Sembel, located in the capital of
Asmara
Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...
,
Maekel Region of
Eritrea
Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...
, is East Africa's oldest
archaeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or recorded history, historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline ...
, dated back to as early as 800
BCE.
BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
, Oldest African settlement found in Eritrea, BBC News 22 May 2002
Overview
Sembel was the site of a village near
Asmara
Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...
. It was subsequently made a suburb of the capital to its south. Immediately after the
Eritrean War of Independence
The Eritrean War of Independence was an War, armed conflict and insurgency aimed at achieving self-determination and independence for Eritrea from Ethiopian rule. Starting in 1961, Eritrean insurgents engaged in guerrilla warfare to liberate ...
, a large government subsidized housing project was constructed in the area. During its construction and that of a nearby
Intercontinental Hotel, evidence of ancient settlement was found. The
National Museum of Eritrea later constructed a building to allow viewing of the excavation.
The excavations at Sembel found evidence of an ancient pre-
Aksumite civilization in greater Asmara. This Ona urban culture is believed to have been among the earliest pastoral and agricultural communities in the Horn region. Artefacts at the site have been dated to between 800 BC and 400 BC, contemporaneous with other pre-Aksumite settlements in the Eritrean and Ethiopian highlands during the mid-first millennium BC.
Additionally, the Ona culture may have had connections with the ancient
Land of Punt
The Land of Punt (Egyptian language, Egyptian: ''wikt:pwnt#Egyptian, pwnt''; alternate Egyptian language#Egyptological pronunciation, Egyptological readings ''Pwene''(''t'') ) was an ancient kingdom known from Ancient Egyptian trade records. ...
. In a tomb in
Thebes dated to the reign of Pharaoh
Amenophis II (Amenhotep II), long-necked pots similar to those made by the Ona people are depicted as part of the cargo in a ship from Punt.
See also
*
Adulis
Adulis (Sabaic, Sabaean: 𐩱 𐩵 𐩡 𐩪, , ) was an ancient city along the Red Sea in the Gulf of Zula, about south of Massawa. Its ruins lie within the modern Eritrean list of cities in Eritrea, city of Zula. It was the emporium (antiquit ...
*
Keskese
*
Matara
*
Nakfa
*
Qohaito
References
Notes
Sembel - Ona culture
• Schmidt, Peter (2002).
Oldest Africa Settlement found in Eritrea BBC website.
Archaeological sites in Eritrea
Former populated places in Eritrea
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