Yonatan Sahle

University of Cape Town | UCT · Department of Archaeology

There is a general consensus that our species emerged first in Africa. Currently, the best-known skeletal evidence for the earliest anatomically modern Homo sapiens (AMHs) derives from sites in the rift valley in Ethiopia. However, archaeological evidence from cave sites in southern and northern Africa largely dominates discussions on behaviors tha...

Significance The idea that early Australopithecus shaped stone tools to butcher large mammals before the emergence of Homo around 2 million years ago has excited both primatologists and archaeologists. Such claims depend on interpreting modifications found on the surfaces of fossil bones. Recent experiments involving the feeding of mammal carcasses...

The later Middle Pleistocene witnessed the appearance of Homo sapiens anatomy , distinctive behaviors, and technologies collectively characterized as the "Middle Stone Age." these African developments are now documented to have been temporally and spatially more complex than previously conceptualized. Elucidating the origin of Homo sapiens and emer...

Complex projectiles-propulsion via mechanical aid-are considered an important technological innovation, with possible relevance for the successful Out-of-Africa dispersal of our species. Conclusive evidence for the beginning of this technology, however, is lacking from the early Late Pleistocene (ca. 130 to 70 thousand years ago; ka). Given the ext...

The Aduma localities (10.42°N, 40.52°E) in the Middle Awash study area are known for rich archaeological occurrences broadly dated to the early Late Pleistocene as well as stratigraphically older hominid traces. Excavations and controlled surface collections in sediments west of the modern Awash River in the 1990s yielded thousands of artifacts, in...

The Gademotta Formation (Fm.), which lies at 7.94° N and 38.64° E, hosts several open-air archaeological sites and interstratified tephra layers that span much of the late Middle Pleistocene. The sites in the Formation occur along the flanks of a c. 20 km-long arcuate ridge – and namesake – that represents the remnants of an ancient collapsed calde...

The Herto study area (geologically identified as the Herto Member of the Bouri Formation), lies in the Middle Awash, Afar Rift of Ethiopia (10.27° N; 40.52° E). Archaeological research by the Middle Awash research project began on the Bouri peninsula in 1981 (Clark et al., 1984). Project efforts were initially focused on the older deposits of the B...

The evolutionary relationships among extinct African hominin taxa are highly debated and largely unresolved, due in part to a lack of molecular data. Even within taxa, it is not always clear, based on morphology alone, whether ranges of variation are due to sexual dimorphism versus potentially undescribed taxonomic diversity. For Paranthropus robus...

Ethnographically known weapon systems are crucial for the functional interpretation of pertinent archaeological materials. The tip cross-sectional geometries of North American ethnographic projectiles are particularly widely used as standards against which the probable functions of archaeological stone points are assessed. While their known weapon-...

This exhibition showcases the results of archaeological research at three coastal sites in the southern Cape of South Africa: Blombos Cave, Klipdrift Shelter and Klasies River main sites. Part of a long-term programme aiming to make palaeosciences accessible to the public, the exhibition befittingly started more locally, first at Stellenbosch and t...

Significance Understanding the evolution, dispersals, behaviors, and ecologies of early African Homo sapiens requires accurate geochronological placement of fossils and artifacts. We introduce open-air occurrences of such remains in sediments of the Middle Awash study area in Ethiopia. We describe the stratigraphic and depositional contexts of our...

Two decades after Jon Kalb's memoir Adventures in the Bone Trade, this book offers yet another glimpse into the many faces of paleoan-thropological research in Ethiopia's Afar region and beyond. One might wonder from the beginning why the main protagonist would participate in a genre he previously characterized as a concoction of "science, adventur...

The identification of archaeological bone surface modifications (BSMs) as anthropogenic in origin has been an important goal for zooarchaeology, with wide-ranging implications for our understanding of human evolution. Traditionally, the identification of BSM effectors (e.g. lithics or teeth) involves the examination of the morphological characteris...

The dearth of securely dated assemblages in the Horn of Africa limits a comprehensive understanding of human adaptation across the Early Holocene. This paper presents results from initial analyses of lithic material from Dibé rockshelter in the Arsi lowlands, Ethiopia. Radiocarbon dates confirm occupation of Dibé rockshelter by hunter-gatherers dir...

Homo sapiens exhibit extreme behavioural plasticity, mediated by culture and technology, that permits us to adapt rapidly to new environments and situations. Understanding the role that past climate change played in selecting for Homo sapiens’ adaptability is a key question in human evolution research. The arid and semi-arid Kalahari Basin in south...

South Africa has an extraordinary record of human evolution spanning from our early hominin ancestors in the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage site, through to more recent evidence for the emergence of modern humans. Human evolution research in South Africa has received international attention for nearly a hundred years and has been vast and broad...

The identification of actors and effectors of bone surface modifications (BSMs) in the archaeological record is often a source of contention. Many debates centre on whether a given archaeological BSM was made by stone tool-using hominins, carnivore predation, and/or trampling. More research has similarly attempted to accurately assess the agent of...

The Stone Age record is longer and better documented in eastern Africa. Archaeological and fossil evidence derives particularly from sites within the Rift Valley of the region, often with secure radiometric age estimates. Despite a relatively late start and disproportionate focus on earlier periods and open-air sites within the rift, scientific res...

Despite abundant Pleistocene calderas in the East African Rift and Afar, and the significance of regional tephra horizons for archaeological and paleoenvironmental dating, the entanglements of volcanoes and their eruptions with human behaviour and paleoecology have received little attention. Here, we focus on the intertwined human and eruptive hist...

Recent paleoanthropological surveys conducted in the Lower Awash basin (Afar Rift) have led to the discovery of new localities. Here we announce and describe the latest addition to the roster of hominid-bearing research areas in this basin. Located east of the modern Awash River and west of the Megenta mountain ridge, localities in the new research...

Archaeological reconnaissance and test excavation conducted in south-central Ethiopia reveal the region's rich Stone Age and Holocene archaeology. Ongoing lithic, faunal and dating analyses aim to understand chronological and behavioural contexts of prioritised rockshelters as part of a newly launched project. Speleothems in some of the caves promi...

Metric data for the Aduma points discussed in the present study. (XLSX)

Localities in the radiometrically dated upper Herto Member of Ethiopia’s Bouri Formation continue to produce new data that complement and extend initial reports of fossils and artifacts published in 2003. Results of these revisits are reported here and include the in situ recovery of artifacts from the same sediments containing hominid fossils. We...

Research at localities in the radioisotopically dated Upper and Lower Herto Members of Ethiopia’s Bouri Formation provides new data that complement and extend reports of fossils and artifacts first published by the Middle Awash research project in 2003. The new archaeological and paleontological data are from sediments dated to the later Middle Ple...

Despite consensus on Africa's central place in the evolution of our species, the emergence of modern human populations and their dispersal out of the continent remain controversial topics. In this second installment of the DFG Center for Advanced Studies Series, scholars offer multidisciplinary perspectives, reviews, and original research reports o...

Combining individual components into a single implement-i.e., hafting-conferred prehistoric populations more efficient toolkits, including projectile weapons. Hafting with the aid of adhesives is considered to have particularly given composite tools better reliability. The innovation of compound adhesives is specifically considered cognitively more...

The paucity of archaeological evidence from the northern Afar Rift and Red Sea littoral remains a major hindrance to testing the hypothesised Out-of-Africa dispersal of early humans via the ‘Southern Route’—across the Bab al-Mandeb into Arabia and beyond. Encouraged by renewed geological studies (e.g. Atnafu et al . 2015), and recent archaeological...

Douze and Delagnes (2016) revisit Middle Stone Age (MSA) lithic assemblages from the Gademotta Formation (Fm.), Ethiopia. Their analysis of selected assemblages from three of the 1972 excavations expands the original typo-technological interpretations by Wendorf and Schild (1974). We particularly welcome their evaluation of our recent inferences ab...

Twenty-six Middle Stone Age obsidian artifacts from the Gademotta Formation were instrumentally characterized by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence. Analysis of artifacts from the type locality enabled sampling of a greater time depth while avoiding the uncertainties in previous results on artifacts sampled from a "disturbed" context at Kulkulett...

22] Late Pleistocene Behaviors: Perspectives from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia Behavioral contexts across the critical period associated with the evolution and successful dispersal(s) of anatomically modern humans (AMH) within and beyond Africa are inadequately understood. Although the genetic and fossil evidence in hand largely advocates eastern Afr...

The extent of reduction in retouched stones serves as a proxy for curation. In the archaeological record, reduction intensity must be inferred from discarded remnants of tools. The contemporary use of scraper blades by hideworkers in southern Ethiopia provides archaeologists rare opportunities where original tool dimensions can be directly measured...

There is not yet clear evidence for the beginning of complex projectile technologies (propulsion via mechanical aid). Morphological attributes and miniaturization of stone points at Aduma have been used to suggest early complex projectile use ~100,000-80,000 years ago. Hafting traces on stone segments and geometric pieces were presented as better i...

The Middle Stone Age (MSA) has attracted extensive research attention over the past few decades because of its association with complex behaviors. Notwithstanding, the debate on the timing and pace of behavioral changes, a common generalization is that MSA technologies become more sophisticated through time. Previous models have emphasized the step...

Projectile weapons (i.e. those delivered from a distance) enhanced prehistoric hunting efficiency by enabling higher impact delivery and hunting of a broader range of animals while reducing confrontations with dangerous prey species. Projectiles therefore provided a significant advantage over thrusting spears. Composite projectile technologies are...

The contemporary use of flaked stone tools provides a rare opportunity to study various aspects of lithic technology. Variables that must be inferred in archaeological contexts can be observed and more easily studied in ethnographic ones. The Hadiya hideworkers of southern Ethiopia, like a few other groups in this region, still retain the tradition...

The site of Aladi Springs was discovered and excavated in the 1970s. However, the assemblages from this site did not subsequently receive full investigation. Here, we present results of the first exhaustive analysis of the lithic collections from both the Middle and the Later Stone Age (MSA/LSA) occupation horizons at this site. Detailed analysis o...

The archaeology of twentieth-century warfare, with its focus on Western armies and military issues, has often neglected indigenous experiences of war and social aspects, particularly the role of women in reproducing culture through material practices in situations of great distress. In this article, we propose a postcolonial examination of imperial...

The Department of Prehistory of the Complutense University of Madrid has been conducting archaeological and ethnoarchaeological research in western Ethiopia since 2001. Between 2001 and 2007 research focused on Benishangul- Gumuz Regional State. This region hosts a diverse population of Nilo-Saharan communities, including Bertha, Gumuz and Koman pe...