M27

Axumite pottery abstract head

A solid modelled pottery head from a highly abstract figure with applied details.

Ethiopia, Axumite, c. 3rd to 7th Century AD

Fragment as shown

Size: 6.7 x 6.8 cms

Ex. Private collection, California, USA.

The Axumite (or Aksumite) kingdom was based in Ethiopia but at its height of power covered much of Eritrea, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Northern Sudan. The culture has not been studied as widely as neighbouring civilisations but remains one of the most interesting fields of North African history with links to earliest Christianity as well as the enigmatic Falasha or Beta Israel African Jews who claim descent from Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.