Late Middle Stone Age(s) of the Horn of Africa: technical tradition in southeastern Ethiopia

David Pleurdeau & Alice Leplongeon

UMR CNRS 7194 HNHP, département Homme et Environnement, Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle –

 Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Sorbonne Universités, Paris, France, 

The scarcity of well-dated sites documenting Late Pleistocene (~from 70 ka) human occupations in the Horn of Africa hampers a detailed understanding of the place of the Horn of Africa in the Late Pleistocene African prehistory in the context of human dispersals and of the transitions from the Middle Stone Age and the Later Stone Age. However, available data highlight a great cultural diversity, whether linked with spatial ("regional identity"), or temporal (Early vs Late MSA) variability. The Late MSA (LMSA) of the Horn includes general MSA features, such as prepared flake, point and elongated blank production, associated with retouched tools dominated by scrapers and retouched points. However, compared to other African regions, it also includes specific characteristics, such as the (rare) occurrence of backed pieces, a high diversity in the retouched points, long-distance raw material procurement, and beyond lithic data, a relative underrepresentation of non-utilitarian, or ‘symbolic’ artefacts.

Here we present results from a comparative analysis of the lithic assemblages from two sites located in southeastern Ethiopia: Porc-Epic Cave and Goda Buticha. Beyond the technical features described at the site and inter-sites level, the results are integrated into the chronological, sedimentological and palaeoenvironmental studies.

Goda Buticha and Porc Epic Cave, ~35km distant each other, have yielded long stratigraphic sequences including Late Pleistocene levels. The results highlight the variability at the assemblage level. This is however counterbalanced by similarities between the assemblages, which were interpreted as reflecting the same technical tradition, present both at Porc-Epic and Goda Buticha (lower units). The characteristics of this tradition are consistent with a general attribution to the MSA, although they distinguish it from other MSA industries or assemblages in the Horn of Africa.

The LMSA of the Horn thus cannot be considered as a monolithic entity.

These results add to the evidence for the great variability of lithic technologies across Africa at the end of the Pleistocene (and Holocene) and may have implications for major questions, central to the understanding of this period: adaptation to climatic instability (the “Big Dry”) and population movements.

References:

• Leplongeon, A., Pleurdeau, D., & Hovers, E. (2017). Late Pleistocene and Holocene Lithic Variability at Goda Buticha (Southeastern Ethiopia): Implications for the Understanding of the Middle and Late Stone Age of the Horn of Africa. Journal of African Archaeology, 15(2), 202–233. doi:10.1163/21915784-12340010
• Pleurdeau, D., Hovers, E., Assefa, Z., Asrat, A., Pearson, O., Bahain, J.-J., & Lam, Y. M. (2014). Cultural change or continuity in the late MSA/Early LSA of southeastern Ethiopia? The site of Goda Buticha, Dire Dawa area. Quaternary International, 343, 117–135. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.02.001
• Tribolo, C., Asrat, A., Bahain, J.-J., Chapon, C., Douville, E., Fragnol, C., et al. (2017). Across the Gap: Geochronological and Sedimentological Analyses from the Late Pleistocene-Holocene Sequence of Goda Buticha, Southeastern Ethiopia. PLOS ONE, 12(1), e0169418. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0169418

A View From Goda Buticha. Photo: D. Pleurdeau