The origins of (enunciated as "Da'amat" or "Di'amat") and the role of the Sabaeans of Sheba in ancient South Arabia have long been debated by historians and continue to be.

Background (enunciated as "Da'amat" or "Di'amat") was a polity centred on Yeha in the Tigray Region of Ethiopia near the border with Eritrea, founded some time around 800 BCE, and is considered to have been the first state in the region. It was the precursor to the Kingdom of Aksum and the later Ethiopian Empire. The nature of its origins regarding the role played by Sabaeans from Sheba in South Arabia continues to be debated by historians. Development of social complexity Archaeological research has suggested two distinct trajectories to social complexity in the northern Horn of Africa.

Eritrean-Sudanese lowlands An early culture in the Eritrean-Sudanese lowlands was the Atbai tradition, dating to the 5th millennium BCE, which likely originated in the northern Mereb (Gash) delta. The Butana Group, Gash Group, and Jebel Mokram Group appear to delineate the rise and decline of social complexity between the Atbarah River and Mereb Delta. Egyptian trade with the elusive Land of Punt likely stimulated development. Seasonal movements of the pastoral Gash Group and agropastoral Jebel Mokram Group to the Eritrean-Ethiopian highlands were a significant part of the regional network.

Butana Group

The Butana Group was located on the east side of the Atbara River, straddling the far-east of the Butana region and the southern Itbay, and dates to around 3800-3000 BCE. Evidence for social complexity is limited to the discovery of porphyry mace-heads, known to have been associated with wealthy burials in contemporary prehistoric Egypt and Nubia. This indicates that some individuals may have had more prestige and authority than others, as porphyry was likely imported northeast. It is thought to have had three levels of social hierarchy.

Gash Group The Gash Group was located around Kassala on the border between Sudan and Eritrea, with its leading site being Mahal Teglinos. It dates from around 3000-1500 BCE, and was contemporaneous with the Kerma culture in Nubia. It served as a crossroad for trade between Kerma, the Red Sea, and the Ethiopian Highlands, with the ancient Egyptian conquest of Kerma around 1550 BCE breaking this practice. Groups of people with Middle Nubian ceramics then settled the region. There is a lot of evidence for social complexity, including settlement patterns, burials (such as funerary steles), administrative devices, architecture, and standardization of pottery. It became progressively more socially stratified throughout its period, and may have constituted a chiefdom, although no definitive evidence has been uncovered. It is thought to have had five levels of social hierarchy.

Jebel Mokram Group The Jebel Mokram Group was also located near Kassala, with its primary site of Jebel Abu Gamal to the south, and dates to around 1500-800 BCE. The only evidence for social complexity is its settlement pattern. It is thought to have had four levels of social hierarchy. The Jebel Mokram Group was succeeded by the Hagiz Group for which there is no evidence of social complexity, and it appears to have adopted a nomadic lifestyle.

Eritrean-Ethiopian highlands Comparatively little research has been conducted in the Eritrean-Ethiopian highlands, with the earliest groups identified dating to the 3rd and 2nd millennium BCE near Mekelle, Ethiopia. From the late 2nd or early 1st millennium BCE groups with different ceramic traditions have been identified in the Hamasien highlands (north-central Eritrea), Akkele Guzay (south-central Eritrea), Agame (eastern Tigray), and central Tigray. The highlands were included in the South Arabian area of trade in the early 1st millennium BCE.

Mezber Mezber is an archaeological site in eastern Tigray that was inhabited from 1600 BCE to the 1st century CE. A large amount of animal bones indicates that the group there was likely cattle-focused agropastoralists between 1600-900 BCE. A 2023 paper authored by 17 scholars said that the seasonal movement of Gash Groups (specifically one from Agordat) may have played an essential role in the origin of agropastoralism and early social complexity in the highlands. A large building, possibly an elite residence, lacks Sabaean influence and dates to between 800-750 BCE.

Ancient Ona The ancient Ona culture was located in Hamasien, and dated from at least 900-400 BCE, although it is thought to have originated in the 2nd millennium BCE. Its largest site is Sembel. It served as an intermediary for trade between the Gash Group and the Red Sea. Evidence for social complexity includes the settlement pattern, administrative devices, and a rich grave dating to the mid-1st millennium BCE.

Evidence of South Arabian influence The northern Horn of Africa underwent a period of South Arabian influence, approximately between 700-400 BCE.

Architecture

Yeha The most notable evidence for Sabaean influence on architecture is the , a resolutely Sabaean-style temple dated to the 7th/8th century BCE and the tallest (14m/46ft) of any preserved. The limestone ashlars show typical Sabaean stonemasonry, and the temple's exterior wall resembles the Almaqah temple in Sirwah and the Temple of Awwam in Yemen's Marib Governorate. The interior layout is similar to that of the Bar'an Temple in Marib and the temple in Sirwah. There was likely a building previously there before construction, and some have questioned whether it was ever completed.

Grat Be'al Gebri is another monument in Yeha, however it has been poorly preserved. It is somewhat similar to the Great Temple and the five-pillared building in Sirwah; however, it requires further excavation. There are also remains of a third temple with fragments of South Arabian inscriptions.

Hawelti In Hawelti of pillars have been uncovered, likely to have been individual monuments and stelae due to their differing measurements and styles (there are similar monuments at Kaskase, Eritrea). The stonemasonry, rectangular shape, and Sabaean inscriptions show South Arabian influences, whereas the method of raising and their function appears to be indigenous.

Other Almaqah temples Another Almaqah temple is the Temple of Meqaber Gaʿewa, located 6 km south of Wukro, Ethiopia. While similar to the others in its layout, it doesn't have the same detailed stonemasonry as seen at Yeha and in South Arabia, which is more akin to indigenous architecture of the region. There is another building thought to have been a temple found in Gobochela.

Epigraphs

There are various royal inscriptions in Ancient South Arabian script in Sabaic that mention , the title mlk (king), and mkrb, most often interpreted as the Sabaic title mukarrib (or possibly the honorific makrūb meaning "blessed". There is also the unknown mlkn ṣrʿn). There are seven inscriptions that mention , all found in Aksum or the eastern Tigray Region (none at Yeha or in Eritrea). It is unclear whether they had been moved from their original locations. There are inscriptions naming non- rulers at Seglamen, Keskese, and Yeha.

Two inscriptions mention sbʿ, considered to refer to a geographical region or tribe/polity, Sheba, or a personal name. Some inscriptions on votive altars near Yeha also mention individuals from Sheba. Inscriptions also mention the Sabaean deities Almaqah and ʿAṯtar as well as indigenous ones. Of the 11 deities mentioned, 5 are South Arabian. One inscription is from a Sabaean stonemason from Marib, and another on an altar indicates the Great Temple of Yeha was dedicated to Almaqah. Some inscriptions divide the population into "reds" and "blacks", possibly referring to skin colour. Inscriptions in Sabaean are fragmentary and total 40 words, most of which are names. From a palaeographic perspective, they appear not to have been the earliest ones. Other inscriptions that could be linguistically analysed are Ethio-Semitic, which are more numerous and have been labelled proto-Geʽez.

Art There are four statues at Hawelti, Maqaber Gaewa, and Addi Galamo, and a throne at Hawelti (the latter of which is South Arabian in style). The artistic style appears to be syncretic, with Achamaenian, Meriotic, Greek, and South Arabian influences. Some votive altars are Sabaean in style, namely those that are cylindrical and cubic.

Material culture

A necropolis uncovered in Yeha, dating to around the 6th/7th century BCE, provides evidence of both Sabaean and indigenous grave goods. They include bronze seals, some of which depict the Sabaean ibex (associated with Almaqah), but these objects have no parallel in Sabaean society. Similar graves, marked by stelae, are found at Bet Giyorgis in Aksum. The tombs are rock-cut, a practice which likely predated the founding of .

Surveys at Yeha and Hawulti-Melazo reveal pottery and terracotta figurines of undoubted local origin; however, some figurines of women show Sabaean influence. Various peasant settlements dating from the first millennium BCE, such as those of the Ancient Ona culture located west and south of Asmara (eg. Sembel) or Kidane Mehret located northeast of Aksum, show no sign of South Arabian influence.

Linguistics The origins of Semitic languages continue to be debated, however Akkadian receives the most support. Others consider Semitic languages to have originated in Africa, and to have been spoken in Egypt as early as 3000 BCE.

In 2009, Andrew Kitchen, Christopher Ehret, Shiferaw Assefa, and Connie Mulligan authored a paper which discussed the origins of the Ethio-Semitic languages. They analysed vocabularies using Bayesian computational phylogenetics to model language evolution and test hypotheses of Semitic history, concluding a non-African origin introduced to the Horn of Africa between 1800 BCE and the Common Era, with a mean of 850 BCE, indicating that it can be associated with development of indigenous complex societies, coinciding with a period of South Arabian influence.

However, this conclusion is disputed, and David Phillipson wrote in 2012 that there is linguistic evidence that Semitic languages were spoken in the northern Horn much earlier, and that a date between 1000-750 BCE can no longer be accepted.

Genetics In 2014 a paper authored by 8 scholars said that the mean-time for the introduction of west Eurasian ancestry into East Africa is thought to be around 1000 BCE, coinciding with and a period of South Arabian influence, and notes that the highest levels of west Eurasian ancestry are today found around the area was located in (Tigray Region and Amhara Region). In 2018 a paper by Carina Schlebusch and Mattias Jakobsson notes that the founding of , which they said was established by Sabaeans, is a good candidate for the initial admixture of Eurasian genes into East Africa.

In 2016 a paper authored by 19 scholars focussing on haplogroup R0a found that their results were inconsistent with a large migration from Arabia into the Horn of Africa around the time of , however said there may have been some minor gene flow owing to growth in trade between the two regions at this time.

Theories