{{short description|Human settlement in Eritrea}}{{Infobox ancient site | name = Qohaito | native_name = | alternate_name = Koloe | image = Kohaito, zona dei palazzi axumiti 09.JPG | alt = | caption = The columns of a ruined structure at Qohaito | map_type = Eritrea | map_alt = | map_size = | relief = 1 | coordinates = {{coord|14|51|58|N|39|25|26|E|display=inline,title}} | location = [[Southern Region (Eritrea)|Debub Region]], [[Eritrea]] | region = [[Horn of Africa]] | type = Settlement | part_of = [[Land of Punt|Punt]], [[Dʿmt]], [[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksum]] | length = | width = | area = | height = | builder = | material = | built = | abandoned = | epochs = | cultures = | dependency_of = | occupants = | condition = | ownership = | management = | public_access = | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | notes = }}
'''Qohaito''' ([[Tigrinya language|Tigrinya]]: ቆሓይቶ) or '''Koloe''' was a major ancient city in what is now the [[Southern region (Eritrea)|Debub region]] of [[Eritrea]]. It was a pre-[[Kingdom of Aksum|Aksumite]] settlement that thrived during the Aksumite period. The city was located over 2,500 meters above [[sea level]], on a high plateau at the edge of the [[Great Rift Valley, Ethiopia|Great Rift Valley]], about half way between [[Aksum]] and its port of [[Adulis]]. {{as of|2011}}, Qohaito's stone ruins have yet to be excavated. The ancient port city of Adulis is directly to the north east, while [[Matara, Eritrea|Matara]] lies to the south.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Qohaito | Adi Keih, Eritrea Attractions |url=https://www.lonelyplanet.com/eritrea/adi-keih/attractions/qohaito/a/poi-sig/1021900/1341688 |access-date=20 June 2025}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Qohaito | Archiqoo |url=https://archiqoo.com/locations/qohaito.php |access-date=20 June 2025}}</ref>
In 2011, the site was submitted to the 'Tentative List of States Parties' of [[UNESCO World Heritage Sites]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Qoahito Cultural Landscape - UNESCO World Heritage Centre |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5600/ |website=whc.unesco.org |access-date=21 June 2025 |language=en}}</ref>
==History== [[File:Kohaito, la tomba 'egizia', 03.JPG|thumb|left|A tomb entrance on the Qohaito plateau (1965).]] [[Rock art]] near Qohaito appears to indicate habitation in the area since the [[fifth millennium BC]], while the town is known to have survived to the sixth century AD. Mount [[Emba Soira]], Eritrea's highest mountain, lies near the site, as does a small successor village.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />
Qohaito is often identified as the town ''Koloe'' described in the ''[[Periplus of the Erythraean Sea]]'', a Greco-Roman document dated to the end of the first century AD.<ref name=":0">G.W.B. Huntingford, ''Historical Geography of Ethiopia from the first century AD to 1704'' (London: British Academy, 1989), pp. 38f</ref> The settlement thrived as a stop on the [[trade route]] between [[Adulis]] and [[Aksum]]. It is thought that [[agriculture|crop]]s were interspersed with buildings in the town. These old edifices included the pre-[[Christianity|Christian]] Temple of Mariam Wakino and the Sahira Dam, which might also be pre-Aksumite.<ref>Phillipson, David (2012);Foundations of an African Civilisation: Aksum and the northern Horn, 1000 BC - AD 1300;{{ISBN|978-1847010414}}.</ref>
The ruins at Qohaito were first located in 1868 by the British explorer [[Clements Markham]]. However, they were at the time erroneously identified as a "[[ancient Greece|Greek]] deposit".<ref>[[Clements Markham|C. R. Markham]], [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1798567 "Geographical Results of the Abyssinian Expedition", ''Journal of the Royal Geographical Society''], '''38''' (1868), p. 23</ref> Between 1996 and 1998 a team from the [[National Museum of Eritrea]] conducted an extensive survey and inventory of the site, in which they noted that some areas had been modified or damaged by inhabitants in recent decades.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |title=QOHAITO |url=https://shabait.com/2012/09/07/qohaito/ |website=Eritrea Ministry Of Information |access-date=21 June 2025 |date=7 September 2012}}</ref> A related site outside of [[Senafe]], [[Matara, Eritrea|Matara]], lies about 15 kilometers to the south, and was excavated in the 1960s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Anfray |first1=Francis |title=Matara: the Archaeological Investigation of a City of Ancient Eritrea |url=https://journals.openedition.org/palethnologie/5690#tocto2n1 |website=Palethnologie. Archéologie et sciences humaines |access-date=21 June 2025 |language=en |doi=10.4000/palethnologie.5690 |date=1 January 2012}}</ref>
==Description== [[File:Kohaito, grotta di adi alauti con pitture rupestri databili al 2500 ac ca. 14 bestiame.JPG|thumb|Rock art in the Adi Alauti cave]] When coming from [[Adi Keyh]], one first comes across the Safra's Damn, which is a square basin with sides of around 70 metres for the collection of water, attributed to the ancient Semitic colonization. The lower southern side is blocked by a wall made of square stone blocks, with four protruding blocks serving as a staircase. On the eastern side there are the remains of a building which is 20 by 22 metres (perhaps a sanctuary), while on the north side there is another oval basin, of 55 by 25 metres, closed by an embankment.<ref name=":2">{{cite book |title=Guida dell'Africa Orientale |date=1938 |publisher=Consociazione Turistica Italiana |location=Milano |page=291-292.}}</ref>
Moving north, there are various ruins, and among those are three buildings. The first is a rectangular building with three pillars, with two of those still visible. The second building is named the ''Temple of Mariam Wakiro'', which was most likely a church with a rectangular base of 14 by 25 metres, with three naves separated by two lines of six pillars. Around 100m further south is a pillar with its capital, and the rest of a third rectangular building. Immediately to the east of the clearing, the land plunges into a ravine, in which there are various tombs, containing rock paintings depicting camels and cows.<ref name=":2" />
To the north-east of the valley, there are the ruins of a rectangular building (9.3 by 12 metres) with four pillars, one of which has fallen, surrounded by a courtyard.<ref name=":2" /> A little further north is another rectangular building with six pillars, known as ''Tomb of the Egyptian'' or ''Meqabir Ghibsi'', a large Christian or Ottoman tomb.<ref>{{cite web |title=Qohaito, Ancient City in Eritrea |url=https://www.visiteritrea.net/qohaito.html |website=Visit Eritrea |access-date=21 June 2025 |language=en |archive-date=29 May 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240529045326/https://www.visiteritrea.net/qohaito.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==See also== {{commonscat}} *[[Adulis]] *[[Keskese]] *[[Matara, Eritrea|Matara]] *[[Nakfa, Eritrea|Nakfa]] *[[Sembel]] *[[Zula]]
==References== {{reflist}}
[[Category:Aksumite cities]] [[Category:Archaeological sites in Eritrea]] [[Category:Southern region (Eritrea)]] [[Category:Former populated places in Eritrea]] [[Category:Ancient Greek geography of East Africa]]