Season 2024

The 2024 season marked the beginning of our long‑term archaeological and ethnographic work in Negash. It was a moment of entering the landscape for the first time — learning its rhythms, listening to local narratives and establishing the foundations for the interdisciplinary approach that now defines the project. These early steps shaped the questions and methods that guided all subsequent seasons.

The season that opened the landscape and set the direction of the project.
Fieldwork in 2024 unfolded as a careful exploration of Negash’s sacred landscape. The team focused on understanding how the mosque, the cemetery and the surrounding pathways form a network of places that hold both historical depth and contemporary meaning. Mapping these features was inseparable from conversations with the community, whose memories and stories revealed how the landscape is experienced and interpreted today.
The season was also a time of building relationships — with local institutions, with residents and with the rhythms of the village itself. Through this work, we began to see how archaeological observation and ethnographic engagement could be woven together into a single research practice. The insights gained in 2024 helped us identify areas for future investigation and shaped the methodological framework that continues to guide the project.
The results of the 2024 season have been published in Studies in African Languages and Cultures.