Throughout its history, the Aksumite kingdom maintained varying degrees of contact with external populations both adjacent and far-distant. These relationships have often received undue emphasis in reconstructions of Aksumite history, while being largely ignored in studies whose primary focus lay elsewhere. Archaeological evidence for these contacts is derived mainly from artefacts and materials recognised as having originated far from their place of recovery. Care is, of course, needed to distinguish between transport of artefacts and that of the materials used in their production, and from the movement of people responsible for their manufacture. Likewise, extended areas of distribution may be inadequately reflected in the archaeological record as a result of uneven coverage of research. Evidence for political relations – whether military, religious or diplomatic – comes primarily from oral and written sources; these present remarkably little overlap with the archaeology, and are usually subject to varied emphasis and distortion according to the sympathies of the societies where they were created and/or transmitted. Since this book focuses primarily on the northern Horn of Africa, that area's exports will be discussed first.

Exports

As has been the pattern for thousands of years, and still continues in many circumstances today, Africa's exports to the rest of the world have mostly consisted of raw materials, while her imports have included a high proportion of manufactured items. This has created an immediate imbalance in the archaeological record and in our understanding of it, since artefacts tend to be more readily recognised than the sources of the materials from which they were made.