Stone architecture in Eritrea

Mud bricks, stone and wood are the oldest and basic building materials known to man.

Mud bricks and wood have been mostly used for basic buildings such as residential houses or
stables while stone have been used to erect important and impressive buildings like temples,
which were meant to serve for extremely long time and endure for centuries. Men regarded
stones as everlasting because the phenomenon of enhanced weathering due to environmental
pollution did not exist in former times.

Since prehistoric times, humans have chosen to use stones to erect extraordinary monuments,
mostly of religious importance. Due to their availability, stones are commonly used to build
churches, houses, villages and towns. For exceptional cases rare and decorative stones like
marble, which are transported over a long distance, have been used. When such precious
stones were not available in near places, they had to be imported. This kind of culture is easily
seen at the monuments of the ancient port of Adulis.

Evidence suggests that the marbles from Adulis have been imported from the Byzantine,
Greek and Rome localities. The design of the building structures and elements had to be
adapted to the mineralogical, physical and mechanical properties of the stone. The high
compressive strength and the low tensile strength of stone require special techniques to
overarch gateways and erect vaults.

Immemorial natural stone buildings have been considered a valuable and essential part of the
building industry. Monumental constructions that have been created bear witness to
extraordinary technical and artistic achievements.
For many years, a large number of fascinating examples of ancient structures of buildings
have survived on the Eritrean landscapes. There are many of these structures in the
countryside, and their style of construction has been incorporated in several modern buildings
of towns and cities. The monkey-head construction style that was first seen in the Kidane
Mihret church of Senafe was later applied in the modern Saint Mary (Enda Mariam) church of
Asmara.

Further research is needed to understand whether the unique Eritrean house structures and
monuments have similarities with structures in other countries on the Horn of Africa. The
contemporary and typical structures of architecture in Eritrea are the H’dmo (a common
traditional house on the highlands), and Agudo and Agneet (common on the lowlands). The
Merebae, a semi-modern structure characterized by stone and wooden architectural features
and zinc sheet, is common along the coastal towns of Eritrea. All house construction styles
have rectilinear shape and form. They all use the same building materials — stone, mud and
timber roof. Unlike the other structures, the Agudo is round and has conical thatched roof.

The contemporary structures reflect cultural and symbolic representations of the communities
in Eritrea. The construction of the building has the potential to respond to the sustainability of
the climatic condition and availability of abundant materials. The structures serve as images
of the society’s lifestyle and reflect the needs of human beings at a certain time. Most of the
vernacular buildings represent ingenious and considerable technical innovations and perform
spectacular handcraft works.
The earliest evidence of ancient architecture (permanent settlements) in Eritrea dates back to
the mid- 2nd millennium B.C. to the first millennium A. D. The period coincides with the
flourishing of complex agro-pastoral settlements over much of the country and the Horn of
Africa. This period is characterized by the rise of permanent villages and urban precursors in
the first millennium B.C.E and the subsequent flourishing of urban centers by the first
millennium C.E. In the course of antiquity, residential units, village assembles and urban
centers with remarkably significant reflections of domestic architectural features appeared
over a span of the millennia, and they have become references to understand the evolution of
vernacular architecture in the Horn.

As far as permanent settlements are concerned, the first archaeological evidence to date
comes from the sites of Sembel and Mai-Chihot in the Asmara plateau which dates to the 8th -
4th centuries B.C.E. Wall features reminiscent of the ancient architecture were exposed
during excavations in the sites and the distinctive features of these architectural units were
revealed.

Several conjectures have been made about the reconstruction of these architectural features in
comparison with contemporary forms. The elaboration of the unique architecture became
more visible with the rise of urban civilizations in the Horn from the first millennium BCE to
the 1st millennium CE, when the architecture showed a regional pattern and distribution
across many of the renowned archaeological sites. The typical monumentality that appeared in
the region during the period was accompanied with the elaboration of what is commonly
called the “domestic architecture“ of the era, which is quite visible in residential units, urban
ensembles and peripheral areas of sites like Matara and Adulis in Eritrea. The ingenuity in
local architecture can be discerned from these archaeological sites. Following the demise of
these urban centers, the visibility of the vernacular architecture is witnessed in the medieval
period where evolved techniques such as the “monkey-head“ building techniques have been
fully incorporated in the construction of ancient churches and monastic complexes.

The vernacular houses have rectilinear and sometimes a hybrid of rectilinear and circular
shapes. The rooms could be classified according to their functions. The rooms closer to the
entrance are commonly used for service functions as cattle or livestock area and straw storage.
The other side of the gate comprises the main functional rooms which are the center of the
dwelling with their most common use and functions, such as cooking, eating, sitting, sleeping
and storage.

As a result of the direct influence of modernity, vernacular architectures have undergone a

number of changes over the years. This has led to the emergence of contemporary approaches
on buildings. The values of the vernacular architecture, however, are still very relevant to our
contemporary buildings. For instance, vernacular architecture uses local eco-friendly
materials to address local climatic conditions. With today’s issues of climate change and
global warming, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is a need to revisit the use of our
local building materials. With some improvements, our local materials can function in the
same way as the modern materials, with added advantage of not affecting the environment.

In Eritrea, thanks to the ongoing archaeological research, the history and style of monumental
constructions is relatively well understood. However, a detailed architectural study of the
monumental structures is still needed. The techniques and forms of the structures were
evolving over thousands and hundreds of years. It is predictable that such forms and styles of
the vernacular structures were directly related to their local environments. Hence, studying the
architectural styles with the aim of incorporating them into our modern construction strategies
is essential. This may further help to maintain the cultural evolution and environmental
advantages of Eritrea’s ancient monumental engineering. Finally, this can serve not only to
preserve our endangered architectural heritage but also to boost the tourism industry.
Shabait

HISTORY & CULTURE