A 2019 PhD Thesis: MODELING THE LOCAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ADULIS: 1000 BCE – 700 ACE

 

MODELING THE LOCAL POLITICAL ECONOMY OF ADULIS: 1000 BCE – 700 ACE 

A 2019 PhD Thesis   DANIEL T. HABTEMICHAEL Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY 

https://www.academia.edu/81479533/Modeling_the_Local_Political_Economy_of_Adulis_1000_BCE_700_ACE

Two political economy models are used to critically evaluate the energetics data from the built-forms combined to another set of data of essential artifacts from the site. The traditional political economy perspective holds that Adulis is a periphery, a port in an Aksum dominated world economy. An alternative theoretical position proposed in this dissertation is that Adulis was an independent state and a center of its own. 

The dissertation research shows the archaeological data supports that Adulis was a center of its own. Moreover, the dissertation successfully establishes the basis of Adulis' political economy by distinctly illustrating its role in interregional trades in aromatics, readiness to train and export war elephants, and its perceived upper-tier rank in governance locally and among other Red Sea ports. Early involvement of Adulis in the aromatics trades of the Red Sea instituted tangible and intangible political economy capital. However, it was a combination of Adulis’ capability to export war elephants in wars of local and general interest, its strategic location connecting the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean worlds, responsible governance, and its favorable climatic conditions all were factors in Adulis’ significant position in antiquity.