End of an Era: Diversity in

Former Feudal Landscapes

An ethnoarchaeological study of
powerful places in Tigray, Ethiopia

Dr. Diane Lyons

Associate Professor, Department of
Archaeology
University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
dlyons@ucalgary.ca
Introduction

„ This is an ethnoarchaeological study of how

different levels of feudal authority were
materialized in the built landscape of rural
Tigray.

„ The contemporary rural landscape includes

a large number of domestic compounds that
were built during the last century of the
Abyssinian Empire which ended in 1974.
Study Area

„ The study was

conducted in Gulo-
Makeda Woreda in
the Eastern Zone of
Tigray Region in
the northern
highlands of
Ethiopia.
This study was part of a larger
archaeological project directed by A.C.
D’Andrea (Simon Fraser University)
 Remnant feudal landscapes
„ Many late feudal period
houses are occupied by
original owners or their
direct descendents

„ Original owners were:

– Regional Aristocrats
– Local Nobles
– Peasants
Integrated political
landscapes
„ Archaeologists tend to focus on elite architecture as the
places where power and authority are generated.

„ But power is not the sole prerogative of the elite.

„ Argued here is that different levels of authority are similarly

legitimated through a common vernacular architectural
practice by peasants, nobles, and aristocrats.

„ These social categories of people contributed to Tigray’s

political landscape; few of these buildings are monumental in
scale.

„ Common vernacular building practices were scaled up to lay

claim to increasingly greater levels of authority over land and
peasant labour.
Late Feudal Period:
Dynamic Social Order
„ Local nobles held non-heritable military titles.

„ Any peasant could achieve a title through

distinguished military service and loyalty to a
powerful lord.

„ Aristocrats constantly fought each other for land,

power and titles.

„ Consequently, access to power and authority was

highly dynamic.
 Land: basis of power
„ Land tenure in Gulo-Makeda
late feudal times:
– Village land (shehana) shared
by all village residents
– Heritable family land (resti)
only held by some village
residents
– Land grant (gult) from
overlord held by local
nobles/aristocrats

– Consequently there were

significant differences in land
holdings and levels of wealth
within as well as between
social strata.
 Legitimate claim to land
„ Built rural landscape made up of
domestic compounds of different
social categories. No public
buildings (except churches).

„ Men activated personal rights in

family and village land, and the
right to represent themselves in
court and village council when
they married and after they built
and occupied their own house.

„ Construction of every house was Former nobleman’s house, now

a political claim to land and occupied by his son
authority at some level.
 Feasting and status
„ Peasant households were obliged
to host feasts in order to maintain
status in the community and to
maintain membership in local and
regional mutual aid societies that
provided members with reciprocal
pools of labour.

„ Nobles and aristocrats had similar

feasting networks with their peers.

„ Feasts are important venues for

manifesting household power, and
they occur in the host’s compound.

„ Compounds of all groups are Farming household preparing for a

locales where power and authority memorial feast.
are negotiated.
 Building powerful places
„ Farm compounds include a house
(hidmo), kitchen and courtyard
enclosed by a high wall.

„ This study focuses on hidmo.

„ Hidmo characterize Tigrayan rural

architecture
– rectilinear mud-mortared masonry
building
– flat mud roof (or more recently
corrugated zinc)
– interiors finished with mud-plastered and
painted walls, benches, beds
– quality and size of hidmo represents the
integrity of its builder
– building usually torn down on death of
its builders (except grand houses of
titled men although few houses last
more than a century)
– Multi-functional building: sleeping,
storage, food preparation, consumption,
entertaining guests, mutual aid
association meetings, feasts
Peasant compounds
„ Hidmo interiors have
plastered and painted walls
and furnishings.

„ Built by husband and wife.

„ Only assisted by others if

they could afford to provide
food and beer.

„ Often cost of assistants was

prohibitive.
Scaling up: Local
noblemen’s hidmo
„ Lowest level of state administrative
authority is chika shum (sometimes
held military title)
„ Usually locally born man
„ Collected taxes, redistributed land,
local judge
„ Built his own house to claim village
and family land
„ Extracted local peasant labour to
build his hidmo by right or by
coercion
„ Hidmo are larger and more
elaborated forms of vernacular
architecture
„ Hidmo greater height is achieved
with second story loft and interior
roof posts
„ Hidmo also had decorative wood
ceilings
 Scaling up: the currency
of peasant labour
„ Building noblemen’s houses required that
peasants cut and carry juniper logs for roofs
and ceilings from a distant place

„ Ceiling pieces were cut and shaped requiring

more time to build than peasant hidmo
ceilings (consumed more labour and wasted
wood)

„ Use of wood in a highly deforested

environment was act of conspicuous
consumption

„ Some rich farmers built decorated ceilings,

but had to pay workers

„ Only noblemen’s ceilings had political capital Decorated ceiling in former

of free peasant labour
nobleman’s hidmo
„ Commanding peasant labour to build
noblemen’s houses reproduces nobleman’s
power and authority at local level
 Scaling to the top:
regional aristocracy
„ In late feudal period Gulo-Makeda
was part of province of Agame

„ Local aristocracy descended from

Dejazmach Woldu Sebagades

„ Aristocratic homes investigated

were in poor condition but 3 of 5
were still occupied by descendents
of original builders

„ Compounds are monumental in

scale, but these buildings continue
to manipulate the vernacular
architectural aesthetic.
5 aristocratic residences
investigated
„ Common features :
– Monumental compound wall
– Uninhabited zone outside outer walls
– Commanding topographic location
– Elite house and feasting hall enclosed by inner
wall (compound within a compound)
– Elite house is multistoried and often cruxiform in
plan
– Feasting hall is taller than other hidmo
Example: Shum Agame
Desta (Governor of Agame)

Residence
constructed in
late 19th
century
Shum Agame’s
compound
„ Elite family house and feasting
hall (adderash) at spatial core of
compound, physically separated
from rest of compound by inner
wall

„ Residence and adderash split

domestic and public functions of
vernacular hidmo to meet
demands of larger scale feasting
and food storage.

„ Both are constructed using

same vernacular aesthetic as
hidmo but taller and more
elaborate.

Adderash exterior and remains of decorated

wood ceiling
Elite family house
„ Elite houses are 2 to
4 stories tall

„ Shum Agame Desta’s

house was 3 stories

„ 2nd floor had 2

circular wood ceilings
with painted beam
 Wood
„ Wood braced walls for
structural demands of multi-
storied buildings (unnecessary
in smaller hidmo)

„ Aristocratic houses consume

much more wood than those
of local noblemen

„ Aristocrats also consume

more peasant labour drawn
from larger territories under
their control

Wood beams in wall of elite residence

Building power in political
landscapes
„ Shum Agame Desta’s house was built over a
century ago, but construction is well remembered
„ Every man and woman in Agame was commanded
to come and build his house (deeply resented by
peasantry)
„ Stone quarry located a kilometer below the house
„ Stones passed by hand in a continuous human
chain from quarry to building site
„ Exercise was powerful act of Shum Agame’s
authority over the people and land of Agame, and
of the people’s submission to this authority.
Political landscapes

„ Political landscapes are not constituted solely in elite and

monumental places of power
„ Peasants, nobles and aristocrats in Gulo-Makeda all built
houses to claim rights in land and authority at different but
integrated levels of power in the late feudal period
„ All domestic houses were places where power was generated
„ All of these built places manipulated a common architectural
aesthetic that was scaled up incrementally to construct the
greater levels of power held by the builder’s owner
„ Scaling up of the vernacular always involved the use of
peasant labour and scarce resources: the process that
materialized differential levels of authority on the landscape
 Archaeological
importance
„ Aksumite polity dominated the
study region in 1st millennium AD

„ Aksum’s elite selected houses as

political symbols including the
multi-storied houses carved into its
famed stone stelae

„ Clay models of houses found in

pre-Aksumite and Aksumite
contexts strongly resemble historic
hidmo

„ Aksum’s monumental buildings are

elite domestic residences

Multi-storied house carved in

stone stela at Aksum
Symbols of power
„ Caution is required in using the present to interpret
the past.
„ But it is worth considering that Aksum’s elite may
have claimed land and authority through domestic
buildings and that their subjects did the same.
„ Archaeological investigations need to integrate all
social players into our interpretations of past (and
present) political landscapes.
„ Political symbols are only powerful if the people
that they are intended to manipulate understand
(and accept) their intended meaning.
Acknowledgments
„ People of Gulo-Makeda
„ Authority for Research and Conservation of
Cultural Heritage, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
„ Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada
„ University of Calgary
„ Dr. Cathy D’Andrea (Simon Fraser
University)
„ Zelealem Tesfay Gebre-Tsadik, and Michael
Sobak
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