100th century BCE
Ethiopia, Afar Rift, Somalia, and the Horn of Africa
The Middle Stone Age in Ethiopia and the Horn was a long-lasting archaeological tradition adapted to high plateaux, rift environments, caves, springs, pans, and river valleys. Its industries commonly employed Levallois and discoid technologies, while producing unifacial and bifacial foliate or triangular points, scrapers, blades, burins, and backed pieces. Evidence from Melka Kunture, Gadamotta, K’one, Gorgora, Pore Epic, and northern Somalia reveals regional variation, obsidian procurement, seasonal workshop activity, and possible technological continuities with later industries.
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The Story
The Middle Stone Age occupied a striking range of environments in Ethiopia and the Horn. High plateau lands above 2,500 metres contrasted with the hot, arid Afar Rift and the eastern regions of Somalia, yet populations used caves, springs, pans, streams, and river banks. The archaeological record is unevenly known, but the excavated sites demonstrate a substantial period of occupation and a mixture of technological characteristics associated with the Nile Valley and sub-Saharan Middle Stone Age traditions.
Levallois production underpinned much of the manufacture of flakes and blades, although non-Levallois cores were also important. Younger assemblages often contain unifacial and bifacial foliate or sub-triangular points, side- and end-scrapers, backed forms, denticulates, and utilized blades. Earlier levels show more variable Levallois debitage and fewer retouched tools, giving the regional sequence a broad resemblance to the Levallois Mousterian facies while retaining distinctive African components.
At Melka Kunture, in the upper Awash valley on the Ethiopian plateau, Middle Stone Age horizons lie within Upper Pleistocene alluvial sediments and tuffs above deposits containing the Acheulian Complex. The Garba III sequence includes seven stratified levels, beginning with a living floor associated with fauna and containing rare choppers, small hand-axes, and a cleaver. Higher levels include bifaces, side-scrapers, Mousterian points, parti-bifacially retouched points, burins, and end-scrapers, while obsidian was used predominantly for light-duty tools.
Gadamotta, overlooking Lake Zwai, preserves occupation floors associated with obsidian outcrops on the rim of an ancient caldera. Seven floors at two localities occur within volcanic sediments that may be more than 180,000 years old. The sites contain factory waste, flaking concentrations, finished tools, resharpening flakes, and reduced Levallois cores; a shallow saucer-shaped depression may have served as a communal living or workshop camp. Lower horizons contain more bifacial points and side-scrapers, whereas end-scrapers and blades from non-Levallois cores increase toward the top.
The K’one caldera complex at the southwestern corner of the Afar Rift was another obsidian quarry and workshop locality. Large flakes and nodules were roughly dressed on the caldera rim and carried down to the floor, where they were shaped into Levallois and discoid cores, points, scrapers, blades, and rare burins. Dense concentrations of waste, including broken points and production debris, suggest short-lived episodes of flaking, while the broader workshop sites probably represent repeated seasonal visits to replenish raw-material supplies.
Living sites include Gorgora near the northern shore of Lake Tana, where a cave deposit preserves three stages of Middle Stone Age occupation with unifacial and bifacial sub-triangular points and chert side-scrapers. At Pore Epic near Dire Dawa, a cave overlooking a major escarpment valley contained foliate points made from chert and imported obsidian, along with blades and long flakes interpreted as suitable for knives. A Neanderthal jaw fragment was found within the Middle Stone Age breccia.
The Afar Rift also preserves evidence for environmental conditions unlike those of the modern desert. Between 80,000 and 200,000 years ago, a marine transgression turned the northern region into a gulf of the Red Sea, while an extensive freshwater lake occupied the lower Awash plains farther south. Later deep-water lake development is dated in the passage to approximately 34,000–24,000 BP. Renewed streams and springs in the Horn indicate episodes of increased rainfall and probably lower temperatures.
In northern Somalia, the Middle Stone Age is divided stratigraphically into three stages. The later phase, termed “Somaliland Stillbay” in the account, is especially well represented near Hargeisa in red alluvial sediments. Its chert assemblages include bifacial and unifacial foliate and triangular points, end- and side-scrapers, backed flakes, rare burins, and denticulate pieces, often occurring as scatters interpreted as short-term living camps.
100th century BCE
Ethiopia, Afar Rift, Somalia, and the Horn of Africa
The Middle Stone Age in Ethiopia and the Horn was a long-lasting archaeological tradition adapted to high plateaux, rift environments, caves, springs, pans, and river valleys. Its industries commonly employed Levallois and discoid technologies, while producing unifacial and bifacial foliate or triangular points, scrapers, blades, burins, and backed pieces. Evidence from Melka Kunture, Gadamotta, K’one, Gorgora, Pore Epic, and northern Somalia reveals regional variation, obsidian procurement, seasonal workshop activity, and possible technological continuities with later industries.
Continue exploring
The Story
The Middle Stone Age occupied a striking range of environments in Ethiopia and the Horn. High plateau lands above 2,500 metres contrasted with the hot, arid Afar Rift and the eastern regions of Somalia, yet populations used caves, springs, pans, streams, and river banks. The archaeological record is unevenly known, but the excavated sites demonstrate a substantial period of occupation and a mixture of technological characteristics associated with the Nile Valley and sub-Saharan Middle Stone Age traditions.
Levallois production underpinned much of the manufacture of flakes and blades, although non-Levallois cores were also important. Younger assemblages often contain unifacial and bifacial foliate or sub-triangular points, side- and end-scrapers, backed forms, denticulates, and utilized blades. Earlier levels show more variable Levallois debitage and fewer retouched tools, giving the regional sequence a broad resemblance to the Levallois Mousterian facies while retaining distinctive African components.
At Melka Kunture, in the upper Awash valley on the Ethiopian plateau, Middle Stone Age horizons lie within Upper Pleistocene alluvial sediments and tuffs above deposits containing the Acheulian Complex. The Garba III sequence includes seven stratified levels, beginning with a living floor associated with fauna and containing rare choppers, small hand-axes, and a cleaver. Higher levels include bifaces, side-scrapers, Mousterian points, parti-bifacially retouched points, burins, and end-scrapers, while obsidian was used predominantly for light-duty tools.
Gadamotta, overlooking Lake Zwai, preserves occupation floors associated with obsidian outcrops on the rim of an ancient caldera. Seven floors at two localities occur within volcanic sediments that may be more than 180,000 years old. The sites contain factory waste, flaking concentrations, finished tools, resharpening flakes, and reduced Levallois cores; a shallow saucer-shaped depression may have served as a communal living or workshop camp. Lower horizons contain more bifacial points and side-scrapers, whereas end-scrapers and blades from non-Levallois cores increase toward the top.
The K’one caldera complex at the southwestern corner of the Afar Rift was another obsidian quarry and workshop locality. Large flakes and nodules were roughly dressed on the caldera rim and carried down to the floor, where they were shaped into Levallois and discoid cores, points, scrapers, blades, and rare burins. Dense concentrations of waste, including broken points and production debris, suggest short-lived episodes of flaking, while the broader workshop sites probably represent repeated seasonal visits to replenish raw-material supplies.
Living sites include Gorgora near the northern shore of Lake Tana, where a cave deposit preserves three stages of Middle Stone Age occupation with unifacial and bifacial sub-triangular points and chert side-scrapers. At Pore Epic near Dire Dawa, a cave overlooking a major escarpment valley contained foliate points made from chert and imported obsidian, along with blades and long flakes interpreted as suitable for knives. A Neanderthal jaw fragment was found within the Middle Stone Age breccia.
The Afar Rift also preserves evidence for environmental conditions unlike those of the modern desert. Between 80,000 and 200,000 years ago, a marine transgression turned the northern region into a gulf of the Red Sea, while an extensive freshwater lake occupied the lower Awash plains farther south. Later deep-water lake development is dated in the passage to approximately 34,000–24,000 BP. Renewed streams and springs in the Horn indicate episodes of increased rainfall and probably lower temperatures.
In northern Somalia, the Middle Stone Age is divided stratigraphically into three stages. The later phase, termed “Somaliland Stillbay” in the account, is especially well represented near Hargeisa in red alluvial sediments. Its chert assemblages include bifacial and unifacial foliate and triangular points, end- and side-scrapers, backed flakes, rare burins, and denticulate pieces, often occurring as scatters interpreted as short-term living camps.