The sixteenth-century ritual precinct at Koticha Kesi in the Gilgel Gibe Valley, southern Ethiopia

Abstract

A complex of stele palisades surrounding a burial site in southern Ethiopia is linked to the Janjero, an independent polity described in 1613 by the Jesuit traveller, Antonio Fernandez. The site layout recalls that of the royal compound, as does its isolated hilltop location, apparently chosen for its visibility over a large area of fertile farming land. Evidence presented here suggests that the site was destroyed in about 1550, when the frontier of the Enyara kingdom reached the Gilgel Gibe River.

Un complexe de stèles en palissade encerclant un site d'inhumation en Ethiopie méridionale est lié aux Janjero, entité politique indépendante décrite en 1613 par le voyageur jésuite Antonio Fernandez. L'organisation du site, ainsi que sa situation sur une colline isolée, apparemment choisie parce qu'elle domine une vaste zone de terre arables fertiles, rappellent le complexe royal. Les données présentées ici suggèrent que le site fut détruit vers 1550, au moment où la frontière du royaume Enyara atteignait la rivière Gilgel Gibe.

Keywords:

• Ethiopia
• Janjero
• Oromo
• Enyara
• trade
• ritual
• temporal landscape

Acknowledgements

The excavations at Koticha Kesi were conducted under the auspices of the Ethiopian cultural heritage authority CRCCH, facilitated by Jara Haile Mariam and Yonas Bayele. I am greatly indebted to Steven Brandt by whose invitation I took responsibility for the Gilgel Gibe archaeological survey, in which I was ably assisted by Aklilu Asfaw, Hasen Said, Assamerw Dessie, Tekle Hagos, Tedessie Asrat and Biruk Mariam. Further valuable assistance was provided by Kidane Gizaw, Ensermu Kelbessa and Ababour Jebel. I am most grateful to Jill Kinahan, who carried out the glass trade bead analysis that helped resolve the dating of the site and produced the final diagrams of the finds; to Marilee Wood, who provided further advice on the bead analysis; to Grover Hudson for advice on Amharic orthography; to Karl-Johan Lindholm for locating material in the Carolina Rediviva at Uppsala; to Peter Mitchell, who arranged access to material in the Bodleian Library at Oxford University; and to Katharina Dierks for her assistance with map production.

Notes on contributor

John Kinahan is an independent researcher (PhD, University of the Witwatersrand, 1989) who has worked widely in Africa. He is based in Namibia and directs the Namib Desert Archaeological Survey, a long-term regional-scale research project focusing on post-Pleistocene occupation of the desert and the development of specialised hunter-gatherer and nomadic pastoralist subsistence strategies.

Notes

1. Site locations were determined in the field by triangulation to points identifiable on Sheet 0737 A2 Sekoru, Ethiopian Mapping Authority (1978). Field mapping at Koticha Kesi was carried out with tape, compass and hand-held clinometer and in the absence of more sophisticated equipment some inaccuracies may have arisen. All finds and site documentation from the Gilgel Gibe archaeological survey are lodged at the National Museum in Addis Ababa. Following excavation, the conservation measures taken included the placement of a layer of woven plastic material above the exposed burials, in the back-filled excavation trenches, and the construction of a substantial rock berm about 25 m in length on the downslope side of the site to protect the stelae complex from erosion. Other recommended mitigation measures, including fencing, were not implemented and the site was robbed a short time after the excavation.

2. In preference to Oromignya, the language most commonly spoken in the Gilgel Gibe area, Amharic colloquialisms are inserted in the text where these provide useful specific terms that have no precise English equivalent, to denote environmental concepts or items of material culture that are widely used in Ethiopia.