ERC HornEast – Prospections : Arra (Tigray, Éthiopie), décembre 2018 – Mosquée

From December 1 to 20, 2018, a multidisciplinary team from the ERC HornEast project, led by Julien Loiseau, carried out an initial excavation campaign at the medieval Islamic archaeological site of Bilet (Eastern Tigray, Ethiopia). The team was composed of Julien Loiseau (historian, Aix-Marseille University, director of the ERC HornEast project), Yves Gleize (archaeo-anthropologist, INRAP), Simon Dorso (archaeologist, Lyon-2 University), David Ollivier (topographer and archaeologist , CNRS, LA3M), Bertrand Hirsch (historian, University Paris-1 Panthéon Sorbonne), Amélie Chekroun (historian, CNRS, IREMAM), Deresse Ayenachew (historian, Debre Berhan University, ERC HornEast), Hélène Réveillas (archaeo-anthropologist, Bordeaux -Metropolis), Camille Vanhove (archaeo-anthropologist, Archéodunum). Also part of the team were Yared Assefa, archaeologist, expert from the ARCCH (Addis Ababa) and Guesh Tsehaye, archaeologist, expert from the Cultural and Tourism Office of Tigray (Mekelle), as well as Fesseha Berhe (doctoral student in anthropology, EHESS, Mekelle University) and Yohannes Gebresellassié (PhD student in history, University Paris-1, Mekelle University). The team had the pleasure of welcoming archaeologist Hiluf Berhe, professor of archeology at Mekelle University, accompanied by his students from the master's degree in archeology at Mekelle University, who actively participated in the excavations. The data was processed and uploaded by Maryasha Barbé (Archivist, ERC HornEast) in 2022. This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 726206).Recent mosque in its enclosure with its semi-circular mihrab.Mosquée récente dans son enceinte avec son mihrab semi-circulaire