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Periodical article | Leiden University catalogue |
Title: | A Megalithic Circle from Emba Derho: Some Significant Aspects of Culture |
Authors: | Rao, S. Krishna Libsekal, Yosief |
Year: | 2004 |
Periodical: | Aethiopica: International Journal of Ethiopian Studies |
Volume: | 7 |
Pages: | 13-27 |
Language: | English |
Geographic term: | Eritrea |
Subjects: | archaeology prehistoric graves prehistory Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Anthropology and Archaeology |
External link: | https://doi.org/10.15460/aethiopica.7.1.278 |
Abstract: | The archaeological evidence of megalithic stone circles found during excavations in 2000 at Emba Derho, a village near Asmara (Eritrea), sheds some light on the development of prehistoric religion, with particular regard to death and burial. Although, chronologically, the Emba Derho megalithic burial is dated to AD 260 plus or minus 100, as evident from carbon-14 dating, the belief concepts and the mortuary practices are prehistoric. In Emba Derho two types of megalithic circles were found: single stone circles and double stone circles. These may have been arranged by two different groups. Such differences, however, could also have been the result of the influence of microenvironmental variations within the same ecological zone. With regard to the ethnicity and origins of megalithic circles, there are different versions. In this respect, the authors make a brief comparison with stone circles of the lowland Danakil Depression, also in Eritrea, and megalithic cicles in India. Bibliogr., sum. [ASC Leiden abstract] |