Great Temple of Yeha (ashlar masonry)
Gran Templo de Yeha (mampostería de sillares)
- Date
- c. 700 BCE · confidence medium
- Place
- Yeha, Tigray, Ethiopia
- Credited to
- Ethiopian-Sabaean culture of D'mt
- Field
- Tools
What it is
A rectangular temple of perfectly fitted ashlar blocks, without mortar, standing about 14 m high. It is one of the oldest monumental structures in the Horn of Africa.
It is dated between the 8th and 5th centuries BC by style and Sabaean epigraphy; the degree of South Arabian influence versus local development is debated. Ongoing German excavations are refining the chronology.
What it led to
- a Tigrayan stone-building tradition that foreshadows Aksum
- Sabaean inscriptions documenting the cult of Almaqah
- a model for later stone-and-timber monasteries and palaces