Social and ritual practices behind the construction of stele monuments in Gedeo Zone, south Ethiopia

Abstract

Stele monuments, whether constructed for burial or other ritual purposes, are products of human actions that leave material traces that can be investigated from past action places. The Gedeo stele monuments, as material manifestations in the landscape, has the potential to answer some of the past social practices, and social relations that created and transformed the stelae monuments in the region. By shaping and erecting thousands of stelae, past societies materialized and imprinted their cosmology, worldview, and history; in the process changed the natural landscape permanently.The wider distribution of the stelae traditions in south Ethiopia manifests its important role in society.Many of the stele sites in the region were (and are) places for ritual and ceremonial practices. Stelae in the region vary in construction time, size, function, engraved signs, and arrangement in the landscape. Existing archaeological evidence suggests that the Gedeo stele landscapes represent one of the earliest megalithic stele traditions in Ethiopia. Archaeological dates have placed the earliest date for stele construction in south Ethiopia between the first centuries BC and AD.