Traditional Smithery And Its Cultural Context In Aksum

This st/(dy is about "tmditional smithery and ils cultural context in Aksum. " This studyji)clIses rnon the hislOrical background uf smiths and smithery of those different calagories: describing rnsmithery with different aspects of culture, status of smiths and analyzing the relationships rnbetween traditional smiths and local people. in order /0 achieve the obj ecti ve of the study, both rnprimCll)' and secondary data were collected and used. Secondary data were collected from a rnre'iew 0/ literature, including books, published reports and unpublished sources. Various rnmethods of pril1Utry data collection were used to collect the required information such as: rnobservation, participant observation, key-info rmant interviews andfocus group discussion. rn£ pcn though tF(-Iditional .Ym ithelY in Ethiopia has a long history and still is practiced in different rnparts o.l Eth iopia, it is not well studied. Traditional smithery studies usually focus in fi" agmented rnway on a single aspect ol smithelY. Some scholars have allempted to study the status of the rnsmiths 017(1 the artistic eXjJression 0/ the traditional metalwork, but still do /lot cover all the rndil1l ensiol1s 0/ it. The tmditional smiths' CIIlture was and still is ignored Most I'riters are only rnappreciating andfocusing on the materials and deSigns and do not even mention who has made rnthose objects. rnThere/ore, this thesis intends to add some f acts to the limited data available on traditional smiths rnand smithery in Aksum. The traditional smiths in this town have a long history which usually rnrelates legend, religion and oral histolY of the area. Most of the contemporary traditional smiths rnclaim that they are desce ndingfrom ancient Aksumite craftsmanship and some o.lthem claim that rnthey came Fom israel with the Ark of Covenant. In Aksum now, there are three types of rntraditional smiths. The re are the black-smiths, the liturgical smiths and the j ewelry-smiths, with rntheir own expression of identity. They produce different types of objects, and use different rntechnologies. The lost wax casting is one 0/ the best techniques in producing church objects. rnThere are many technical terms, names of objects and · materials. The artistic expression 0/ rnsmithel), also lestijies the long hislOJY of lhe area and the influence oj the Ethiopian Orthodox rnChurch. The smiths have the local knowledge about the nature of the metals, clays and tools. The rnstatus also relatively differs among the groups of smiths and is now undergoing status changes. rnin this thesis also an ancient "language" is identified. This language is called Owadu rn"language " and sometimes called "Seyyak language. " The "language" is very secret and the rnloco! societic>s do nol even know about its existence. Now the general trend of smithery in Aksum rnis at rapid change. The technical terms, language and the lost wax casting technique is only rnconcenlrated in afew p ersons and is found at a late stage of extinction. Whereas the goldsm iths' rnis expanding country wide, agricultural tools and devices are more and more imported and rnreplace the traditional implements p roduced by the local blacksmiths by industrial fa brication.

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