Towers of stone at the heart of Aksum
On the edge of the town of Aksum in northern Ethiopia stands a field of tall stone monuments known as stelae (singular: stele). They are among the most recognisable remains of the Aksumite kingdom, which flourished in the first millennium CE. Some are rough, unadorned pillars of modest height. A few are enormous, finely carved slabs that imitate the form of a many-storeyed building. The best-known are often described in English as obelisks, although they differ from Egyptian obelisks in several ways, and the word stele is more accurate in archaeological writing.
The most elaborate stelae are generally dated to the 3rd and 4th centuries CE, before the kingdom’s adoption of Christianity.
What they marked
The stelae are widely understood as grave markers. They stand above underground tombs and burial chambers, some of which have been excavated. The largest stelae seem to belong with large, elaborate royal or elite tombs, and some stelae were associated with offerings and with altar-like slabs at their base. The tombs themselves are often robbed, so the identity of those buried is largely a matter of inference.
After the Aksumite kings adopted Christianity in the 4th century, the practice of erecting stelae appears to have ended. It’s possible that the change in religion affected burial customs, though the timing and causes are still discussed.
Quarrying
The stone is a hard, dark igneous rock often described as nepheline syenite, quarried at Gobedra, a hill a few kilometres west of Aksum. Work at the quarry shows both finished and half-finished pieces, including a very large stele that was left in place, apparently unfinished.
Quarrying an object of this size without modern machinery required methods researchers have studied in comparison with stone-working elsewhere. Workers probably separated the block by cutting channels and using wedges, perhaps combined with wooden and rope tools. The questions are similar to those raised in the pyramid construction debates over how Egyptian builders moved and lifted heavy stone, and to those about the Rano Raraku quarry on Easter Island. We have no written account of the methods used, so reconstructions rely on the physical evidence and on experiments.
Transport and raising
The blocks had to be moved from the quarry to the town, a distance of several kilometres, probably on prepared tracks with sledges, rollers, ropes and large teams of people and animals. Raising each stele into an upright position required a stable base, a pit or socket to hold the end, and a method of tilting the monument into place, possibly with ramps and rope tackle. The people of Aksum clearly achieved this on a large scale, but the exact process has not been reconstructed with certainty. Comparison with moai transport methods and with ancient engineering elsewhere suggests that organised labour and careful planning mattered more than any single device.
Carving
The more elaborate stelae are not plain pillars. Their sides are carved to show what look like stacked storeys, each with rows of beam ends, called “monkey heads”, imitating the projecting timber beams used in the walls of Aksumite buildings. Carved doors and false windows with frames appear on the faces. At the top of some stelae, a rounded disc is carved, which has been interpreted as a sun or moon symbol, or simply as a decorative crown. The imitation of buildings has been used to learn about Aksumite domestic and palace architecture, since few such buildings survive. It must be treated as a stylised representation rather than a literal blueprint.
The big ones
Three giants are especially often discussed:
- The Great Stele is the largest, at about 33 metres in length and roughly 500 tonnes in weight by common estimates. It lies broken on the ground. Many researchers think it fell during or soon after its erection, possibly because it was too large for the foundation, and it may have damaged the tomb beneath it. This remains a plausible interpretation more than a certainty.
- King Ezana’s Stele, about 21 metres tall, still stands. It is often counted as the largest standing monument of its kind at Aksum, although it is not inscribed with Ezana’s famous texts, and the name is a convention.
- The Rome Stele, about 24 metres tall, stood until the 20th century. Its history is notable. Italian forces occupying Ethiopia removed it in 1937, cutting it into pieces and shipping it to Rome. After the Second World War, Italy agreed in 1947 to return it, but for decades the work was delayed. It was finally brought back by air in 2005 and re-erected in Aksum in 2008, following restoration and the stabilisation of its foundations.
The return was welcomed in Ethiopia as the restoration of a national symbol and is often cited in discussions of cultural property, though each case differs.
Studying the stelae today
Aksum was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1980. Concerns for the stelae include cracking, weathering and the stability of the leaning ones, notably King Ezana’s stele and others, which have been monitored and strengthened. Archaeologists continue to survey the area around the stelae field, looking for tombs and for evidence of the people who built them. Much of the nearby ground has not been excavated, so more discoveries may come.
What the stelae tell us
The stelae show a society able to organise large workforces, command skilled stonemasons and share a common funerary tradition. They also show Aksum’s confidence as a state: monuments of this scale were meant to be seen. As with many ancient societies, though, the missing written evidence about who built them and how leaves a number of questions open.