First, Littmann believed the third line referred to the digging of canals nearby (his translation, "zog die Kannaele von `Aw`a") despite the lack of any signs of canals or ditches in the area; Ullendorff argues that the verb s-h-b in the inscription should be translated as "to drag along, to capture".

Second, he believed the nouns — ‘W’, ‘LF, and SBL — were placenames, and based on discussions with local informants Ullendorff identified them with nearby communities: the earlier name of Baraknaha, the site of a 12th-century church 17 kilometers from Matara, had been subli, and the equally well-known Orthodox church at Gunda Gunde, 22 kilometers from Matara, had once been known as Aw`a 'ilfi.

[3] When Littmann, leader of the Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, found the Hawulti, it had been pushed over and broken in half in the distant past.

The Italian colonial government had the broken monument repaired with two iron bars and set upright in what was thought to be its proper position, but was not accurate.

[4] The Hawulti was toppled and damaged[5][6] by Ethiopian troops in the short occupation of southern Eritrea during the Eritrean-Ethiopian War.