Modern humans originated in Africa during the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and during this time period developed complex foraging behaviors that facilitated their later migration out of Africa and across the world. Studying the full range of these early behaviors is critical to both understanding how modern humans adapted to diverse environments and refining models of human evolution and migration. The proposed research is based on materials excavated from a MSA archaeological site located in a previously unstudied region of the lowlands of northwestern Ethiopia along the Shinfa River, a major tributary to the Blue Nile River. The site is dated to greater than 50,000 years in age, close to the time when modern humans dispersed out of Africa. The research will study the fauna excavated at the site that includes a diverse array of terrestrial and aquatic animals that the humans hunted, trapped, collected, and brought back to the site to eat. Investigation of these animal remains will detail which species were collected, when they were collected, and how they were processed. The site is unusual for the MSA because in addition to terrestrial animals a large quantity of aquatic animals (e.g., fish, crocodile, and mollusk) are also present, and this combination of species permits an evaluation of the evidence for early riverine adaptations and structured seasonal resource use. Both of these activities have important implications for the evolution of modern human behavioral and social systems, and both have been argued to be largely absent during the MSA. Data from this study will also contribute to the broader debate about the significance of aquatic resource use during hominin evolution. Additionally, this project is the first to examine how regional seasonal extremes selected for flexible adaptive strategies in the MSA specifically within the context of temporary river ecosystems and how this particular ecological setting might have influenced early human behavior. The broader project involves a collaboration between US and Ethiopian scholars, students, officials, and local communities, and its NSF-supported research experience for undergraduates trains US and Ethiopian students and includes a focus on participants from groups underrepresented in the sciences.
Under the supervision of Dr. John Kappelman, Ph.D. candidate Christopher Davis will reconstruct foraging behavior at the archaeological site with a focus on answering two research questions: 1) Does the site document an early riverine adaptation? and 2) Does the site document structured seasonal occupation and resource exploitation? The methods are drawn from a large body of ethnoarchaeological and experimental research that uses faunal remains to reconstruct past human behavior. Faunal analyses will document the taxonomic groups and skeletal elements present at the site. Taphonomic analyses will identify the agent(s) of site formation, how the faunal elements were processed, and which natural processes potentially altered the assemblage. Behavioral analyses will reconstruct foraging strategies, and examine evidence for systematic riverine foraging and seasonal occupation. Comparative analyses will evaluate how foraging behaviors at this site compares with those from other similarly aged sites in Ethiopia.
