Buahit Serit; A Newly Documented and Endangered Pastoral Rock Art Site in East Gojjam, Northwestern Ethiopia

Abstract

This archaeological study reveals previously undocumented rock art along the Blue Nile on the walls of the Buahit Serit gorge in the East Gojjam Zone of the Amhara Regional State in Northwestern Ethiopia. Although Ethiopia has the largest number of documented rock art sites in the Horn of Africa, Buahit Serit is the first published rock art site in the Amhara Regional State. The Buahit Serit rock art is tentatively dated to the late Holocene (1000 BCE–1000 CE) based on comparison of the content and style of its paintings. The rock paintings are composed of hunting, herding, and geometric representations. This study introduces the idea that some of the geometric designs may represent stylized headrest, which may connect the rock art to cultural continuity with living pastoralists. Today the Buahit Serit rock paintings, like many Ethiopian rock art sites, are endangered due to anthropogenic and natural causes.