Aksumite masonry wall with 'monkey-head' beams
Muro axumita de mampostería con vigas «cabeza de mono»
- Date
- c. 550 · confidence low
- Place
- Debre Damo, Tigray, Ethiopia
- Credited to
- Builders of the Kingdom of Aksum
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Walls of ashlar and rubble tied by horizontal timber beams whose ends project outside as rounded 'heads'. The timber absorbs movement and vibration and acts like a continuous ring-beam.
Debre Damo is dated to the 6th century by tradition (Abuna Aregawi); the technique appears in Aksum palace ruins of the 3rd-4th centuries, so a single start cannot be fixed.
What it led to
- stone-and-timber architecture of Ethiopian churches
- Lalibela churches that imitate Aksumite wall motifs
- flexible masonry in a seismic territory