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Rock-cut stratigraphy: sequencing the Lalibela churches

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2010

François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar ,
Laurent Bruxelles ,
Romain Mensan ,
Claire Bosc-Tiessé ,
Marie-Laure Derat  and
Emmanuel Fritsch
François-Xavier Fauvelle-Aymar
Affiliation:
TRACES-UMR 5608 (UTM-CNRS-INRAP), Maison de la recherche, 5 allée Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse, France (Email: Fx.fauvelle@yahoo.fr; Laurent.bruxelles@inrap.fr; mensrom@gmail.com) School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
Laurent Bruxelles
Affiliation:
TRACES-UMR 5608 (UTM-CNRS-INRAP), Maison de la recherche, 5 allée Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse, France (Email: Fx.fauvelle@yahoo.fr; Laurent.bruxelles@inrap.fr; mensrom@gmail.com) School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa
Romain Mensan
Affiliation:
TRACES-UMR 5608 (UTM-CNRS-INRAP), Maison de la recherche, 5 allée Antonio Machado, 31058 Toulouse, France (Email: Fx.fauvelle@yahoo.fr; Laurent.bruxelles@inrap.fr; mensrom@gmail.com)
Claire Bosc-Tiessé
Affiliation:
French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CNRS-MAEE), P.O. Box 5554, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Email: Cnrs-cfee@ethionet.et; derat@univ-paris1.fr; emmanuelcssp@wanadoo.fr)
Marie-Laure Derat
Affiliation:
French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CNRS-MAEE), P.O. Box 5554, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Email: Cnrs-cfee@ethionet.et; derat@univ-paris1.fr; emmanuelcssp@wanadoo.fr)
Emmanuel Fritsch
Affiliation:
French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CNRS-MAEE), P.O. Box 5554, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Email: Cnrs-cfee@ethionet.et; derat@univ-paris1.fr; emmanuelcssp@wanadoo.fr)
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Abstract

The rock-cut churches of Ethiopia have long intrigued visitors and historians – and have frustrated archaeologists seeking their sequence of construction. Do they belong to one grand ceremonial monastic plan, or a long-lived ritual centre, continually refashioned over time? Since the churches are cut into live rock, the conventional signals of archaeological phasing are hard to find. The authors address these problems at the famous site of Lalibela, showing that, embedded in the cuts and openings, the spoil heaps, and even in the now vanished sediments, the stratigraphic sequence is there to be read.

Keywords

EthiopiaLalibelastratigraphyrock-cut churchesChristianity

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Type
Method
Information
Antiquity , Volume 84 , Issue 326 , December 2010 , pp. 1135 - 1150
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2010

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