UNESCO Ancient Civilizations of Africa (Editor G. Mokhtar)

Pre-Aksumite culture
this group consisted of descendants of south Arabian colonists or of
indigenous inhabitants who had assimilated this superior culture so well
that they had made it their own. C. Conti-Rossini focused attention on
the predominance of south Arabian characteristics in this firstEthiopian
civilization. Reacting against this tendency, J. Pirenne and F. Anfray have
emphasized the original aspects of this culture, which represents a synthesis
of various influences and which, when it draws its inspiration from
south Arabian forms, shows that it is superior to its models. Perhaps the
term Ethiopo-Sabaean period would convey the specific nature of this
culture more effectively. As F. Anfray admits, however, the apparent
superiority of the African works may only be an impression resulting from
the lack of continuity which has hitherto been typical of archaeological
research in the Yemen. New discoveries beyond the Red Sea and in
Ethiopia as well as in the ancient kingdom of Meroe will probably give
us a clearer idea of the acculturation processes that may have occurred
during the second half of the last millennium before our era. There can be
no doubt that from then on Ethiopia was a crossroads of trade routes
and cultural influences.
The intermediary period
A much stronger impression of a local culture having assimilated foreign
influences is conveyed by material dating from the second pre-Aksumite
period, which has been called the intermediary period.
Some characteristics of south Arabian origin are no doubt still perceptible
but, as F. Anfray has made clear, it is no longer a case of direct
influences but of internal developments growing from earlier contributions.
Inscriptions in a much rougher script are used to transcribe a
language less and less like the original south Arabian dialect. 61 Mukarribs
are no longer mentioned, but a text found at Kaskasé refers to a king
bearing a south Arabian name, Waren Hayanat (W'RN HYNT), descendant
of Salamat. 62 The GRB clan, well vouched for at Gobochela in
Melazo during the south Arabian phase, still exists, although its links with
Mârib are no longer stated, for one of its members dedicates a cube-shaped
incense altar with a pyramidal base to Almaqah: 63 a crude shale statuette
of a bull is also dedicated to the same deity. 64 At Addi Gramaten, a later
hand has added to the altar a second dedication to Dât-Himyam, and to
the sphinx a name: Wahab-Wadd. The epigraphic documentation is completed
by inscriptions composed of cursive south Arabian letters, such as
those of Der'a and Zeban Mororo, and by the inscribed tile of Tsehuf
61. L. Ricci, 1959 pp. 55-95; i960, pp. 77-119; A. J. Drewes, 1962, passim.
62. DAE, pp. 62-3.
63. J. Leclant, 1959b, p. 47; A. J. Drewes, 1959, p. 92, Plates XXXII-XXXIII.
64. A. J. Drewes, 1959, pp. 95-7, Plates XXXIX-XL.
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