British Institute in Eastern Africa Digital Archives: Aksum
British Institute in Eastern Africa, Neville Chittick, 2024. https://doi.org/10.5284/1090372. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © British Institute in Eastern Africa, Aluka unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4223
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1090372
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
The British Institute in Eastern Africa (BIEA) Aksum Archive is one of a series of Collections from the BIEA. The main page for this series can be accessed from the menu on the left.
The Aksum Collection is comprised of images and slides from the excavations directed by Neville Chittick in northern Ethiopia from 1972-74. These excavations focused primarily on Aksum's residential and burial sites.
Chittick's work in Aksum was cut short by the Derg Revolution that overthrew Haile Selassie, Ethiopia's last emperor, in 1974. A decade of social unrest followed the revolution, preventing Chittick's return to Aksum. The results of his fieldwork were published posthumously.
In addition to Chittick's research, the collection also includes images from the Deutsche Aksum Expedition conducted in 1902, as well as David W. Phillipson's research from the excavations he directed at the ancient Ethiopian capital in 1993-97. The five seasons of research resulted in his two-volume monograph Archaeology at Aksum, which comprehensively investigated various aspects of Aksum's architecture, farming settlements, and burial sites. The work of Neville Chittick also examined Aksum's domestic economy and the state's role in international trade.
