Men at work: Grinding stone production by the experts and others in northern Ethiopia

It is necessary to access the oral forms of local histories often held in traditional African communities to help us understand the African past and avoid framing interpretations solely in terms of Western epistemologies. Ethnoarchaeological fieldwork was carried out in villages in the Gulo Makeda region of northeastern Tigrai, northern Ethiopia, where access to mechanical mills has only been available in the last few decades. Individuals in this area still have knowledge and memory of manufacturing, using and discarding grinding stones. Interviews were held with male advisors who shared their knowledge and expertise about the entire process of manufacturing grinding stones. To move beyond understanding just the technical aspects of grinding stone manufacturing (what and how), the theory and methods associated with the chaîne opératoire and design theory were incorporated into the research to allow discovery of intricate socio-economic interrelationships (how and why) that exist through grinding manufacture within this culture. Manufacturing offers opportunities for socialization, cooperation and community engagement. Through ethnoarchaeology it became clear that the manufacturing of grinding stones in northeastern Tigrai is a complex process requiring design decisions, skills, knowledge, and social interaction that builds interpersonal relationships. By arranging two separate manufacturing sessions, one with experts and one with non-experts, comparisons were made of technological and social differences between experts and non-experts. The individuals who are experts in manufacturing grinding stones made higher quality grinding stones than the non-experts. The experts are also afforded a special respect by others, as they are the creators of the technology “necessary for life” in a culture traditionally dependent on cereal flours for sustenance. Potentially this respect for experts could be true for the past as well. Since the grinding stone artifacts from Mezber are large stones, likely meant to produce significant amounts of flour, they would have been important to daily life. Those who manufactured these tools important for subsistence would likely have been considered important individuals in the community

Pre-Aksumite Plant Husbandry in the Horn of Africa - Datasets

This repository contains the results datasets of the article Pre-Aksumite Plant Husbandry in the Horn of Africa published by the journal Vegetation History and Archaeobotany.We owe a debt of gratitude to our Ethiopian colleagues and field assistants who have participated in ETAP research at Mezber since 2007. In particular, we acknowledge Medhin Abate, the owner of the land upon which Mezber sits, and our many excavation assistants from the villages surrounding the site. We are grateful to Shannon Wood who completed site mapping, figures and participated in excavations, and Pamela Wadge who conducted flotation and preliminary archaeobotanical studies. Tesfay Gebremariam provided assistance with flotation. We thank Michael Tofollo for completing an initial analysis of Mezber phytoliths. Additional Mezber team members included Helina Woldekiros, Lynn Welton, Stephen Batuik, Steven Brandt, Andrea Manzo, Laurie Nixon-Darcus, Elizabeth Peterson, Michela Gaudiello, Aman Mohammed, Hagos Hailat and Stefano Biagetti. We thank the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) and the Tigrai Bureau of Culture and Tourism (TBCT) for permission to excavate at Mezber, especially Kebede Amare and Dr. Yonas Beyene. We greatly appreciate the participation of ARCCH and TBCT Representatives including Habtamu Mekonnen, Abebe Mengistu, Endashash Awate and Giday Gebregziabhir. ETAP archaeobotanical investigations at Mezber were financially supported by two major grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), including Standard Research Grants 410-2007-2472 and 410-2011-1646. Further support was obtained from a SSHRC/SFU Institutional Grant from Simon Fraser University. The work of CL and ARG was supported by the "RAINDROPS" Project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 framework (ERC-Stg 759800)

Pre-aksumite plant husbandry in the Horn of Africa

Palaeoethnobotanical studies completed at the archaeological site of Mezber in Tigrai, Ethiopia, have led to important new insights on plant husbandry practices of the Pre-Aksumite Period (1600 cal BC to cal AD 25) in the Horn of Africa. The Mezber material record includes a transition from an agro-pastoralist economy in the Initial Phase (1600–900 cal BC) to a more sedentary agricultural way of life in the Early, Middle and Late Phases (825 cal BC–cal AD 25). Macrobotanical samples are dominated by Southwest Asian C3 crops and weeds including emmer, barley, linseed, flax and Lolium, while microbotanical samples of phytoliths are dominated by plants belonging to the Chloridoideae and Panicoideae, indicative of African domesticates such as t’ef, finger millet, sorghum and wild grasses. The Mezber data constitute the earliest evidence to date for crops and plant use in the region, which are present by at least the mid-second millennium BC. In these early subsistence regimes, Southwest Asian crops likely formed one component of a complex plant husbandry system that also incorporated indigenous African C4 plants. This mode of subsistence is analogous to those encountered in other late Holocene archaeological sites in northeastern Africa and has now been demonstrated for the Ethiopian highlands.ETAP palaeoethnobotanical investigations at Mezber were financially supported by two grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), including Standard Research Grants 410-2007-2472 and 410-2011-1646. Further support was obtained from a SSHRC/SFU Institutional Grant from Simon Fraser University (PI of these grants D’Andrea). The work of CL and ARG was supported by the "RAINDROPS” Project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 framework (ERC-Stg 759800, PI Lancelotti). We thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments

Water, Geography, and Aksumite Civilization: The Southern Red Sea Archaeological Histories (SRSAH) Project Survey (2009–2016)

For at least four decades, archaeologists have identified irrigation as playing a potentially major role in the rise of Aksumite civilization. Based on a systematic survey covering the area between Aksum and Yeha (Ethiopia), Joseph Michels proposed that large-scale irrigation systems introduced from Southwest Arabia contributed to the rise of Yeha as a major center of Pre-Aksumite civilization. To evaluate spatial patterning of archaeological sites with respect to water availability, this paper reports on results from archaeological survey of a 100 km2 region surrounding Yeha conducted by the Southern Red Sea Archaeological Histories (SRSAH) Project from 2009 to 2016. The SRSAH Project recorded 84 sites dating from the Pre-Aksumite to the Post-Aksumite periods (c.800 BCE to 900 CE). No ancient irrigation systems were identified and results do not show a correlation between archaeological sites and water resources. This suggests that irrigation was less important than Michels contended and that rainfed agriculture, terraces, and small-scale irrigation comparable with practices evident in the region today were sufficient to sustain ancient populations

Coverage, social mobilization and challenges of mass Zithromax administration campaign in South and South East zones of Tigray, Northern Ethiopia: A cross sectional study

<div><p>Background</p><p>The antibiotic treatment of people with trachoma helps to prevent transmission the disease in a community. Currently, Zithromax is the drug recommended for mass drug administration (MDA). MDA should be carried out annually for three to five years in trachoma endemic areas. Coverage survey is essential to track progress towards program goals and to identify communities with poor coverage in order to permit timely and appropriate actions. We assessed mass Zithromax administration coverage, social mobilization and campaign challenges in south and southeast zones of Tigray, Ethiopia.</p><p>Method</p><p>We conducted a survey in community in Southern and South East zones of Tigray region from August 15 to August 31, 2016. The survey included nine Woredas. It was supported by qualitative methods. A total of 3741 individuals were enrolled from 933 households using multistage sampling. We used structured questionnaire. In-depth interview and focus group discussion were also applied. Descriptive statistics was performed using SPSS version 20.We thematically analyzed the qualitative data using Atlas 7.</p><p>Result</p><p>The overall coverage of Zithromax MDA was 93.3%. It ranges from 90.0% in Seharti Samre to 97.9% in Endamokoni. The coverage was 93.4% for males and 93.1% for females. A higher proportion (98.3%) of children aged 5 to 15 years and 409 (87.8%) under five children took Zithromax. The coverage was 94% in rural and 91.2% in urban. Women development army (43.3%) and health extension workers (32.5%) were the main source of information. Frequent occurrence of drug side effects, rumors, lack of community and leaders’ engagement in the campaign, fasting, shortage of human power and short term unavailability of supplies were barriers during the campaign.</p><p>Conclusion</p><p>The Zithromax MDA coverage in the study zones was higher than the minimum WHO set criteria of 80%. There was a wide difference in coverage among Woredas and Kebeles. The MDA coverage was lower in urban than rural. Misconceptions and poor mobilization were common challenges. Thus, proper planning, community mobilization and uniform training will need to be done ahead of the campaign in the future.</p></div

Zithromax MDA coverage by district, Southern and Southeast Zones of Tigray, 2016.

<p>Zithromax MDA coverage by district, Southern and Southeast Zones of Tigray, 2016.</p

Mass drug administration coverage by selected variables in South and Southeastern zones of Tigray, 2016 (N = 3741).

<p>Mass drug administration coverage by selected variables in South and Southeastern zones of Tigray, 2016 (N = 3741).</p