THE VILLAGE OF Doro Wəḫa (map 19.1), which, as indicated byƎ.T.'s above-mentioned account, was home to a BetäƎsraʾel monastic community, is located 3.5 km southeast ofGädäbge. A dirt road, departing from Gädäbge,leads to the village's vicinity. 1.5 km east-southeast of thevillage, a tributary of the Zinaknako River begins its descent from theplateau to the lowlands east of it. The land surrounding the village hasearned a reputation for being remarkably fertile. In AbbaYəsḥaq and Ṣägga Amlak's 1848 list ofBetä Ǝsraʾel villages, Doro Wəḫa ismentioned as a village with twenty Betä Ǝsraʾelfamilies (d’Abbadie 1851–52, 260–62). Faitlovitch(1910, 58), who visited Doro Wəḫa in 1908, related that aboutfifteen Betä Ǝsraʾel lived there, and added:“The com-munity is famous due to its large mesgid and learnedclergymen.”

The Remains of the Village

Coordinates: 12.857402, 37.771812. Elevation 2633 m.

The Betä Ǝsraʾel village of Doro Wəḫa wasbuilt on the southern slope of a low hill and extended from just below thehilltop to the valley below. T., one of our informants at the site, relatedthat following the departure of the Betä Ǝsraʾel toIsrael, their land was redistributed among the non-BetäƎsraʾel inhabitants of the area. The village's houseswere disassembled, and their stones used to construct walls dividing theformerly popu-lated area into agricultural plots. And, indeed, an enclosurewall composed of basalt field stones surrounds the area pointed out as beingthe former site of the village, and its interior is divided by a series ofwalls, similarly constructed, into plots (fig. 19.1). The enclosure measuresa maximum of 125 m north–south and 230 m east–west.

Only the remains of one of the former village's structures are stilldiscernible within the enclosure (fig. 19.2). We were told by T. that thisstructure was the house of a per-son by the name of Mamo, a rich blacksmith,and that because the house was unusually large, it was decided not tocompletely dismantle it. An examination of this structure's remainsrevealed two constructional phases: the earlier of these is a section of awall built of basalt field stones and mud mortar, 1.45 m wide and preservedto a height of 0.7 m.