Storage, Cooking, and Transport. A Preliminary Residue Analysis of Ceramics from Mai Adrasha

Summary

This paper outlines the preliminary investigation of a collection of diagnostic and undiagnostic ceramics recovered from the site of Mai Adrasha, located in the Shire region of Ethiopia. Mai Adrasha is one of the largest and arguably most significant early town sites west of Aksum dating to the pre-Aksumite to Early Aksumite periods (12th century BCE-2nd century CE) located in the Western Tigray. The site consists of a cemetery and a domestic area characterized by a collection of stone walls and ceramic and lithic assemblages. Study of this site will yield important information on the early prehistoric period and uncover insights into the social, economic, and political organization of the Aksumite polity and what preceded it. Our goal here is to present the initial results of a series of ceramic residue analyses conducted on a small sample of ceramics excavated by the UCLA Shire Project’s 2015 field season. Each ceramic sherd was analyzed using gas-chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) at UCLA. These results will help address questions concerning the production, consumption, and use-life of ceramic vessels at Mai Adrasha, and will hopefully shed some light on Mai Adrasha’s standing in the broader cultural landscape of Northern Ethiopia.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Regional Connections in Northern Ethiopia and Eritrea: Relationships between the Eastern, Western, and Central Highlands

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16158