Aaron Butts, professor, Semitic languages and literatures, was quoted in CNN International and Smithsonian Magazine about an archaeological site in Ethiopia, where researchers are uncovering the oldest Christian basilica in sub-Saharan Africa.
..."That is what makes this discovery so important," said Aaron Butts, a professor of Semitic and Egyptian languages at Catholic University in Washington, DC, in an email. "The archeological data combined with the radiocarbon dating suggest that the basilica stems from the fourth (or perhaps early fifth) century, making it certainly among the earliest known churches in sub-Saharan Africa. In addition, given the reliability of the archeological data combined with the radio-carbon dating, it seems to be the earliest securely datable church in Sub-Saharan Africa," added Butts, who wasn't involved in the excavation...
Continue reading on CNN International
... "[This find] is to my knowledge the earliest physical evidence for a church in Ethiopia, [as well as all of sub-Saharan Africa,]” says Aaron Butts, a professor of Semitic and Egyptian languages at Catholic University in Washington, D.C., who was not involved with the excavation...
Continue reading on Smithsonian Magazine