Introduction. The two millennia from 500 BC to AD 1500 were crucial in the history of the Horn of Africa. It was during this period that the Ethiopian state emerged and was consolidated, and the foundations of modern Ethiopia were established. This paper is an attempt to outline the social, economic, and cultural development of the Aksum region and its impact on the urban development of Aksum from ca. 500 BC to AD 1500 using a cultural-ecological perspective. To date, only the region of Aksum, where the ancient capital city was located, has been investigated in a detailed way, and has provided evidence of continuous human occupation from late prehistory to the present. The synthesis presented here is based primarily on the results of archaeological research conducted in Aksum and its surrounding region by Italian, British, American, and Ethiopian scholars over the course of the past fifteen years. Textual evidence is taken into account as well, insofar as it informs the archaeological evidence.