THE ANCIENT SITE OF KWIHA (TIGRAY)

The town of Kwiha, some 10 km East of Mekelle, shows continuous human occupation from the Bronze Age (ca. third millennium) throughout Axumite times to the medieval period. Archaeological evidence suggests that the rock shelter in Kwiha, excavated in 1940, was the place where obsidian lithics and later ceramics were produced. Kwiha and its surroundings were occupied during the Axumite period (and maybe during the pre-Axumite period?). To the NorthEast of the city, a stone building with carved pillars may be a church (Enda Qirqos) or a domestic building, and to the NorthWest , three long stone pillars remain from an important building.