Tiya is among the most important of the roughly 160 archaeological sites discovered so far in the Soddo region, south of Addis Ababa. The site contains 36 monuments, including 32 carved stelae covered with symbols, most of which are difficult to decipher. They are the remains of an ancient Ethiopian culture whose age has not yet been precisely determined.

A site steeped in mystery, the stone statues of Tiya – and the archaeological sites surrounding it – are all that remain of a once great, ancient civilisation, slowly lost to the sands of time.

Tiya is a town in central Ethiopia. The town lies in the Gurage Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region, 80km south of the capital, Addis Ababa.

Accessible via a highway that runs from Addis Ababa to the settlement, Butajira, the site lies just a short walk from the road.

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