Two unpublished Arabic inscriptions from Bilet (Tigray, Ethiopia)

The Authority for Research and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) of Ethiopia preserves in the museum of its local office in Mekelle (Tigray) two fragments of Arabic stelae. These basalt stones have been brought in 1993 to Prof. Tekle Hagos (Addis Abeba University, Department of archaeology) by inhabitants of “Old Kwiḥa”, in the vicinity of the church of Kwiḥa Čǝrqos, at the north end of the town of Kwiḥa (Tigray). The Arabic inscriptions carved on the stones have been reported and photographed in 2008 by François-Xavier Fauvelle (CNRS, Toulouse). They have been examined, measured and once again photographed by Amélie Chekroun (ERC HornEast), Bertrand Hirsch (Paris-1 University) and Julien Loiseau (ERC HornEast, Aix-Marseille University) in March 2018, with the kind permission of Dr.Dawit Hailu, director of the ARCCH office in Mekelle