ETHIOPIA’S ROCK CHURCHES AND THEIR GEOLOGY

Thursday 6th October 2022 at 7:45 

Mawson Lecture Theatre

Department of Earth Sciences
North Terrace Campus

University of Adelaide



Frances Williams
Earth Sciences, University of Adelaide

    Ethiopia has hundreds of rock churches, some dating from the 4th century and many of them hidden away in difficult-to-access places. Visiting them can be quite an adventure! By a rock church I mean one that is hewn into the solid bedrock, not built up out of stones in the normal manner. Clearly the construction of such a church requires the right type of rock. This talk will explore how the unknown constructors of these churches, though obviously not geologists as such, cleverly exploited the local geology and used it in different ways to create these amazing monuments.

     Frances Williams spent 7 years in Ethiopia between 1968 and 1974, as a lecturer in Geology at Addis Ababa University. She has visited many times since and explored most of the country, and until Covid struck in 2020 ran geological tours to the Ethiopian Highlands, the Rift Valley and the Afar depression. (7 in all). A particular fascination has been Ethiopia’s unique rock-hewn churches and their relationship to their geological setting, which will be the topic of this talk. Frances is currently an Honorary Research Associate in Earth Sciences at the University of Adelaide and is President of the Field Geology Club of SA. She is the author of a book “Understanding Ethiopia: geology and scenery”.

If the door to the Mawson Building is closed, ring the FGC doorbell to left of the door for admittance. Note that the doorbell will be removed at 8.00 pm in order not to interrupt the lecture.
Wearing of a mask is recommended
Refreshments will be served in the tea room following the meeting.

Please be warned that there is no wheelchair access to the lecture theatre.

 

Cynthia Pyle will run a workshop before the October meeting. 
The topic for the October 6 workshop is 'Origins and Varieties of Sedimentary Rocks'. 
We will examine the features of a variety of sedimentary rocks and relate these features to the different processes by which sedimentary rocks are formed.

The workshop will start at 6.30 pm, but people are welcome to come in later, as everyone
works independently or with a friend.

The workshop will be held in the Sprigg Room. Go past the Tate Museum and take the next
staircase on the right. The Sprigg Room is right at the top of the stairs. 
Anyone who arrives after 6.30pm and can't get into the building can ring the FGC bell if it is in place.