The Disappearing Pottery Tradition in the Environs of the Menebeyti Area (Tigray, Ethiopia)

In the environs of the Menebeyti (Mänäbäyti) archaeological site, in the Addis Aläm ṭabiya, the Simon Fraser University discovered the pre-Aksumite site of Mezber (Mäzbär). After a first ethnoarchaeological analysis of the pottery tradition in the city of ʿAddigrat, the Addis ʿAläm ṭabiya was investigated to understand if in the area around the archaeological site of Mezber there are still echoes of local pottery traditions and if the contemporary pots are ‘similar’ to the ancient ones yielded during the excavation. The second objective was to observe if modern pottery can still be found in the area. All the collected data are necessary to identify the markets, the potters and the merchants involved in the pottery trade network in the northernmost part of the Eastern Tigray.