Ancient Ethiopian Palace May Have Been One of the World's First Skyscrapers
Researchers say the 800 BC palace at Yeha could have supported up to 19 floors, challenging the view that tall buildings are a modern invention.
Archaeologists Martin Drieschner and Mike Schnelle analyzed the remains of the ancient palace known as Grat Be'al Gibri, built around 800 BC in Yeha, northern Ethiopia. While the building was largely destroyed by fire in antiquity, the surviving ground floor, massive foundations, and a 60 by 60 meter footprint reveal a monumental scale. Features such as a rising staircase, thick interior walls, ten-meter-high entrance columns, and a timber-beam lattice within the walls point to a multi-storey design, with evidence for at least three floors.
Using virtual reconstruction and static calculations, the researchers concluded the construction could theoretically support up to 19 stories, a height comparable to modern skyscrapers. This challenges the long-standing belief that high-rise architecture only emerged with modern materials, aligning with earlier South Arabian rock art and medieval chronicles that describe tall towers. Although it remains uncertain whether the ancient builders fully exploited this structural capacity, the study shows that sophisticated, high-rise construction was possible in Northeast Africa over 2,800 years ago.
