Yeha Temple
Basic Characteristics
The wall are smooth, with long well-cut blocks, excellent straightness and tightness of joints.
Other faces, edges and corners are unemotionally dressed with great precision.
The wall thickness is about 60cm, is not just a single structure but there are two walls interconnected to each other by smaller blocks of stone which serve as anchor.
Yeha temple
Oldest well preserved building in Ethiopia (built more than 2500) years ago.
The natural rock used for Sabaean monumental structures generally stems from volcanic sites and was quarried in the direct vicinity of Yeha. Cut or worked stone comprises sandstone, almost exclusively. This particular building material was exploited in sandstone quarries located only 3-5 km from Yeha. The standing masonry of the Great Temple in Yeha is made, by contrast, of high-quality Jurassic limestone, exploited in stone quarries in the vicinity of Wuqro, a town located some 90 km in a straight line from Yeha.
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