Given the many lateritic palaeosols and locally fossil wood fragments, the formation is interpreted as a deposit in estuarine, lacustrine-deltaic or continental environments.

The name “Adigrat Sandstone” was coined by geologist William Thomas Blanford, who accompanied the British Expedition to Abyssinia in 1868.

Recent investigations using fossils determined a Late Triassic to Middle Jurassic age.

[7][8] The formation outcrops widely in north Ethiopia, particularly in the gorges formed by the Tekezze River and its affluents.

[5][9] According to local belief, the carving of the churches was started by missionaries who came from the Mediterranean to Ethiopia (known as the ‘Nine Saints’) during the fifth or sixth century.

[5][9] Although design and structure vary, most rock churches consist of a hall with basilica architecture holding three naves, often vestibule, domes, pillars, vast ceilings and archways.

[5] As the uplift of the Ethiopian Highlands during the Caenozoic resulted deep incision of the rivers, a remarkable Grand Canyon-like topography has been created, holding mesas, buttes, and pinnacles up to 300 metres high, beneath the main escarpment.

[12] Variations of slope steepness along the escarpments are due to the distinctive bedding of the rocks and to variability in rock type: on thick sequences of homogeneous sandstone vertical faces have developed, while intercalations of thinly bedded fine-grained sediments lead to steps in the slopes.