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Age and formation processes of an Acheulean site with extensive accumulation of large cutting tools: Garba I (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia)

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Abstract

The paper provides new data on the age and formation processes of Garba I (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia). The site, one of the largest handaxe accumulations of the African Acheulean, was extensively excavated in the 1960s of the last century by J. Chavaillon but left largely unpublished. The chronology was also poorly constricted. Quartz grains dated through electron spin resonance (ESR) spectrometry now provide a minimum age of 538 ka for the archaeological layer. In addition, we make available new data allowing an updated interpretation of the stratigraphic sequence and spatial distribution, as well as a detailed taphonomic study of the lithic assemblage. Additional information on the archaeozoological and palaeobotanical record are integrated in the discussion. We conclude that the extensive accumulation of large cuttings tools (LCTs) is not the result of major sedimentary disturbance processes but rather the outcome of a distinct hominin behaviour, which possibly was not focused on the processing and consumption of large mammals. New research at Garba I allows new insights on the Acheulean sites with similar large accumulations of handaxes. Additionally, it contributes to a better understanding of the early Middle Pleistocene in Africa, an under-researched period of the Early Stone Age.

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  • 12 March 2022

    The original version of this paper was updated to correct the capturing of the one of the author names.

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Acknowledgements

This study is part of the PhD research of Sol Sánchez-Dehesa Galán that was financed by the Università di Roma “Sapienza” and supported by PRETECH (Université de Nanterre). Fieldwork was supported by grants C26S15ZHET and SA11715C7C936C01 of Sapienza Università di Roma and by grants ARC-001149 and ARC-001666 of Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale awarded to MM. E. M-Q is funded by a Post-Doc Xunta de Galicia Grant (ED481B-2018/063). The Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage and the Oromia Region granted permits for fieldwork and laboratory and facilitated the research in many ways. The archive documents are due to the generous contribution of Jean Chavaillon’s relatives. Giuseppe Briatico was a most helpful member of the team during fieldwork in 2017. We are grateful to Niguss Gitaw Barake for his assistance during laboratory work at the National Museum of Addis Abeba. Special thanks are due to Jacques Pelegrin who co-supervised the PhD and whose comments on lithic taphonomy were very constructive.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze Dell’Antichità, Sapienza Università di Roma, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy

    Sol Sánchez-Dehesa Galán, Luca di Bianco, Elisa Brunelli & Margherita Mussi

  2. Italo-Spanish Archaeological Mission at Melka Kunture and Balchit, Italy-Spain , Rome, Italy

    Sol Sánchez-Dehesa Galán, Eduardo Méndez-Quintas, Rita Melis, Andrea Serodio Domínguez & Margherita Mussi

  3. Préhistoire et Technologie, UMR 7055, CNRS, Université de Nanterre, 92 allée de l’Université, 92023, Nanterre Cedex, France

    Sol Sánchez-Dehesa Galán

  4. Grupo de Estudos de Arqueoloxía, Antigüidade e Territorio (GEAAT), University of Vigo, Campus As Lagoas, 32004, Ourense, Spain

    Eduardo Méndez-Quintas & Andrea Serodio Domínguez

  5. Instituto de Evolución en África (IDEA), Calle Covarrubias 36, 28010, Madrid, Spain

    Eduardo Méndez-Quintas

  6. Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR7194, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle - CNRs- UPVD, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France

    Jean-Jacques Bahain & Pierre Voinchet

  7. Cerege UMR 7330, CNRS, Universite Aix-Marseille, BP 80, 13545, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Raymonde Bonnefille

  8. Centre de Recherche en Paléontologie – Paris, UMR 7207, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, CP 38, 8 rue Buffon, 75231, Paris cedex 05, France

    Denis Geraads

  9. Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Platz 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Denis Geraads

  10. Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università di Cagliari, Via Trentino 51, 009127, Cagliari, Italy

    Rita Melis

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  1. Sol Sánchez-Dehesa Galán
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Correspondence to Sol Sánchez-Dehesa Galán.

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Sánchez-Dehesa Galán, S., Méndez-Quintas, E., Bahain, JJ. et al. Age and formation processes of an Acheulean site with extensive accumulation of large cutting tools: Garba I (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 14, 55 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-022-01521-6

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