Ona Culture
Excavations at Sembel, in the Maekel Region of Eritrea,found evidence of an ancient pre-Aksumite civilization in greater Asmara. This Ona urban culture is believed to have been among the earliest pastoral and agricultural communities in the Horn region. Artifacts at the site have been dated to between 800 BC and 400 BC, contemporaneous with other pre-Aksumite settlements in the Eritrean and Ethiopian highlands during the mid-first millennium BC.
Additionally, the Ona culture may have had connections with the ancient Land of Punt. In a tomb in Thebes (Luxor) dated to the 18th dynasty reign of Pharaoh Amenophis II (Amenhotep II), long-necked pots similar to those that were made by the Ona people are depicted as part of the cargo in a ship from Punt.
Relating the Ancient Ona Culture to the WiderNorthern Horn: Discerning Patterns and Problemsin the Archaeology of the First Millennium BC
Archaeological research carried out between 1998 and 2003 on theAsmara Plateau of Eritrea has provided new insights concerning the development ofearly-to-mid first millennium BC settled agropastoral communities in the northernHorn of Africa. The settlement, subsistence, and material culture of thesecommunities in the greater Asmara area, referred to as the“Ancient Ona culture,”bear both unique qualities and striking similarities to coeval communities in Tigray,Ethiopia. This article provides an overview of regional settlement data and ceramicand lithic traditions from the greater Asmara area, drawing comparisons to othercontexts of this period in the archaeology of the wider northern Horn.
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