A multi-isotopic approach of understanding human paleoecology and land-use during the MIS 3 at the Gotera site, Southern Ethiopia
Author(s): Seminew Mogesie
Year: 2025
Summary
This is an abstract from the "Stable Isotope Analysis in Global History" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.
<html>
The Late Plesitocene saw major developments in human behavior including technological transition, behavioral modernity, range expansion, and dispersal within and beyond Africa which broadly overlapped with ecological and climatic fluctuations. However, we know little about the ecological and environmental settings through which H. sapiens thrived, expanded and contracted into novel environments. To address this issue, we employed stable carbon (δ<sup>13</sup>C), oxygen (δ<sup>18</sup>O), and strontium (<sup>87</sup>Sr/<sup>86</sup>Sr) isotope analysis of mammalian tooth enamel from the Gotera MSA site in southern Ethiopia. Our stable isotope analysis reveals the presence of an open, and predominantly C<sub>4 </sub>grassland environment. A minimum extent of woody habitat ecology has been inferred from the δ<sup>13</sup>C values of mixed feeders. The δ<sup>13</sup>C values are in agreement with the δ<sup>18</sup>O values suggesting a semi-arid climatic condition. The <sup>87</sup>Sr/<sup>86</sup>Sr isotope ratio reveals the Gotera faunas are of predominantly local origin suggesting limited mobility patterns and exploitation of local resources in the Gotera area. Our stable isotope analiysis along with sedimentological, zooarchaeological, and archaeological data demonstrates the Gotera site may have offered a lake-side refugia for hunter-gatherers by providing locally available resources such as water, raw material, and open and semi-arid environmental settings.
</html>
Cite this Record
A multi-isotopic approach of understanding human paleoecology and land-use during the MIS 3 at the Gotera site, Southern Ethiopia. Seminew Mogesie. Presented at The 90th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. 2025 ( tDAR id: 509827)
This Resource is Part of the Following Collections
Keywords
Record Identifiers
Abstract Id(s): 54102