The Lalibela Pipes: A Bio-Chemical Archive of the Highland Metropole

The excavation at the Lalibela Cave (located in the Lasta region, distinct from the rock-hewn monolithic churches) provides the definitive "hardware" for understanding the arrival of global narcotics in the African interior. This discovery effectively "scuttles" the Eurocentric narrative that smoking was introduced to the Horn only via the Atlantic or Ottoman trade routes of the 17th century.