In this blog I will share some of my negative experiences relevant to the theme above, I will then end it by quoting some parts of the article,
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B3QNSN1T1AiwdnZhT2c0YWs5ZzA/view?usp=sharing
A BBC article on the Asmara area that might be of interest;
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/2000297.stm
In my next blog, I will post Rodolfo Fattovich´s older article on the subject. Most of Fattovich´s work on Eritrea is from before its liberation, his latest work is from 1993. Because Schmidt & Curtis´s work is a natural continuation of Fattovich´s, and because it´s younger and more precise, I chose to blog about this first. This would be cohesive with hermeneutic way of thinking, used both in archeology and history.
My negative experiences relevant to the theme
Since I posted a short comment on the rich and old heritage of Hamasien, Asmara, I have gotten some negative remarks, all with seemingly different agendas made by our neighbours from the nation of the Tegarus, Tgray in Ethiopia.
The reason why I chose to raise the issues I encountered is, because it serves as good example of how fragmented Eritrean history appears to most of us from Eritrea. When we think of old Eritrea, we only think of Adoulis, Matara, Keskese, Qoahito, Dubarua and Massawa. Most of us don´t even know and understand the history and background of these places. Neither do the Eritrean and foreign archeologists by the way, since they can´t get the work done with the current regime. They have no freedom, as DIA puts quite a lot of obsticales and dirty pressures on them. They´re severely controlled by the regime.
However, thanks to my Tegaru facebook friends, I can try to clear out some of the confusions that is colonially, and PFDJ intentionally supported fragmented view on Eritrean ancient history and its remains.
It happens to be such that the historical places in Akkele Guzai and Adoulis is a byproduct of that in Hamasien. Yes, you understood right, the critiques I got from the Tegarus (seeming like from Akkele Guzai) is simply put; "Hamasien had nothing, Akkele Guzai had everything"...... It´ s very sad that Eritreans can´t even enjoy their lunch without the flies wanting to have a peace of it, even the peace of mind is precious these days.
The Hamasien culture itself is a consequence of the old activities of Gash and Barka. So, there is a chain that goes from Gash, Barka, Adoulis to Akkele Guzai and Seraie. In fact, very little is known about Seraie, Sahel and Senhit, although it is by the professionals known that Mendefera has quite a lot history hidden in it, Sahel and Senhit the same. One important remark about Sahel and Senhit is that these regions were perceived as holy places by the inhabitants of old Eritrea, they were places of pilgrimage, possibly even before Christianity. Also these regions produced one of the earliest Christian communities in Eritrea, and in the world. What this teaches us is that, today, it is easy to think of Christianity as an Ethiopian or Tgrayan "invention" in the region, but it was not. The fact that we chose Islam and Christianity personally to coexist side by side in our beloved country, should not make the Christian population of Eritrea "Ethiopians or Tegaru". I do understand this seems incredibly banal, but in today´s infected political climate, I could not stress this enough. Many of us changed religion, but it remains to be a reality that it was Sahel and Eritrea that created the earliest Christian community and culture in the region. Tigray was only secondary to this fact.
An example of how our Tegaru and other northern Ethiopians like to twist
our history to prove that we never existed as a nation nor as a people
without them
Sofia Teo wrote; " እወ ዝበልክዮ ነገር ልክእ ክኸውን ይኸል እዩ እንተኾነ ግን ሓማሴን ፍልቲ ዝኾነትሉ ምኽንያት ካምቲ ዝበልክዮ ካብ ኢጅፕት ሱዳን ናብ ኣኽሱም ዝጉኣዙ መስፍንቲ እቲ መንገዶም ወይ መእረፊኦም ስለ ዝነበረ እንበር ፍልይ ዝበለ ታሪኽ ሓሊይዋ አይኮነን እዚ ምኽንያቱ መሪት ሓማሴን ድሕሪ ጎቦታትን ጸድፍን በጥ ዝበለት መሪት ኣስመራ ምችውቲ ኣብረሲ ምኻና እቲ ዝነበር ወይዘር ምቹዕ ብምንባሩ እንበር ታሪኽ ወይ ግዝኣት ንጉስ ነይርዋኣ ኣይኮነን ብኻልእ ኣዘረርባ መዕረፊት እያ ነይራ ኣብ ኣለም እተን ዝፍለጣ ብንግዲ ይኹን ብምሕድዳር ገለ ሓወልትታት ይርከበን ግን ኣብ አስመራ ምንም ነገር የለን ምኽንያቱ መእረፊት ብምንባራ ጥራሕ እዩ ንምሳለ ማይ በላ ውሕጅ ብዛእባ ንግስቲ ሳባ ይዝረብ ሓቂ እንተኾይኑ ንግስቲ ሳባ ሕርሲ ሕማም ሓሚማ ኣንስቲ ማይ በላ ማይ በላ ኢለን ይበሓል እዚ መእረፊ ከምዝነበረ የረዳኣና ንግስቲ ሳባ ውን ካበይ ናበይ ከምትኸይድ ከምዝነበረት እቶም ታሪኽ ዝፈልጡ ከምዚ ከማኺ ኣይስሕትዎን እዮም ስለዚ ደጋጊመ ከምቲ ኣብ ኣመሪካ ካብሓደ ቦታ ናብ ሓደ ቦታ ክትጉኣዝ ኸለኻ ኣብ መገድኻ መኺናኻ ጠጠው ኣቢልካ ተእርፈሉ ቦታ ዲነር ማለት እዩ እዚ ዲነር ተእርፈሉ ምንም ታሪኽ የብሉን ብጀካ ናይ መእረፊ ቦታ ስለዚ ንሓደ ታሪኽ ክሳእ ናይ 3000 ኣመት ክንዛረብ እንተኾይና መረጋገጺ ክሕልወና ኣለዎ"
Urban precursor in the Horn. Early 1st-millennium BC communities in Eritrea
Peter A. Schmidt & Mathew C Curtis
"With the coming of independence in 1993 (my comment; de jure), awareness of the potential value of Eritrea´ s heritage resources began to grow, leading to an initiative in 1997 to teach archeology and heritage management at the university of Asmara.
Out of the combined training and research programmes conducted by the University of Asmara have come several major discoveries that change the way the rise of urbanism is seen in the Horn of Africa. We highlight that research showing that between 800 BC and 400 BC, the greater Asmara area of Eritrea supported the (my italic and bold) earliest settled agropastoralist communities known in the horn of Africa. These communities predate and are contemporaneous with Pre-Axumite settlements in the highland of southern Eritrea and northern Ethiopia.
The Agropastoralist settlements around Asmara were vital precursors to later 1st-millennium BC and early 1st-millennium AD urban developments in the southern highlands of Eritrea at Keskese, Matara and Qohaito. Matara, 90 km to the south of Asmara, was an urban centre of between 20 and 40 ha, possibly even larger. It was likely an Aksumite administrative centre that also had a significant Pre-Aksumite settlement that has been dated to approximately 500 BC by the French archeologists Francis Anfray (1967:1974), suggesting that the communities around today´s Asmara were the first in the region to show an organic growth towards demographic complexity.
Another urban center, Qohaito, located approximately 70 km south of Asmara, was an ancient garden city (Schmidt and Wright 1995) surrounded by hundreds of satellite towns, villages and homesteads located on the 13x3 km Qohaito plateau (Weni 1997) and connected to a larger urban hinterland (Curtis & Libsekal 1999). Qohaito remains unexcavated, but survey evidence indicates that its urban character derives from a tradition that goes back to Matara and the communities of the Greater Asmara area.
(...) Rodolfo Fattovich drew attention to their significance for understanding early complex societies in the Horn, calling the site the Ona Group A (my comment; the Hamasien/Asmara ruins), he argues that the Ona ceramics bear affinities to the Sudanese Nile Valley (Fattovich, 1978; 1980; 1989;1990).
Fattovich also subscribes to the presence of south Arabian cultural influence among the Ona peoples. He linkes undated petroglyphs at sites around Asmara to figures in Arabian rock art that date between the 3rd and 1st millennia BC (Fattovich 1983; 1988). He also argues that the Tihama coastal culture along the south Arabian littoral of the mid 2nd millennium BC has ceramic affinities to Kerma and the C-Group in Nubia, stating that "A possibly Arabian influence id noticeable in the Ona Group-A culture", where the ceramics reflect a local tradition partly comparable to the Tihama. (Fattovich;1997a: 481). Fattovich´s positions have a larger design; that there was an interregional interaction zone that linked the Nile Valley and the lowlands of eastern Sudan and western Eritrea with the highlands of Eritea and northern Ethiopia as well as with the Tihama culture area. The Ona culture is central to his diffusionist construct because of its geographical location at the confluence of these cultural areas. As our archeological investigations were launched in Eritrea, these were the interpretations that dominated thinking about the ancient history of the Eritrean highlands" (My bold)
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