Archéologie préhistorique de la partie centrale du Main Ethiopian Rift : contribution à l’établissement de la séquence Late Stone Age d’Afrique orientale

Abstract

Prehistory of the Central Main Ethiopian Rift (Ziway-Shala basin) : Establishing the Late Stone Age sequence in Eastern Africa Supported by the CFEE, ARCCH, MAEE, INRAP and the laboratory TRACES, this project, " Late Stone Age sequence in Ethiopia", is devoted to the collection of new data on the late prehistory of the Horn of Africa. To answer to this objective, several fieldwork seasons have been carried out since 2007 in the area of lakes Ziway, Langano and Abijata, located in the central part of the Main Ethiopian Rift Valley. Over the course of this project, we have intensively explored different geological contexts, and in particular the fluvio-lacustrine plain of the Bulbula river and the impact of volcanic eruption on the landscape and on human acquisition strategies. This area provides an ideal terrain for the study of prehistoric human/ environment relationships in the context of a shifting natural environment (lake fluctuations / volcanic activity). This collaborative program, developed in a region with a uniquely rich and well preserved sedimentary and archaeological record, has supplemented new data establishing the geomorphological and geological setting, with a stratigraphic sequence in which several new archaeological sites have been discovered and studied. Most notable are several sites dating to around 30,000 BP, a period previously poorly documented in Ethiopian Prehistory, and several sites dating to the transition between the Pleistocene and Holocene periods (between 12,000 and 9,000 cal BC). The archaeological sequence we have identified in the Bulbula plain is discontinuous because it is linked to lakelevel fluctuations but also to arid and volcanic events. Nevertheless, the different windows of preservation identified shed new light on a variety of issues regarding the late Prehistory of this area. It concerns particularly a final stage of the MSA (contemporary OIS3) and diverse expressions of the LSA. The signature of this diversity is both technical and economical, around the role of hunting and fishing practices. This interdisciplinary project combines geomorphological and archaeological perspectives with detailed work on raw material sampling and analysis.