The Sabaeans on Both Sides of the Red Sea: Exploring South Arabian Cultural Contacts during the Early 1st Millennium BCE in Ethiopia

In the early 1st millennium BCE, the mighty ancient South Arabian realm of Saba fostered intricate relations with cultures on the opposite areas of the Red Sea, specifically in the northern Ethiopian highlands. Since 2009, the German Archaeological Institute has been investigating these connections in the northern Ethiopian province of Tigray. The lecture delves into the pivotal phenomena and distinctive modes of expressions that characterized these contacts, ultimately leading to the emergence of a very own cultural amalgamation — the so called Ethio-Sabaean culture.

Marlene Köster is a doctoral researcher with the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg, Germany, researching “The Role of Local Communities in the Protection of Archaeological Sites in Northern Ethiopia”, and since 2016 she has been a Research Associate, responsible for the documentation and analysis of pottery excavated at Yeha, Sanaa Branch, Orient Department, Germany Archaeological Institute, Berlin. 

Marlene is in Australia for the ICOMOS General Assembly.