Daily life and commerce in 1969 Ethiopia captured on film
In short: This archival footage documents everyday scenes from March 1969 in Ethiopia, specifically around Kombolcha, Gobi, and Mek'ele. It offers a rare, unfiltered look at traditional crafts, market dynamics, and rural infrastructure before modern industrialization reshaped these local economies.
The footage provides a detailed ethnographic record of regional trade and domestic labor. It highlights specialized activities such as the manual production of tire-rubber shoes, the use of horizontal looms for weaving, and the preparation of mud-dung covers for baking bread. The film captures the logistical realities of the era, including the transport of goods by donkey and the use of reed umbrellas for protection.
Economic life is illustrated through specific market transactions, such as salt slabs priced at 60 cents each and donkey loads of baking twigs costing 50 cents. The scenes also document the ingenuity of local tools, from crude wooden horse bits to the sharpening of knives on whetstones, offering a glimpse into the material culture of the Ethiopian highlands in the late 1960s.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Ethiopia 1969 Reel 4 of 65
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