Hawulti (monument)

Hawulti is a pre-Aksumite obelisk located in Matara [1]. The monument bears the oldest known example of the ancient Geʽez script [1]. The Hawulti monument is 5.5 metres high, with a disk and crescent at the top; Edward Ullendorff believes these symbols "no doubt meant to place the stele under the protection of the gods, probably of Šams, the Sun goddess, and of Sin, the Moon god" [1]. When Littmann, leader of the Deutsche Aksum-Expedition, found the Hawulti, it had been pushed over and broken in half in the distant past [1].