The Tigray region in Ethiopia witnessed the rise and fall of the Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite communities between the mid 2nd millennium bce and the late 1st millennium ce. Despite the importance of these entities in recent African prehistory, the issue of how they interacted with their surrounding environment has only been addressed very recently. Here, we present the first systematic anthracological analysis from the region. Wood charcoal samples from two archaeological sites were analysed, the Pre-Aksumite rural site of Mezber (ca. 1600 bce-1 ce) and Ona Adi (ca. 600 bce-700 ce), an urban centre occupied continuously from the Late Pre-Aksumite period to the fall of the Aksumite kingdom. A total of 2,708 charcoal fragments from 25 samples and nine archaeological phases were analysed and 19 plant taxa associated with at least three different vegetation types were identified. The results demonstrate rather stable environmental conditions at a local level, with no major or abrupt environmental changes. They also evidence a process of landscape degradation as a result of human activity during the early to mid 1st millennium bce, as well as a subsequent recovery that occurred gradually during the next ca. 1,500 years. Finally, differences in firewood use were identified in relation to the rural or urban nature of each settlement, showing an evolution in wood selection, management and strategies of use which indicates that both Pre-Aksumite and Aksumite peoples had a significant degree of resilience and adaptive capacity.

在埃塞俄比亚提格雷地区见证了上升和下降的预Aksumite和中期2千年之间Aksumite社区的BCE和已故的第1个千年CE。尽管这些实体在最近的非洲史前史中具有重要意义，但它们如何与周围环境相互作用的问题直到最近才得到解决。在这里，我们介绍了该地区的第一个系统的人类学分析。从两个考古遗址木炭样品进行了分析，Mezber（约1600的预Aksumite农村现场BCE -1 CE）和奥纳阿迪（约600 BCE -700 CE），这是一个城市中心，从后期的阿克苏姆特时期到阿克苏姆特王国沦陷一直持续。分析了来自25个样品和9个考古阶段的总共2708个木炭碎片，并确定了与至少三种不同植被类型相关的19种植物分类单元。结果表明，在地方一级，环境条件相当稳定，没有重大或突然的环境变化。他们还初期到中期第一个千年中证据景观退化的人类活动的结果的过程BCE，以及在下一个ca期间逐渐发生的后续恢复。1500年 最后，确定了与每个定居点的农村或城市性质有关的柴火使用差异，这显示了木材选择，管理和使用策略的演变，这表明Aksumite以前的人民和Aksumite人民都具有很大程度的适应力和适应能力。容量。