Yeha

Yeha (Ge'ez: ይሐ yiḥa, older ESA 𐩥𐩢 ḥw; Old South Arabian: 𐩺𐩢𐩱 yḥʾ)[1] is a town in the northern Central Zone, Tigray in Ethiopia.

[2] David Phillipson attributes its "excellent preservation" to two factors, "the care with which its original builders ensured a level foundation, firmly placed on the uneven bedrock; and to its rededication -- perhaps as early as the sixth century AD -- for use as a Christian church.

"[2] Two other archaeological sites at Yeha include Grat Beal Gebri, a ruined complex distinguished by a portico 10 meters wide and two sets of square pillars, and a graveyard containing several rock-hewn shaft tombs first investigated in the early 1960s.

In his account of Ethiopia, Francisco Álvares mentions visiting this town in 1520 (which he called "Abbafaçem"), and provides a description of the ancient tower, the monastery, and the local church.

Explored briefly in February 1893 by the British antiquarian Theodore Bent and his wife Mabel,[6] Yeha has also been the site of several archaeological excavations, beginning in 1952 by the Ethiopian Institute of Archeology.