Aksum An African Civilisation of Late Antiquity Stuart Munro-Hay

Some clay models of houses survive which illustrate the architectural style of the smaller 
Aksumite dwellings. A round hut, with a conical roof thatched in  layers, and a 
rectangular doorway, is one type from Hawelti (de Contenson 1963ii: pl. XXXVII, b-c). 
A second type from Hawelti is rectangular, the doors and windows also rectangular, with 
a roof supported by beams whose `monkey-head' ends can be seen below the eaves. The 
roof has a small parapet and there is a waterspout to drain it (de Contenson 1963ii: pl. 
XXXVIII-XXXIX). A third type (de Contenson 1959: fig. 8) from Aksum shows only the 
remains of the bases of typical Aksumite window-apertures with square beam-ends at the 
corners; this may also represent a rectangular or square dwelling. In the BIEA Aksum 
excavations fragments of a fourth type of house, also rectangular, but with a roof 
consisting of sloping layers of what appears to be thatch of some sort, were found 
(Chittick 1974: fig. 21a). Its doorway seems to be surmounted by a dentilled lintel, like 
that of the largest stelae and the Tomb of the False Door (see below).  
The last of these house-types is particularly interesting, in that it shows a pitched roof on 
a rectangular building. Such a roof was evidently of advantage in the rains, and may have 
been used on larger structures as well. Possibly the palaces themselves were roofed with 
thatch; the columns would have supported cross beams, perhaps with carved panels like 
those from Dabra Damo inset between them, and above some sort of layered thatch could 
have completed the weather-proofing (for some discussion of roofing in Ethiopian 
structures, see Buxton and Matthews, 1974). No trace of Roman-style tiles has yet been 
reported from Aksumite sites, not even from Adulis, nor do the brick vaults known to 
have been used in tombs (see below) appear to have been employed in domestic 
architecture as far as present evidence reveals. Paribeni does note (1907: 545) a report 
that some buildings at Tekondo were roofed with slabs of slate. He also made a few 
comments about domestic housing in Adulis, noting that open areas, perhaps for sleeping, 
would be useful in the hot climate of Adulis, and suggesting that some of the structures 
found without doorways could perhaps represent partially underground dwellings with 
wood or straw upper parts. These would have been entered from above by ladders, and 
perhaps were occupied by some of the `Cave-dwellers' mentioned by the texts.  
5. The Funerary Architecture 
Apart from rock-cut tombs of various types, and others constructed by walling excavated 
pits, the Aksumites built some much more elaborate tombs. The chronology of these is 
uncertain, but some idea has been gained from the stratigraphical evidence provided by 
recent excavations (Munro-Hay 1989). The tombs show that the Aksumites were deeply 
concerned with the well-being of their kings and other citizens after death, and from the 
finds in one partially-cleared tomb, called the Tomb of the Brick Arches, we can see that 
rich funerary goods were buried with them.  
Illustration 25. Part of the great top-stone of the tomb called Nefas Mawcha.  
Illustration 26. View of the great stele and the Nefas Mawcha, showing how the stele, in 
falling, struck the corner of the roof and destroyed the equilibrium of the tomb. Photos 
BIEA.  

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Perhaps the most extraordinary of all the funerary structures at Aksum is the tomb called 
(at least since the time of the German visit in 1906) Nefas Mawcha, or `the place of the 
going forth of the winds'. This name may be derived from a legend, related in the Book of 
Aksum (Conti Rossini 1910), that at the foot of the largest stele lay tunnels where winds 
blew out any lights. The tomb is (cautiously) dated to the third century AD (Munro-Hay 
1989). It consists of a gigantic single roofing block, measuring about 17 × 7 × 1 m, 
placed over a paved chamber surrounded by ambulatories on all four sides. These 
passages were also roofed with granite blocks, those of the inner ambulatory (perhaps 
actually a rubble-filled supporting wall) fitting under both the great roofing block and the 
outer ambulatory roof blocks. The stones were trimmed to fit at either end, and linked 
together with metal clamps, the holes for which are still visible. This huge structure was 
almost certainly intended to be covered over by earth as an underground tomb. No 
entrance survives since the largest of the stelae, in falling, destroyed the west end of the 
building and caused the rest to settle as a result of the shock.  
An unexpected find was the Tomb of the Brick Arches. The tomb itself lay beneath a 
rough-stone and mud- mortared superstructure, most of which has now disappeared, and 
whose original form cannot be reconstructed. Between two parallel walls a staircase 
roofed with rough granite slabs descended until the tomb's entrance was reached. The 
first sign of anything unusual was the discovery of a granite lintel, and then, underneath 
it, the upper part of an arch of baked bricks. As the excavations progressed, it became 
apparent that this was a horse-shoe shaped arch, forming about three-quarters of a perfect 
circle, which rested at each side on slate- like stones forming plinths supported by the 
usual Aksumite rough stone and mud- mortared walls. The entrance led to an 
antechamber, from which two further horse-shoe shaped arches led into the tomb-
chambers proper. All had been blocked with stones, and all had been broken open in 
ancient times when the tomb was partially robbed.  
Illustration 27. The Tomb of the Brick Arches. View from inside the vestibule, looking 
through the horseshoe arch towards the staircase. Photo BIEA.  
The entrance-arch had an internal measurement of 1.3 m across the widest point, and the 
bricks were square. One of the internal arches resembled this, but the second was rather 
different, with oblong bricks arranged so that the long and short sides followed each other 
alternately. The square bricks measured 27 × 28 × 7 cm.  
The contents of the tomb have been tentatively dated by various methods to the early/mid 
fourth century AD. To find horse-shoe shaped baked brick arches of this early date in 
Ethiopia was very surprising, and of great interest for the history of architecture. Horse-
shoe shaped arches are known from an earlier period in India, a country with which 
Aksum had vigorous trading relations from probably the first century AD, but these 
arches were carved from the rock and not built. More or less contemporary built 
examples are reported from Syria, and so the Ethiopian examples have a pedigree as old 
as any others, at least for the time being (Munro-Hay, Rassegna di Studi Etiopici, 
forthcoming).  

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