Editing Adulis (section)

==Archeological excavations==
Adulis was one of the first Axumite sites to undergo excavation, when a French mission to Eritrea under Vignaud and Petit performed an initial survey in 1840, and prepared a map which marked the location of three structures they believed were temples. In 1868, workers attached to [[Robert Napier, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala|Napier's]] campaign against [[Tewodros II]] visited Adulis and exposed several buildings, including the foundations of a [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]]-like church.
[[File:Adulis (8529061940).jpg|thumb|right|Archaeological excavations at Adulis, done by the Italian Roberto Paribeni in 1907]]
The first scientific excavations at Adulis were undertaken in 1906, under the supervision of Richard Sundström. Sundström worked in the northern sector of the site, exposing a large structure, which he dubbed the "palace of Adulis", as well as recovering some examples of Axumite coinage.<ref>Published as part of [[Enno Littmann]], [https://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/titleinfo/117997 "Preliminary Report of the Princeton University Expedition to Abyssinia with a contribution by Richard Sundström"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210613054034/http://menadoc.bibliothek.uni-halle.de/dmg/periodical/titleinfo/117997 |date=2021-06-13 }}, 20 (1907), pp.&nbsp;172-182</ref>

The Italian Roberto Paribeni excavated in Adulis the following year, discovering many structures similar to what Sundström had found earlier, as well as a number of ordinary dwellings. He found a lot of pottery: even wine amphorae imported from the area of modern [[Aqaba]] were found here during the decades of existence of the colony of [[Italian Eritrea]].<ref>[https://https Paribeni in  Adulis]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130711041720/https://https/ |date=July 11, 2013 }}</ref> These types now called [[Ayla-Axum Amphoras]] have since been found at other sites in Eritrea including on [[The Shipwreck at Black Assarca Island, Eritrea|Black Assarca Island]].

Over 50 years passed until the next series of excavations, when in 1961 and 1962 the Ethiopian Institute of Archeology sponsored an expedition led by Francis Anfray. This excavation not only recovered materials showing a strong affinities with the late Axumite kingdom, but a [[destruction layer]]. This in turn prompted Kobishchanov to later argue that Adulis had been destroyed by an Arab raid in the mid-7th century, a view that has since been partially rejected.{{cn|date=February 2022}}

A pair of fragments of glass vessels were found in the lowest layers at Adulis, which are similar to specimens from the [[Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt|18th Dynasty of Egypt]].<ref name="Leclant402">{{cite book |last1=Leclant |first1=Jean |title=Sesto Congresso internazionale di egittologia: atti, Volume 2 |date=1993 |publisher=International Association of Egyptologists |page=402 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0B1yAAAAMAAJ |access-date=15 September 2014 |archive-date=18 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918090851/https://books.google.com/books?id=0B1yAAAAMAAJ |url-status=live }}</ref> One very specialised imported vessel discovered at the site was a [[Menas flask]]. It was stamped with a design showing the Egyptian St. Menas between two kneeling camels. Such vessels are supposed to have held water from a spring near the saint's tomb in Egypt (Paribeni 1907: 538, fig. 54), and this particular one may have been brought to Adulis by a pilgrim.

Since Eritrean Independence, the [[National Museum of Eritrea]] has petitioned the Government of Ethiopia to return artifacts of these excavations. To date they have been denied.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0,,2-11-1447_1660407,00.html |title=Eritrea wants artefacts back |date=2005-10-02 |access-date=2007-02-05 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060620005055/http://www.news24.com/News24/Africa/News/0%2C%2C2-11-1447_1660407%2C00.html |archive-date=2006-06-20}}</ref>
[[File:Map_Of_Adulis_&_Aksum.png|thumb|City of Adulis on the top left, and an "''Ethiopian''" travelling from Adulis to Aksum on the top right.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cosmas Indicopleustes, Christian Topography (1897) pp. 389-392. Explanation of the plates |url=https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cosmas_13_plates.htm |access-date=2024-06-26 |website=www.tertullian.org |archive-date=2024-06-26 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240626105936/https://www.tertullian.org/fathers/cosmas_13_plates.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>]]