...
Post A Reply
my profile
|
directory
login
|
register
|
search
|
faq
|
forum home
»
EgyptSearch Forums
»
Deshret
»
OT: Settling the issues on "Ethio-Sabean" connections, "Habashat", and the related
» Post A Reply
Post A Reply
Login Name:
Password:
Message Icon:
Message:
HTML is not enabled.
UBB Code™ is enabled.
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Supercar: [QB] ^^Datings are approximations, the aspects of which as I have [URL=http://www.egyptsearch.com/forums/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=003803][b][i]mentioned before[/i][/b][/URL], many non-expert readers may be misled about, particularly pertaining to stone inscriptions, because stones themselves cannot be dated via methods like radio-carbon dating, and as such experts have to rely on a multitude of things, like organic matter on or around the stone, literature recorded in the past [as your source seems to be doing], patterns of writing, bio-anthropological data, and so forth. As such the dating of whether the inscriptions date back to 8th century Bc. or 7th/6th century, is somewhat rather trivial; the point being that, they fall within that vicinity. For example Fattovich dates the inscriptions to the 7th/6th century; among the phases of the pre-Aksumite complexes mentioned by Fattovich: [1] The Early pre-Aksumite Phase (c. 1000-800/700 BC). In this phase, the pre-Aksumite cultural area was apparently divided into two regions: (a) central Eritrea and northern Tigray and (b) western Tigray. They probably reflected a cultural division of the plateau going back to late prehistoric times (see Fattovich 1988). [b]It is possible that chiefdoms already existed (Schneider 1976), but no safe archeological evidence of them is yet available.[/b] The people of western Tigray who were definitely in contact with the south Arabians worked iron, as we can infer from slag found at Gobedra rock shelter near Aksum (see Phillipson 1977; Fattovich 1980; Fattovich 1990c). The late ‘Jebel Mokram Group’ people in the lowlands were in contact with those of western Tigray (Fig. 5). [2]The Middle pre-Aksumite Phase (c. [b]700/600 - 300 BC[/b]). The [b]kingdom of Da’amat appeared in this phase. [/b] Its territory stretched from western Tigray to central Eritrea. Most likely, the capital was located at Yeha (western Tigray) and monumental and [b]epigraphically evidence stresses a direct link with the kingdom of Saba in southern Arabia.[/b] [b]Some rock inscriptions recorded in Eritrea point to contacts with other south Arabian peoples[/b] and there were [b]also contacts with the Nubian kingdom of Kush, the Achemenian Empire, and the Greek world.[/b] The nomads living in the Atbara and Gash alluvial plains were included in the area of Ethiopian influence (Fig. 6; Drewes 1962; de Contenson 1981; Anfray 1990; Fattovich 1990c)." - Fattovich, 2002. From Stuart Munro-Hay: “This period is not of major concern to us here, and in any case we have very little information about it; but some consideration should be given to the situation in Ethiopia before the rise of Aksum, since the source of [b]at least some of the characteristics of the later Aksumite civilisation can be traced to this earlier period.[/b] Perhaps the most interesting phenomenon in this respect is that by around the [b]middle of the first millenium BC[/b] — a date cautiously suggested, using [b]palaeographical information[/b] (Pirenne 1956; Drewes 1962: 91), but possibly [b]rather too late in view of new discoveries in the Yemen (Fattovich 1989: 16-17)[/b] which may even push it [b]back to the eighth century BC[/b]— some sort of contact, apparently quite close, seems to have been maintained between Ethiopia and South Arabia…" - Stuart Munro-Hay Of course, it is recognized above that African Horn-South Arabian contacts date back to at least first millenium B.C., but within the relatively recent context of Ethio-Sabean/South Arabian contacts in the said Pre-Aksumite complexes, it would appear some discoveries in Yemen point to a date stretching back to 8th century B.C. Looking at info immediately above, I assume that among those discoveries, were inscriptions found in Yemen, possibly the aforementioned Minean inscriptions. Again, this likely refers more to dialects, rather than the structure of the inscriptions themselves. The inscriptions in both Yemen and Ethiopia approximate each other, which can only be the product of the situation being, that it wasn't long after the scripts were developed, that they were used on either side of the Red Sea. The "D'MT" inscriptions themselves can be approximated to about 6th century [b]or so[/b]. Anyway, not entirely inconsistent with Fattovich's deductions, again from Stuart Munro-Hay, who makes note of Fattovich's viewpoint on dating: "The altars, inscriptions, stelae, temples, secular structures, tombs and other material left by the Sabaean-influenced Ethiopian population occur in considerable numbers even from the few excavated sites; those attributed to the Sabaeans themselves occur more rarely. [b]The monuments are dated from the 5th century BC[/b] by study of the [b]letter-forms[/b] used on them (palaeography), and [b]seem to appear in Ethiopia[/b] at about the s[b]ame time as they do in South Arabia[/b] (nb. [b][i]the reservations about the dating expressed by Fattovich 1989[/i][/b])..." - Stuart Munro-Hay One thing that needs to be understood, is that based off present info [pending any not brought to my attention], Aksumite is viewed as an separate complex from its predecessors, not of course without some ties. This is exemplified in Stuart Munro-Hay's notes, as I posted earlier on: "[b]No clear evidence of connexions between the pre-Aksumite, Sabaean-influenced, period, and the earliest Aksumite period is at the moment[/b] available, though it [b]seems intrinsically more likely that Aksum in [i]some way was able to draw directly on part of the experience of its predecessors.[/i][/b] At Matara, the [b]archaeological evidence implies that there was a [i]clear break[/i] between the two periods[/b] (Anfray and Annequin 1965), but this [b]need not have been the case everywhere in the country[/b]. The [b]solution to these questions[/b] can only [b]await further clarification from archaeology.[/b] " - S. Munro-Hay [/QB][/QUOTE]
Instant Graemlins
Instant UBB Code™
What is UBB Code™?
Options
Disable Graemlins in this post.
*** Click here to review this topic. ***
Contact Us
|
EgyptSearch!
(c) 2015 EgyptSearch.com
Powered by UBB.classic™ 6.7.3