Introduction   

Matara Intro

Matara (, more correctly transliterated Metera - see below for further explanation) is a major city site both of the Aksumite and pre-Aksumite periods and one of Eritrea's prime cultural and historic treasures, situated a few kilometers south of Senafe in the southern highland Eritrean province, Akkele Guzai. The site, known to residents of the region as Belew Kelew or Belo Kelo, is not far from the border which existed between Eritrea and Tigray, northernmost province of Ethiopia, before the recent warfare (see maps). After Ethiopian troops captured the border town, Zala Ambesa, they advanced on the plain through Senafe and to Adi Keyih. Repeated pitched battles were fought across the plains around Senafe between Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, subjecting the Matara ruins to severe hazard. Thereafter, the Ethiopian forces held the region surrounding the site until the long-awaited separation of forces and establishment of the United Nations-mandated Temporary Security Zone and subsequent ruling of the Border Commission.

During this occupation, the famous hawulti or stele of Matara (see photos on opening page) was gravely damaged by an explosion which toppled the monument and destroyed its lower part. The findings of responsibility by the Claims Commission on this and other matters have been published at the website of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (this link goes to the English page; there is also a French language version), where they can be downloaded in PDF format.

One of the remarkable aspects of Matara, both as a city and as a historic site, is the fact that since its fall (believed to have been in the 8th Century), no further construction took place on the site; rather, it has been used as farmland. While a millennium of plowing has doubtless damaged upper levels of the mounds that are the main structural remains, there has not been wholesale removal and re-utilization of material either on site or elsewhere, and the foundations have remained largely intact throughout the centuries until the commencement of excavation in the middle years of the 20th Century. Add to this the fact that the city site is surrounded by wide, flat plains which are punctuated by some striking rock outcroppings, and one can appreciate the sheer beauty of Matara, even in ruins. Unfortunately, the same width and openness of the site made it highly vulnerable to destruction in times of modern warfare.

Changes

Perhaps the biggest change to this website is the inclusion of a What's New section, which will always be updated with the latest changes to the site, as well as a history of previous changes. The Current Status page provides a summary of the Claim's Commission's findings regarding Matara and links to their website and to the website of the United Nations Border Commission, where the border ruling can be read. The Status page also provides current information about the extent of the damage to this priceless archaeological site. Once implementation of the new border is complete on the ground, the new United Nations maps of Eritrea and Ethiopia will be made available on the map page, and hopefully on this site as well.

The bulk of the website, especially the Historical View and Archaeological Evidence pages, provides information and views of the archaeological site as it appeared between 1969 and 1971, and its proper context and relationship to Aksum and its predecessors and to other contemporary nations. The website now provides several panoramic photos and aerial photos of the entire Matara site, as well as video clips which pan across the Matara excavation and show details of the hawulti, taken during the late '60s and early '70s (during which time I paid numerous visits to the site and participated in two seasons of excavation (1969 and 1970) under Francis Anfray and a team from the Ethiopian Institute of Archaeology) to give an overview of the archaeological site, as well as a better understanding of its spectacular nature as it appeared at that time, as well as new photos of related sites such as Yeha to provide visual evidence of the less visible remains of the older civilization which founded the city of Matara, hundreds of years before the now visible Aksumite ruins were constructed. Note: the video clips require QuickTime to view. I have included some additional landscapes which show more of the striking countryside surrounding Matara.

Many more details have been added to the previously existing sections of the website, with heavy use of cross-referencing and hyperlinks to allow easy reference to related items. The downside of this hyperlinking is that one can easily migrate so far from an original focus of attention that navigating back to the starting point can become overly complex. When all else fails, use the navigation menu on the left side of the website to return to a starting point.

Also included is my memoir about a remarkable Independence Day encounter at Quhaito on 4 July 1969. As these updates are posted, we approach the 35th anniversary of this encounter.

I plan to continue adding more new material as often as possible, including further details of the archaeological remains, as well as scenes of the surrounding countryside and the people who lived and worked on and around this magnificent cultural artifact. Many more photographic and video records of the excavated Matara ruins await being added to this record of the site. To a large extent, the extent and time of these additions depend on acquiring more server space, or in fact, a new server altogether, since room for expansion on the present server is nearly at an end. If you would like to be notified whenever the site is expanded, you may subscribe to the Matara Newsletter. Due to a hard drive failure a couple of years ago, many of the addresses of people who wanted to be informed were lost, so I encourage everyone to make a new request for notification.

Words

A word about a few words. First, as stated above, the most accurate transliteration of the Tigrinya word into standard English is Metera. It's not entirely accurate, since the t is a plosive consonant not used in English, but the vowels are closer to the Tigrinya pronunciation than the traditional spelling Matara. However, that has been the generally accepted spelling in English, French, and other European languages, and is the spelling used in most archaeological accounts referring to the site. For this reason, even though I am a Tigrinya speaker and something of a purist who normally would embrace immediately the most accurate transliteration, for the time being I have chosen to retain the traditional spelling on this website.

The monument whose damage during the recent hostilities between Eritrea and Ethiopia is a major focus of this website is of a type which is very common in Aksumite and pre-Aksumite sites, as well as through much of the Middle East and Africa. It also bears a similarity to other sorts of monuments found in Egypt, ancient Greece, and many other parts of the world. It is only reasonable to expect that such a widespread sort of monument would have many different names. Monument is the most generic, but the Greek word stele (on occasion incorrectly spelled stela) is frequently used. Sometimes, but less accurately, the word obelisk also appears. The name given to these monuments in Ge'ez and its daughter languages, Tigrinya and Amharic, is hawulti (), and I use that word unless there is good reason to apply one of the others.

Feedback of any kind is encouraged. Please address any comments, questions, corrections, or complaints about this site or its contents to the author and Webmaster, Ato Brukh (), a.k.a. Skip Dahlgren.

All photos, graphics and text copyright © 1969-2005, Skip Dahlgren, unless otherwise credited.

Upper Left: view and detail of brief remnant of an inscription on a stone lying among the ruins on Gwal Saim; from its surviving first two letters (to the right of the vertical word separator), the second word appears to be 'hawulti' (), and most likely the complete inscription identified the person who erected a particular stele or monument. Lower Left: Gwal Saim: low hill with small ruin on top, with much larger Amba Saim behind; amba () means mountain in Tigrinya, gwal () means daughter). Scene viewed from Site B-1; unexcavated rubblefield can be seen between Site B-1 and Gwal Saim. Note archaeological draftsman standing on rubble wall preparing site plan of small ruined building on Gwal Saim. You can click to view the full-sized photo. This is quite a large file, and may take some time to load.