More recently, it was demonstrated that most of the Enticho Sandstone was deposited in the Early Palaeozoic glaciation and in the Silurian period (circa 430 million years ago).

It comprises meltwater-transported gravel and sand, as well as thinly bedded mudstone, deposited on the sea floor or in pro-glacial lakes.

Dropstones are present; the mud matrix holds larger and smaller clasts that were dropped from melting ice rafts.

[3] The Enticho Sandstone holds fossil traces of animals and primitive plant spores; they evidence a marine environment resulting from rising sea levels in relation to melting ice.

[4] A large part of the rock-hewn churches of the Atsbi and Sinkata-Adigrat clusters have been carved in Enticho Sandstone.

The carvers must have appreciated several properties of the rock: hardness and spacing of bedding planes and joints (natural planar cracks).