumite settlement on the margins of the eastern Tigray plateau

Even if South Arabian influence is obvious in economy, trade, and social structures in both "pre-Aksumite" and Aksumite civilization, the history of Ethiopia is still misunderstood. Therefore, the archaeological investigations on the site of Wakarida (Tigrai region / Ethiopia) have two major aims: 1/ a contribution to the periodization of the Antiquity in Ethiopia - since no chronological classification of any artefact has been yet established for Ancient Ethiopia; 2/ a study of the evolution of Ancient Ethiopian civilisation and its contacts with other countries, from the Mediterranean Sea to India. The choice of this site is due on one hand to its geographic situation (even if distant of the main axes of circulation already known, it is turned towards the Red Sea), on the other hand to an important chronological sequence that may be obtained according to the already collected pottery on surface. A comparative study has to be carried out especially on potteries coming from various sites, but also on different types of construction, and artefacts. Before any extensive excavation, the archaeological potential of the site as well as its area and its organization had to be assessed as a priority. Specific fieldwork objectives were to implement a sampling design which employed geomantic techniques including GPS (Global Positioning System) and GIS (Geographic Information System) to initiate a more systematic survey which employed specific techniques including geophysical methods. Three test excavations consisting on soundings have been opened, and a few pedestrian surveys have been carried out around the site, in order to recognize the real expansion of the archaeological area, and even other settlements nearby.

https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00662850/document

Report on fieldwork - First investigation on the site of Wakarida (March 21st - April 2nd 2011)

The third season for the “Archaeological and Epigraphic Investigations in Tigrai Region (Pre-Aksumite & Askumite Period)” took place from November 4th to December 7th, 2013 in Saʿesiʿe Tsʿada Emba woreda, north-eastern Tigrai. It is part of a four year research programme, headed by Dr Iwona Gajda and Dr Fabienne Dugast from the CNRS (Umr 8167 “Orient & Mediterranee” / Paris), and supported by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MAEE), the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE / Addis Ababa), and the Bureau of Culture and Tourism of the Regional State of Tigrai (BCTRST / Wukro).
It comes as a result of a preliminary survey which took place in March 2010, and helped making the choice of the site of Wakarida, in the tabia / district of Sawena, and Saʿesiʿe Tsʿada Emba woreda / region, eastern Tigrai, to start systematic archaeological investigations which begun in March 2011. 
The site is concerned with three main objectives, as far as its remains are related to: first of all, its remote location, while open in the direction of the Red Sea, may help in considering the relations, whatever they were, between North Ethiopia and South Arabia in the early 1st millennium AD; on the other hand, and according to the chronological sequences, it may give us sufficient elements to make out chronological markers – especially in pottery typology – which are still lacking; finally, as the local landscape looks like a “fossil” one principally subjected to erosion, but ever contrasted during time by men through a patient work of slope and floor valley terracing, it may help us in considering different kind of occupation and settlement all over May Ayni valley and three other ones – Ka ebile, May Weyni and Ambare –, which join up at Demba Bales and Sawena. These three main objectives have therefore a common course: the organisation and evolution of settlement patterns, in both political and cultural aspects, from the time before the emergence of Aksum and after.

https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-01146180/document

Report on Fieldwork. Investigation on the Site of Wakarida (Saʿesiʿe Tsʿada Emba Woreda / Tigrai), November 7th-December 6th 2013 (3rd season)

Inscriptions Pre-Aksumites de Maqabər Ga‘ǝwa ; (Tigre, Ethiopie) ; Cet article presente des resultats epigraphiques preliminaires obtenus lors de fouilles preventives sur le site de Maqabər Ga‘əwa, situe dans la partie orientale de la region du Tigre, a 7 km de la ville de Wuqro, en 2007. Les inscriptions et les objets proviennent d’un temple d’Almaqah, le dieu principal du royaume de Saba ʾ en Arabie du Sud, venere egalement dans l’ancienne Ethiopie. L’auteur de l’une des inscriptions est le roi W ʿ rn fils de Rd ʾ m dont le regne n’etait pas atteste jusqu’ici. D’apres les inscriptions en alphabet sudarabique, les objets inscrits pourraient etre dates vers le VIIe ou VIe siecle avant l’ere chretienne.

Pre-Aksumite Inscriptions from Mäqabǝr Ga‘ǝwa (Tigrai, Ethiopia)

Rapport preliminaire sur la fouille archeologique de Maqabǝr Ga‘ǝwa, a Addi Akaweh (Tigre, Ethiopie) ; Le site nouvellement decouvert de Maqabǝr Ga‘ǝwa est localise dans le Tigre, zone orientale, district de Wuqro, dans un village nomme Addi Akaweh. L’equipe, dirigee par l’auteur du present rapport, effectua des fouilles archeologiques sur ce site localement attribue a une reine du nom de “ Ga‘ǝwa”, aussi appelee Yodit or Gudit. Le principal objectif etait de tester le potentiel du site dans une perspective d’archeologie preventive, avant son eventuelle destruction pour cause de travaux publics. Dans cette optique, douze tranchees ont ete pratiquees. L’equipe a decouvert des autels portant des inscriptions pre-aksumites, une statue de femme assise et d’autres monuments.

Preliminary Report on the Archaeological Excavation of Mäqabər Ga‘əwa at Addi Akaweh (Tigrai, Ethiopia)

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Pre-Aksumite Inscriptions from Mäqabǝr Ga‘ǝwa (Tigrai, Ethiopia)

Preliminary Report on the Archaeological Excavation of Mäqabər Ga‘əwa at Addi Akaweh (Tigrai, Ethiopia)