The Middle Stone Age at Gona, Afar, Ethiopia: Implications for Regionalization and Migrations

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Recent Advances and Debates in the Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Tentatively dated to MIS 5/4, the YAS-1 (Ya’alu South 1) site at Gona, Ethiopia is a high-density open-air archaeological site preserving classic Middle Stone Age (MSA) stone tools such as Levallois cores, Nubian cores, points, and blades in addition to a variety of fossil fauna, some with bone modifications including cut marks. While most of the archaeological material has been found on the surface over the last twelve years, recent excavations have documented both lithics and fauna in situ. Though the zooarchaeological remains and depositional context of the site will be discussed, the emphasis here will be on the lithic assemblage, which includes Levallois points, preferential and recurrent Levallois cores, unidirectional and bidirectional prepared cores, prismatic blades and blade cores, and a small number of retouched tools. Similarities are seen with other late MSA sites in the region (e.g., Aduma), and also with other more distant sites, such as at Wadi Surdud (Yemen) and Rose Cottage cave (South Africa). Ongoing and future research at the site will hopefully refine the site’s age, identify the obsidian source(s) of the obsidian artifacts, and expand the archaeological sample.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Recent Advances and Debates in the Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 26197