Dungur ruins

Dungur is the name of a series of ruins located in the western part of Aksum, Ethiopia, the former capital of the Kingdom of Aksum. They are located in the western part of Axum, across the Gondar road from the Gudit Stelae field. Axum, also Aksum, is a city in northern Ethiopia, located at the base of the Adoua mountains. ... The Kingdom of Aksum (or Axum), was an important trading nation in northeastern Africa, growing from ca. ... Gondar (less commonly spelled Gonder) was the old imperial capital of Ethiopia and the historic Begemder province, now part of the Amhara region. ...

S. Puglisi performed the first archeological excavation in this area, excavating a 3 x 5 meter sondage with the intent of revealing its stratification. The next excavations in this area were conducted in 1966-8 by F. Anfray, who uncovered a dwelling 250 meters west of Puglisi's trench that he described as a "château", inhabited by one of the city's elite. Based on the evidence from these excavations, Butzer dated Anfray's dwelling to the seventh century; he pointed out that the masonry was similar to the base of St Mary of Zion church (which is part of the original structure that dated from Axumite times), while the floor plan was similar to the layout of the central block of the Ta'akha Maryam palace.^[1] In archaeology, especially in the course of excavation, stratification is of major interest and significance. ... The Chapel of the Tablet The Church of Our Lady Mary of Zion (“Igzi’itne Maryam S’iyon Yeityopiya Ortodoks Baytekristiyan” in the languages of Ethiopia) of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church is the most important and one of the oldest churches of Ethiopia. ...

Dungur is known locally and popularly as the Palace of the Queen of Sheba (i.e. the Palace of Makeda in Ethiopia), but it is not thought that the Queen of Sheba actually dwelled there. The Queen of Sheba, referred to in the Bible books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, the Quran, and Ethiopian history, was the ruler of Sheba, an ancient kingdom which modern archeology speculates was located in present-day Ethiopia or Yemen . ...

References

1. ^ Stuart Munro-Hay, Excavations at Aksum: An account of research at the ancient Ethiopian capital directed in 1972-74 by the late Dr Nevill Chittick (London: British Institute in Eastern Africa, 1989), p. 30.