Urbanism

Several concentrations of Aksumite archaeological remains have been designated sites of ‘cities’ or ‘towns’, often solely on the basis of their extent. Such classification of settlements can, however, be misleading. Unlike many of their contemporaries elsewhere, no Aksumite settlements are known to have been surrounded by walls or other defensible means of demarcation. Furthermore, the use-pattern of space and buildings within major Aksumite settlements seems to have been less formally differentiated than that commonly encountered elsewhere: our admittedly incomplete knowledge of Aksum itself suggests a loosely packed mixture of buildings and other features that were highly variable in scale, function and socio-economic status, with little formal demarcation between them. Included were places where craft activities were conducted; large tracts were also reserved for funerary and religious or ceremonial uses. There were extensive areas with buildings whose functions remain unknown or poorly understood. With increased distance from the centre, features were less tightly packed. In such circumstances, it is impossible to estimate the total area that was occupied by ancient Aksum, but it was clearly significantly greater than that covered by many contemporaneous walled ‘cities’ elsewhere. The roughly triangular tract demarcated by the lower slopes of Beta Giyorgis and Mai Qoho hills on the northwest and northeast and by the Ta'akha Maryam élite structure (Chapter 8 and Fig. 27; see also below) on the south covers approximately 110 ha (cf. Fig. 19).