The course of this research project examined church locations in several regions across Ethiopia.
ŠӒWA
Šäwa is Ethiopia’s central province and is the home of the modern capital city of Addis Ababa. Earlier capitals lay at Däbrä Bərhan (founded by King Zärᵓa Yaᶜəqob in the 15th century) and at Ankobär which last served as an important administrative centre in the 19th century. Šäwa is a high plateau with volcanic mountainous regions rising to 4,000 m, descending precipitously to the Awaš river which separates it to the east from the lowlands. Caves are in abundance, as in many other highland regions in the country. Evidence of Christian worship before the sixteenth century is provided by monolithic altars or reading stands in the caves on both sides of the Awash river south of Addis Ababa. Täklä Haymanot, Ethiopia’s internationally revered saint and founder of the well-known monastery of Däbrä Libanos on the south side of the Blue Nile Gorge (also in Šäwa), is said to have been born at Ǝtissa/Itissa, where the rock church of St. Michael was carved out by Malaka Selam Abba Lysana Warq Girma c. 1985. Other new rock-hewn churches and monasteries have been carved to the north and northeast of the near-by town of Däbrä Bərhan, at Abuna Aregawi Chole, Sariya Mikael and Gologotha. Further north still, to the west of the main road to Däbrä Sina, is the monastic complex of Miskabe Kidusan Medhanialem.
TƎGRAY
Təgray is the northern-most province of Ethiopia, separated from Eritrea to the north by the Märäb river. It is a dry, highland area bordered on the west by the Sudan, on the south by the Amhara region (North Gondär, Wag and North Wällo), and on the east by the Afar region. The altitude is largely above 2,000 metres. Təgray’s written history can be traced to the 8th century B.C through the Sabean temple at Yəḥa. It includes the capital of the Aksumite kingdom at Aksum, where Christianity was adopted by King ʿEzana in the second quarter of the 4th century. It is the home of the Gärima Gospels, recently attributed to the 6th century. The provincial capital, Mäqälä, lies in the West Təgray Zone, where many early rock-hewn churches are located. It is also in this zone, particularly between the towns of Ḥawzen (including the massif of Gärʿalta) and ʿAbiy ʿAddi, that most of the newly made rock-cut churches are to be found.
NORTH WÄLLO
North Wällo is an administrative area situated in the north-eastern section of the Amhara Region and within the historical boundaries of Wällo Province, itself situated in north-central Ethiopia. North Wällo is bounded to the north-east by Təgray Province, to the north-west by the historical region of Wag, to the west by the South Gondär Region, to the south by South Wällo along the Bäšəlo river, and to the east by the ʿAfar lowlands. Most of the new rock-hewn churches so far identified in North Wällo lie along the Chinese Road (stretching from Wäldəya to the east, to Lake Tana in the west) between Gašäna in ancient Angot and Näfas Mäwča in ancient Bägemdər (South Gondär). Today, the local administrative region is Mäqet, an extensive highland plain, with altitudes rising to over 3,000 metres. The rocky substance out of which the churches here are carved is largely alluvial. It is quite soft and can be excavated with pick and spade, but surfaces harden when exposed over time to the air. Christianity is said to have been introduced to the Mäqet region in the 14th century by the Ewosṭatean monk, Aron of Däbrä Daret. The early rock-hewn monastery of Däbrä Abunä Aron near the town of Mäqet is attributed to him and may have served as the inspiration for the more recently excavated examples.