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Quaternary International xxx (2013) 1e12

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Survey and explorations of caves in southeastern Ethiopia: MiddleStone Age and Later Stone Age archaeology and Holocene rock art

Zelalem Assefa a,*, David Pleurdeau b, Frederique Duquesnoy c, Erella Hovers d,Osbjorn Pearson e, Asfawossen Asrat f, Constantinos T/Tsion g, Yin Man Lamh

aDepartment of Anthropology, Archaeobiology Program & Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History,1000 Constitution Avenue, Washington, DC 20560, USAbDépartement de Préhistoire e UMR 7194 CNRS, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, FrancecUniversity of Aix-Marseille I, Franced Institute of Archaeology, The Hebrew University, IsraeleDepartment of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, USAfDepartment of Earth Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopiag Ethiopian National Museum (retired), Addis Ababa, EthiopiahDepartment of Anthropology, University of Victoria, Canada

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Available online xxx

* Corresponding author.E-mail addresses: [email protected] (Z.

(D. Pleurdeau), [email protected] (E. Hovers), [email protected] (O. Pea(A. Asrat), [email protected] (Y.M. Lam).

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a b s t r a c t

The horn of Africa provides the setting for the evolution of early modern humans and their dispersal outof Africa as well as for the entry, many thousands of years later, of pastoralists who brought Near Easternand, later, South Asian livestock into Africa. However, significant gaps remain in our understanding of thelate Upper Pleistocene archaeological record of the horn of Africa, mainly due to the paucity of well-stratified sites from the period. The discovery in southeastern Ethiopia of a number of caves with richUpper Pleistocene and Holocene archaeological deposits, many of which also had rock art depictingdomestic animals, offers an unprecedented opportunity for exploring the later prehistory of the region.In 2007, 2008 our survey documented twenty-one cave sites and shelters with evidence of culturaldeposits, including Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) stone artifacts, faunal remains,and rock art. Active and fossil speleothems, important for paleoclimatic reconstructions and chronology,were found from two other caves in eastern and western Harerghe. Test excavations were conducted atthree sites, with abundant archaeological material documented from stratified deposits at two of thesesites e Gilbo Tate and Goda Buticha. The latter is a subject of another paper in this volume. Rock art wasrecorded at eighteen sites, three of which (in western Harerghe) had not previously been documented. Atmany of the sites, much of the art is faded and in a vulnerable state, and continued efforts to documentand conserve this art are urgently needed.

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1. Introduction

Cave sites have provided much of the archaeological evidencefor the behavior of early modern humans during the late MiddlePleistocene and the Upper Pleistocene, especially in the Levant andin southern Africa. In the horn of Africa, only a handful of cave sitesand rock shelters dating to this time period are known (Marean andAssefa, 2005). The most notable of these sites is Porc-Epic cave in

Assefa), [email protected] (F. Duquesnoy), hovers@rson), [email protected]

nd INQUA. All rights reserved.

et al., Survey and explorationternary International (2013)

southeastern Ethiopia, where a long sequence of Middle Stone Age(MSA) deposits has yielded an extensive archaeological sample offaunal remains (Assefa, 2006), along with a similarly large assem-blage of MSA stone tools (Pleurdeau, 2003). The Mesozoic lime-stones of the Antalo Formation in southeastern Ethiopia (Boselliniet al., 2001), which outcrop extensively along the southern wallof the Rift Valley around Harer, contain numerous karst caveswhich were suitable for occupation during prehistoric times andwhich provide ideal environments for the preservation of archae-ological remains.

The horn of Africa has provided critical evidence concerningthe origins of modern humans from both biological and behavioralperspectives (White et al., 2003; McDougall et al., 2005; Li et al.,2008). It has produced some of the earliest modern human

s of caves in southeastern Ethiopia: Middle Stone Age and Later Stone, http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.07.132

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Z. Assefa et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2013) 1e122

fossils and represents one of the two most likely routes formodern human migration out of Africa, the other being the NileValley (Field et al., 2007; Oppenheimer, 2009). Recent archaeo-logical finds from South Asian sites and related genetic studies(Forster and Matsumura, 2005) indicate that the out-of-Africadispersal may have taken place anywhere between 80,000 and45,000 years ago, and most likely originated in eastern Africa.Most work in eastern Africa to date has focused on open-air sites.However, these have yielded only a small number of well-stratified fossil and archaeological assemblages. A primary objec-tive of this project has been to locate and identify additionalarchaeological assemblages in the limestone cave complexes ofsoutheastern Ethiopia. This archaeological project also has thepotential to provide data concerning the important Neolithic re-cord of the horn of Africa, evidence of which can be found in therich rock art tradition across this region. Much remains to belearned about the timing of the shift from hunter-gatherer topastoralist economy in Ethiopia. Only a handful of well-excavatedarchaeological sites date to this important transitional period. Thismeager record is supplemented by occasional associations be-tween cultural remains and generally undated rock art. Therecently discovered cave sites in southeastern Ethiopia containarchaeological deposits, environmental evidence, and rock art thatpromise to shed new light on these important topics.

Fig. 1. Distribution of document

Please cite this article in press as: Assefa, Z., et al., Survey and explorationAge archaeology and Holocene rock art, Quaternary International (2013)

2. History of research

Southeastern Ethiopia has been a focus of archaeological in-vestigations since the pioneering surveys of de Montfried andTeilhard de Chardin in 1929 (Breuil et al., 1951), which led to themajor 1933 excavation at Porc Epic Cave (Breuil, 1934; Breuil et al.,1951). Much of the subsequent research (Bailloud, 1959; Cervicek,1971; Clark and Williams, 1978; Joussaume, 1981) focused on thedescription of the rock art sites, particularly the Lega Oda paintings(Cervicek, 1971). Most of these studies were conducted without abroad regional focus, limited to a few individual sites and offeringonly preliminary descriptions of the rock art at these sites (Carder,1988). In the mid-1970s, following a comprehensive reconnais-sance survey of much of southeastern and east-central Ethiopia(Clark andWilliams, 1976, 1978), excavations were resumed at LegaOda, Porc Epic (Clark, 1979; Clark and Williamson, 1984), and theopen-air site at Aladi Springs (Clark and Williams 1976). In subse-quent years, despite the widely acknowledged significance of MSArecord at Porc Epic (Breuil et al., 1951; Clark and Williamson, 1984;Pleurdeau, 2003, 2005; Assefa, 2006; Assefa et al., 2008b) andincreasing interest in the origin and dispersal of modern humans,no systematic exploration for caves bearing archaeological depositshave been conducted in the region. The project described hererepresents an attempt to remedy this situation.

ed caves and rock shelters.


Z. Assefa et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2013) 1e12 3

3. Geological background

Extensive outcrops of Mesozoic sedimentary formations withmassive beds of limestone (known as the Hamanlei Formation),capped by conglomeratic sandstones (the “Upper Sandstones” orAmba Aradam Formation), occur in the northeastern part of theSoutheastern Ethiopian Plateau (GSE, 1985; Bosellini et al., 1999,2001). The limestone strata contain numerous karst caves andsecondary deposits (e.g., speleothems) suitable for paleoclimato-logical and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction (Asrat et al., 2007,2008) and provide favorable conditions for the preservation of bonein archaeological deposits (Assefa, 2006). Most of the cave sitesreported here are located in the limestone beds of the HamanleiFormation. These cave sites developed along generally NE-SWoriented fracture lines and are currently decaying due to the sub-sequent lowering of the groundwater level.

4. Research goals

Two of the primary goals of the survey were (1) to locate and re-examine cave sites initially reported by earlier researchers (Breuil,1934; Breuil et al., 1951; Bailloud, 1959; Cervicek, 1971, 1979;Clark, 1976; Joussaume, 1981; Bouakaze-Khan and Poisblaud,2000) and (2) to find and document previously unknown archae-ological sites in the survey area.

The study of the rock art has been a primary focus of many of theprevious researchers in the region. Most of the work aimed toestablish chronologies and regional comparisons from stylisticdifferences, relying on Cervicek’s (1971,1979) classification scheme.For a better understanding of the rock art tradition in the region,the researchers have been aware of the need to reconstruct thelocal paleoecology (see Carder, 1988), but little evidence wasavailable to do so. Moreover, the accuracy of Cervicek’s classifica-tion scheme has not been supported by detailed comparative studyof the composition, motifs, and overall aesthetic expression of therock art tradition across the region (Le Quellec, 2002-2003;Joussaume, 2007). Accordingly, one major goal of this project wasto visit previously documented rock art sites and to identify newones, documenting them through photography and mapping. Thistask has a particular urgency, given that most rock art sites areunder imminent danger of destruction due to human activity. Our

Table 1List of cave sites and rock shelters documented during 2007/8 field seasons. Sites are so

Site Type Location

Porc-Epic C 9.569714 �N, 41.886481 �EEnkuftu CR 9.580648� N, 41.870790� EKeracha C 9.570393� N, 41.859151� EKirte O 9.565724�N, 41.863137�EDugda Burka C 9.592570� N, 41.905779� EKere Jeldessa S 9.57615 �N, 41.941433 �ESeka Goda CR 9.637512� N, 42.011877�ELega Oda S 9.500824 �N, 41.677404 �EGoda Ajawa S 9.51023 �N, 42.063418 �EGoda Okote C 9.491103 �N, 41.666653 �EGoda Buticha C 9.541704�N, 41.629434�EGara Beleke C 9.548153�N, 41.609456�EGoda Derbi C 9.515361 �N, 41.615658 �EGoda Gara Jewe* C 9.531233 �N, 41.608725 �EGilbo Tate S 9.517822 �N, 41.609476 �EGoda Harardanger C 9.694256� N, 42.116794�EGoda Jinicha C 9.511425�N, 41.562881�EGoda Wonji S 9.439853 �N, 42.090096 �EWadessa S 9.49586 �N, 41.59093 �EGoda Biftu S 9.443088 �N, 41.609515 �E


project aimed to publicize this threat and provide an impetus forthe conservation of these sites through the education of localpeople and collaboration with local officials, while simultaneouslyrecording the rock art that remained.

The other primary goal of this project has been to identify newcave sites and rock shelters with archaeological deposits. Givenrecent advances in paleoclimatic research and dating methods, oursurvey focused on identifying caves with datable materials (e.g.,speleothems) that would provide data on the paleoclimate of theUpper Pleistocene in the region (Baker et al., 2007; Asrat et al.,2008).

5. Materials and methods

The survey project focused on pocket areas along the northernescarpment of the Southeastern Ethiopian Plateau, extending fromGelemso in the west to Gursum (Funyan Bira) in the east, a distanceof approximately 200 km (Fig. 1). Specifically, the survey targetedareas surrounding the town of Gelemso and the southeasternfoothills of the Gara Nigus ridge in Western Harerghe, along thevalleys of the Gemam, Gerbe Leku, Gultu, Oda, Ramis and Hursorivers in Eastern Harerghe, around the cities of Dire Dawa andHarar, to the northwest of the town of Kombolcha, to the north ofthe town of Ejersa Goro and further southeast near the town ofGursum. The surveyed areas are situated at elevations between1300 and 2500 m above sea level, across different ecological zones(Assefa et al., 2008a, 2009) (Table 1). Our survey targeted outcropsof limestone deposits, closely examining them for the occurrence ofhabitable cave formations. We compiled a list of target sites gath-ered from both published (Breuil, 1934; Bailloud, 1959; Cervicek,1971; Clark and Williams, 1976; Cervicek, 1979; Joussaume, 1981;Bouakaze-Khan and Poisblaud, 2000) and unpublished (Carterand Carter, 1975; Carder, 1988) sources, including the results ofpreliminary studies conducted in southeastern Ethiopia in the late1980s by a team of researchers from Authority for Research andConservation of Cultural Heritages (ARCCH) led by Ato Con-stantinos T/Tsion. Information on additional sites was provided bylocal and regional Tourism and Culture offices as well as by localresidents. From the list of all possible sites, a selection of target siteswere made based on the geological context of each site, its acces-sibility, and its potential for producing prehistoric cultural remains.

rted according to distance from Dire-Dawa.

Elevation (meters) MSA LSA Rock art

1398 X X125913261304 X12731358 X16811658 X X1971 X1692 X1382 X X X13181531 X14941534 X X X112414992213 X X X1690 X1860 X

(continued on next page)


Table 1 (continued )

Site Type Location Elevation (meters) MSA LSA Rock art

Alelle S 9.37892 �N, 41.611546 �E 2136 XGoda Kinchiba** C 9.514905 �N, 41.546554 �E 1563Goda Dessa C 9.519678 �N, 41.542072 �E 1375 X X XRachid Hussein O 9.428839 �N, 41.568499 �E 2075 XWybur S 9.475401 �N, 41.539252 �E 1871 XGoda Dubetta S 9.557443 �N, 42.221464 �E 2175 X X XHaraho S 9.364351� N, 41.607298�E 2105Goda Afejero* C 9.518929 �N, 41.501446 �E 1351Goda Burka S 9.519681 �N, 41.50074 �E 1340 X XGara Amara CS 9.719560� N, 42.317599�E 1403Rorissa B 9.295834 �N, 42.233021 �E 1427 X XIstinko East/West*** S 9.364563�N, 42.391356�E 2058 X XGoda Ummeta** S 9.039357 �N, 41.012092 �E 1687 XDhaga Afandera A/B S 8.832432 �N, 40.540439 �E 1860 X XHaley Butchiro S 8.798729 �N, 40.487188 �E 1923 X

*Contains a few non-diagnostic tools; **Speleothems, ***Neolithic tools; Site types, C ¼ Cave; CR ¼ Cavern; O ¼ Open-air; CS ¼ Caves and shelters in a cinder (scoria) cone;S ¼ Shelter; B ¼ Boulder. Shaded ¼ No cultural remains.


The documentation of each site included a short description ofthe type and abundance of observed cultural remains. At a few sitesthat showed potential for archaeological deposits, we used simplecoring devices and foot augers to determine the depth of any suchdeposits at different sections of the cave. With all its extensionsattached, the auger-type-soil sampler kit (Oakfield Model C) mea-sures 91.44 cm long, and augers have 3.175 cm diameter and adouble twist width with a 6.35 cm pitch. This method of pre-liminary testing led us to concentrate on three sites (Goda Dubetta,GilboTate, and Goda Buticha), due to the depth of their deposits anddensity of the archaeological remains. Test excavations at all threesites were performed using the standard methods of excavation -employing a grid system andmaintaining 10 cm depth interval. Theexcavations were conducted using simple hand tools (such asshovel and trowel), and sediments removed from the excavationunits were dry sieved using a 6.35 mm hardware mesh. In situ toolsand faunal remains were collected from all tested sites, and char-coal samples were collected from Goda Buticha for radiocarbondating. Stratigraphic profiles of all test-excavated units was recor-ded and photographed, and sufficient description of individualstrata and soil horizon provided. For all collected in situ findings,provenience documentations were included e marking the loca-tion, depth, and unit of each finding.

For rock art, a systematic photographic coverage of the wallssupporting paintings and engravings was conducted using a highresolution camera. Recognizable images were recorded with acloser framing. All pictures were later processed using DStretchimage enhancement, a plug-in tool custom developed by Harman(2005) for use with the image-processing and analysis programcalled ImageJ. This tool adds clarity to faint pictographs and can beused on any digitally captured image. The plug-in uses a decorre-lation stretch algorithm which was first developed for spatial im-aging (Alley, 1996). For a given image, the pixels color histogram isdecorrelated using a statistical transformation (Loève, 1955) in wayto enhance the main color of each pixel. Some colors are betterenhanced depending on the color space used for the histogram. D-Stretch plug-in allows the user to test the decorrelation result fordifferent color spaces and thus to determine the sharpestenhancement of a given motif. After enhancement, each identifiedmotif (including partial ones) was given unique ID number and itsposition on the wall was recorded (e.g., McNiven et al., 2004). Insubsequent studies, the DStretch enhancement tool will be used toexamine evidence of superimpositions (Gunn et al., 2010) and todetect more faint motifs. By using such methods, it was possible torecord a broad set of images in dozens of caves and rock shelters,without making touching the art itself. This minimized damage to


the paintings as well as possible contamination of the pigments,some of which may be used for dating purposes.

GPS coordinates were collected from all sites and entered into aGIS system developed for the study area. This GIS system incor-porated moderate-to-high resolution satellite imagery (Aster Data),digital elevation data, and both large (1:50,000) and intermediate(1:250,000) scale digital topographic maps covering the entirety ofsoutheastern Ethiopia.

To establish a more accurate picture of the chronologicalsequence at Goda Buticha, we employed a variety of absolute datingtechniques. Samples of ostrich eggshell and charcoal were collectedfor 14C dating, while samples of speleothemwere used for uraniumseries (234U þ 230Th) dating. During our last field season in 2011,sedimentary samples from Goda Buticha were collected for opti-cally stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. No datable materialwas recovered from the other sites.

6. Results

Starting in 2007, the survey team conducted three field seasons,the last of which (2011) was entirely devoted to an excavation ofGoda Buticha [see a separate report on Goda-Buticha in this vol-ume]. During the first two field seasons (JuneeJuly 2007 andOctober 2008), we visited 35 caves, rock-shelters, and open-air sites(Table 1). Of these sites, evidence of prehistoric human occupationwas identified at 25 (including Porc-Epic and Lega Oda). MSA lithics(e.g., points, scrapers, and Levallois cores) were documented in 7caves or rock-shelters (including Porc Epic) and one open-air site.Artifacts diagnostic of the LSA (e.g., backed tools and microliths)were found in 10 caves or rock shelters and one open-air site. Twosites (Goda Buticha and possibly Goda Dessa) contained MSA andLSA artifacts in stratigraphic succession. Additional sites (GodaWenji, Gilbo Tate, and Goda Dubetta) produced both MSA and LSAmaterial but in disturbed contexts. A number of sites had faunalremains associated with the lithics; the level of faunal preservationvaried significantly among these sites. We discovered two karstcaves, Goda Kinchiba and Goda Ummeta, with numerous speleo-thems in the form of flowstones, stalagmites, and stalactites. Pot-tery sherds were found in small numbers at Goda Wenji and GodaButicha, coming from both surface and in situ contexts. Relativelymore pottery fragments, all from surface contexts, was observed atGoda Dubetta B, Dega Afandera B, Goda Afejero, and Istinko East/West. Pottery was not collected from these sites, except for thehand decorated (incised) pieces from Istinko West, found associ-ated with LSA and Neolithic-type tools (Fig. 2).


Fig. 2. Stone tools and incised pottery fragments from Istinko East and West.


We also documented numerous sites with rock art, much of it ina fragile state. The test excavations and the rock art are described inturn.

6.1. Test excavations

In 2008, we conducted a series of test excavations at the threesites (Goda Dubetta, Gilbo Tate, and Goda Buticha) that had beenidentified as the most promising in 2007. Surface materials from afourth cave site, Goda Dessa, included a variety of MSA/LSA toolsand faunal remains, but we were notable to carry out a test exca-vation at this site. For each of the excavated sites, we documentedthe stratigraphy and depth of the deposits, the density of lithic andfaunal remains, the types of artifacts present, and any materialssuitable for dating occupation horizons.

6.1.1. Goda DubettaLocated between two major valleys (Gegno Insa and Ulahama)

at the foothill of the Serita Mountain (w7.5 km south of EjersaGoro), this site consists of two easterly-orientated, long rock shel-ters that are 200 m apart. Both are dug in an approximately 15 mhigh limestone cliff on the southern side of a small valley. In thispaper we use the names Goda Dubetta A and Goda Dubetta B torefer to the larger and smaller shelters, respectively. Inspection ofthe floor of Goda Dubetta A revealed the presence of a few stoneimplements that seemed to have a limited archaeological potential.Goda Dubetta B had more abundant scatters of lithics. Most of thelithics were undiagnostic artifacts and débitage. Chert was theprimary material represented, with few obsidian pieces. The sur-face material suggested that the site preserved a substantial MSAcomponent topped by a smaller amount of LSA materials.

We performed a test excavation of Goda Dubetta B in 2008(Fig. 3A). The depth of the sediments, testedwith an auger drill, wasw20 cm in most parts of the shelter, with the exception of thenorthern section where it was about 50 cm deep. Using a standardmethod of excavation, a 1 m2 excavation unit placed in the area ofthe surface with highest lithic density revealed evidence of recenthuman disturbance; none of the archaeological material appearedto be in primary context. Considering that archaeological materialsfrom this site derived only from the upper 20e30 cm deposits, it ispossible that the site once contained LSA horizons that were sub-sequently destroyed by recent human activities.


Three stratigraphic units were observed in the section of the testpit. From top to bottom these are:

1. Surface material (ca. 15 cm): This unit contained recent organicmaterial, including goat droppings, straw, wood bark andbranches, as well as a large number of lithics. These weremainly chert and included a large number of burned artifacts.Only few retouched pieces were observed, of which the mostdiagnostic were geometric microliths.

2. A horizon (10 cm) of brown, relatively compact silt, in placesshowing signs of burning. This unit had far fewer organic ma-terials. The types of lithics did not change but were lessnumerous.

3. Decaying bedrock (20e25 cm). This unit consists of decaying,crumbly yellow-white limestone with no artifacts. This is theshelter’s bedrock, which dips to the west.

The test excavation did not reveal the presence of an MSAoccupation. Given the secondary, disturbed context of the artifacts,this site does not appear to hold potential for further archaeologicalwork (see Bouakaze-Khan and Poisblaud, 2000 for an earlier similarassessment of archaeological remains from this site). Only smallquantities of artifacts were collected from Goda Dubetta B, and themajority of these artifacts are from surface contexts.

6.1.2. Gilbo TateThis site is in a rock shelter (8 m deep, 15 mwide and 10m high)

situated on a cliff facing the Hurso valley in the foothills of HaroretiRidge (w2.5 km south of Serkema Village). It was first described byBailloud (1959), who noted the site had a high concentration ofpaintings representing a wide assortment of styles and motifs.Gilbo Tate was chosen for test excavation because of the abundanceof lithic artifacts (MSA and LSA) observed during the 2007 survey. A1 m2 test unit was excavated to a depth of about 1 m (Fig. 3B)revealing a series of stratigraphic units in the section (Fig. 4). Eachunit dipped to the north (i.e., toward the open edge of the shelter).From top to bottom the units are:

1. Top soil (5e20 cm), with straw, wood, recent organic material.2. Compact, beige silt (25e30 cm), finely laminated.3. Dark brown, fine-grained silt (ca. 10 cm). Roots penetrating

down to this layer form a distinct horizon within the silt.


Fig. 3. (A) Plan (right) and transversal section along the A-B line (left) of Goda Dubetta. Location of the test pit (TPI) is marked in small square, (B) plan (right) and transversalsection (left) of Gilbo Tate. Note location and depth of the test pit (TPI), located adjacent to the pit dug by the villagers (dashed line). Large boulders, possibly due to collapse of theoverhanging roof, mark the current edge of the shelter, to the north of which is a steep talus. (C) Plan (right) of Goda Dessa.


4. Brecciated, orange silt (ca. 20 cm), in which some larger boul-ders were embedded.

5. The excavation did not reach bedrock. At the bottom of Unit 4, alens of soft sediment remained in one corner of the pit fromwhich abundant small lithics were still being excavated. Anauger was used to test the depth of the sediment at this spotand went down at least 90 cm more. Thus, the full depth ofsediment at Gilbo Tate may in fact be as much as 200 cm, buthow much of it is heavily brecciated remains unknown.

The variations in color and hardness of the sediments in thesection of Gilbo Tate are largely attributed to post-depositionalprocesses. Moreover, the changes in sediment color and hardnesscould be attributed to the effects of bioturbation by animals, rootactivity in all the stratigraphic horizons (most clearly seen in layer3) and the effects of rock collapse which tended to soften the soiland prevent it from brecciating.

The test unit at Gilbo Tate revealed the presence of a ca. 2 mthick cultural deposit. Variations in sediment consistency and color


were observed from�150 cm and lower. Initially it seemed that thepartially brecciated light orange sediment tended to contain largeMSA tools, while the brownish grey soil appeared to contain manysmall flakes and blades typical of the LSA. Artifacts derived from thetwo soil types were therefore treated as deriving from two separatecontexts. Upon inspection of the sieved material and observation ofbroken Levallois pieces, however, it became clear that therewas notsufficient evidence for the presence of two cultural components.Hence we view the main cultural component at the site as MSA,present in layers 2e4. The artifacts are mostly of chert and volcanicrawmaterials, including a few pieces of obsidian (Fig. 5). Dorsal scarpatterns tended to be uni- or bi-directional. Pointed and triangularforms are common among the unbroken pieces. The lithics wereslightly abraded and heavily coated with encrustations of calciumcarbonate, consistent with sedimentological features that indicatepost-depositional chemical alteration of the sediments. There wasalso evidence of bioturbation by rodents and root activity and ofrock collapse. Only a few burned artifacts were recovered, and therewas no trace of faunal remains. Additional excavation at Gilbo Tate


Fig. 5. Assorted stone tools derived from the test excavation at Gilbo Tate.

Fig. 4. Gilbo Tate section drawing.


is required to clarify the sedimentary context and composition ofthe archaeological remains.

6.1.3. Goda ButichaGoda Buticha (also referred to as Serkema, after the nearest

village) is a small cave located in the foothills of Gara MulutaMountain, facing the Hurso valley below and the Borat Mountainw25 km to the north. The cave is situated high on an outcrop ofGebredare Series crystalline limestone. It is made up of two fracturesystems oriented at right angles to each other, with a smallchamber at the intersection. The sediments extend from theopening of the NW entrance at least 20 m into the interior.

At Goda Buticha, a test excavation of a small area (w1 m2 to adepth of 2.2 m) of the cave revealed two major stratigraphiccomplexes, separated by a distinct horizon of angular gravels ofnatural origin (see Pleurdeau et al. in this volume). From top tobottom, the cultural stratigraphy represents a sequence of smallbacked microliths, cores, bladelets, a mixture of unifacial andbifacial points, Levallois cores, and non-diagnostic larger pieces.Other recovered material included faunal remains, ostrich eggshellbeads, charcoal, and stalagmite, as well as human dental andskeletal remains e all derived from in situ contexts of both theupper and lower complexes.

Radiocarbon AMS dates were obtained from nine charcoalsamples and UeTh dates from in situ speleothem specimens. Theseprovide a rather complex picture of the sedimentary and culturalsequence at Goda Buticha. Of the nine charcoal samples submittedto Beta-Analytic for AMS dating, seven (BETA 255122, 255123,255124, 269594, 269595, 269595, 269597) from the upper, middle,and lower sections provided mid-Holocene ages ranging from 6940to 5590 bp. The remaining two charcoal samples, both from thelowest section of the deposit (33 cm above the bedrock), providedAMS ages of 29,680 � 230 bp and 31,590 � 270 bp (BETA 269593and 255121, respectively). The speleothem samples from the uppersection of the sediment (50 cm from top surface) provided UeThdates of 46 � 1.8 ka and 22 � 0.7 ka. The test excavation reachedbedrock at a depth of 2.2 m below the top soil layer.


With sediments dating to 30 ka and possibly much farther backinto the Upper Pleistocene, Goda Buticha has the potential to pro-vide evidence concerning a critical time period in the emergence ofmodern human behavior and the dispersal of modern humans outof Africa (Klein, 2000). Inconsistencies among the set of datesindicate that the sedimentary and cultural stratigraphy at GodaButicha is complex and requires systematic investigation throughfurther excavation.

7. Rock art

The survey area is well known for its rich cave art, most of whichdepicts the early stages of the region’s pastoralist tradition (Brandtand Carder, 1987; Carder, 1988). To date, no systematic documen-tation of rock art in the Horn of Africa has been conducted (Brandtand Carder, 1987; Carder, 1988). Existing accounts (Breuil, 1934;Bailloud, 1959; Cervicek, 1971, 1979; Carter and Carter, 1975;Clark, 1976; Joussaume, 1981, 1995) are largely limited to stylisticdescriptions and attempts to establish the relative chronology of afew sites in the region.

Holocene rock art, dominated by pastoralist themes, was docu-mented in 20 caves and rock-shelters, some of which contain alsolithics from earlier deposits (Table 1). The majority of sites listed inTable 1 are described by authors referred above, and will not bediscussed separately in this paper. Our survey project documentedfor the first time three caves and rock-shelters in western Harerghe(Goda Ummeta, Dega Afandera A & B, and Haley Butchiro). Theypreserve rich rock art that exhibits stylistic similarities to paintingsfound further to the east but also exhibit distinct features. Detailedstudy of these sites will be important to document the extent ofstylistic variations of the rock art across this region. As newly


Fig. 6. (A) Goda Ummeta Cave, (B): left part of Goda Ummeta ceiling, (C): right part ofGoda Ummeta ceiling.


discovered sites, they would be good candidates for pigment sam-pling for chemical characterization and dating. All three sites inWesternHarerghewere found and reported tous byAtoHadis of theregional Culture and Tourism Office. Here we provide a briefdescription of the paintings at these newly discovered sites.

7.1. Goda Ummeta

Located in Western Harerghe, about 20 km southeast of Chirrotown and close to the Sheikh Hashim village, on a steep slope about200 m above the north side of a stream that drains into Ulan KuniRiver, GodaUmmeta is a largewet karst cave that haswell preservedpaintings on its ceiling (Fig. 6A). On the north side of the ceiling, justabove a small platform, a cluster of around thirty paintings depict aset of black and light humpless cattlewith the lower part of the bodydrawn as a reverse W-shaped contour (Fig. 6B). The black bovinesexhibit similarities with the “Sourre-Hanakiya” style (see Breuil,1934, Fig. 7). However, the reverse W-shaped belly is moreemphasized and systematic, reminiscent of the Chabbè-Galma style(Le Quellec, 2002-2003, p. 60). The white bovines feature whatseems to be an ornament hanging from the horns. Three of theseeye-shaped “ornaments” seem to have been painted separately. Tothe best of our knowledge, none of the published rock art sites of theregion feature this motif, either alone or associated with cattle.Alongside the cattle are anthropomorphic figures bearing bow andshield, also typical of the Sourre-Hanakiya style. Some of thepaintings are obscured by a grey veil of flowstone deposited on thesurface of the ceiling. On the southern end of the roof (Fig. 6C) arefour white figures of the same type as on the other side, e ananthropomorphic figure with bow and shield, two bovines withW-shaped ventral contours, and an eye-shaped “ornament”. Theserepresentations are very clear but have been damaged by flaking.

7.2. Dega Afandera A/B

Located close to Gelemso in the area called Awisherif, DegaAfandera is a sandstone shelter that consists of two (A & B)southerly-orientated walls that stand about 30 m apart. Both aremid-way up a hill and provide a commanding a view of the sur-rounding countryside (Fig. 7A). The most westerly wall, “Wall A,” isalmost vertical e measuring 12 m long and about 8 m high. Theother wall, “Wall B,” lies to the east. Its dimensions are similar tothat of Wall A. It is protected by a small roof created by the upperstratum. Each wall features around twenty paintings scatteredacross the entire surface of the wall situated at a height of 4.5 mabove the ground. It is unclear what the painter(s) used to get to thehigh panels of the shelter wall to depict the paintings. There is noevidence of a ground level change during recent millennia. The factthat most of the paintings are quite large (between 40 and 80 cmlong) could indicate the painter’s desire to make his/her workvisible from a substantial distance. This may provide some insightabout the function of the site for possible ceremonial purposes.

Whilemostof thepaintings represent redhumpless bovines, twoupper ones situated on the dark part of the wall are related to“Sourre-Hanakiya” style. A few more paintings in the lower half ofthe walls exhibit features resembling the “Dahtami proper” style(Fig. 7B, C). An interesting element of the paintings from this siteconsists of engravings tracing the outlines of some figures. One ofthe bovine paintings has its horns and udder engraved (Fig. 7D) in asimilar fashion to what is reported from sites further east inSomaliland and Somalia e Las Geel (Gutherz et al., 2003) and KarinHeegan (Brandt and Carder, 1987). Further investigations of suchstylistic similarities may reveal some degree of cultural and eco-nomic connection across a vast area of the horn of Africa stretchingfrom the highlands ofWesternHarerghe to the plains of Somaliland.


A good part of the paintings from Wall B (Fig. 7E) have erodedthrough flaking but seem to belong to the “Dahtami proper” style.One of the bovines has a semi-circular ornament below its neck, asdoes one on Wall A. The paintings on this wall are less well pre-served. Scattered artifacts of LSA type were also observed, a fewcoming from a shallow deposit at the floor of the wall.

7.3. Haliya Butchiro

Also close to Gelemso, this shelter is a 50 m long wall formed onan erosional concavity in a high sandstone cliff orientated to thesouthwest (Fig. 8A). It features around fifty paintings scatteredacross the entire back of the wall. Most are very large (more than1m long), but faded and difficult to identify. Images and symbols atthis site include red and white quadrupeds, anthropomorphs, other


Fig. 7. (A): Dega Afandera rock shelters A & B, (B): main panel of Dega Afandera (C1) Green anthropomorphic figures of Dega Afandera A e the original image, (C2) slightenhancement with DStretch plug-in for ImageJ, (D1) bovine painting in Las Geel style. e the original picture, (D2) slight enhancement with DStretch plug-in for ImageJ, (E) paintingsof Dega Afandera B. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Please cite this article in press as: Assefa, Z., et al., Survey and explorations of caves in southeastern Ethiopia: Middle Stone Age and Later StoneAge archaeology and Holocene rock art, Quaternary International (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.07.132


animals, dotted lines, and schematic figures comprising oval orwheel-shape figures (Fig. 8B). A few engravings are also repre-sented. A substantial part of the paintings are affected by recentchalk graffiti, some covering entire parts of the image. Interestingly,while this site is very close to Dega Afendera, the styles of imagesrepresented here are distinct. It is important for subsequent studieson the rock art from this and other nearby sites to examine howsuch stylistic differences relate to chronological, cultural or eco-nomic factors.

The different types of paintings observed at each site across thestudy area are listed in Tables 2 and 3. Many of the rock art siteshave paintings which appear to be consistent with the differentstyles (Sourre-Hanakiya, early Dahthami, and later Dahthami) ofCervicek’s “EthiopianeArabian” group (1979). Preliminary

Table 2List of cave sites and rock shelters containing rock arts. The columns refer to thethree stylistic stages (following Cerivicek’s 1979 classification) and their represen-tation at individual sites.

Site Sourre-Hanakiya Dahthami

Early Late

Kere Jeldessa XGoda Ajawa X XGoda Okote X XGoda Buticha X XGilbo Tate X X XGoda Wonji X XWadessa X XGoda Biftu XAlelle X X XGoda Dessa X X XWybur X XGoda Dubetta X XGoda Burka XRorissa X (West wall) X (south wall)Istinko East/West XGoda Ummeta X X XDhaga Afandera A/B X XHaley Butchiro ?

Table 3Rock art sites and represented subjects. Counts of paintings include individual subjeHL ¼ humpless, HS ¼ H-shaped, NA ¼ naturalistic.

Bovines Fat-tailedsheep

WildAnimals

Anthropomorphs Motifs Quadr

HL HU HS NA

Goda Buticha X X X XGilbo Tate X X X X X XGoda Dessa X X X X XGoda Okote X X XGoda Wadessa X

Goda Dubetta(A & B)

X X

Rorissa X X ? X XGoda Ummeta X X XDaga Afandera

(A & B)X X

Haliya Butchiro X XPorc-Epic?Kere JeldesaLega OdaGoda Ajawa X X XGoda Wonji X XGoda BiftuAllele X XWybur X X X X XGoda Burka X XIstinko East/

WestX X


classifications of the paintings (Table 2) follow these stylistic cat-egories. Only Goda Dessa, Gilbo Tate, and possibly Allele possesspaintings representing all three stages (Table 2). Paintings at HaliyaButchiro appear to have stylistic features different from those of theexisting classification scheme. This highlights the need for furtherclarification of the current classification scheme, taking into ac-count all variants of the rock art across this region.

The preservation of paintings at Goda Dessa in particular and, tosome degree, at Gilbo Tate appears to be relatively good. At GodaDessa, the rock art contains both pastoralist and (possibly) hunter-gatherer elements, including a uniquely diverse range of wild faunaranging from felines, elephant, oryx, to ostrich. Many of these fig-ures are superimposed on others; careful study may be able todetermine the relative chronology of the paintings.

A notable feature that the new sites in Western Harergheportray is the lack of very small figures (around 10 cm or less) andabsence of fat-tailed sheep. Such smaller figures and fat-tailedsheep are fairly common in sites such as Goda Buticha and GilboTate (Bailloud, 1959) in Eastern Harerghe, where similarly denseconcentrations of paintings have been documented. The paintingsin two of the major sites in the region, Laga Oda (Cervicek, 1971)and Porc-Epic (Breuil, 1934; Breuil et al., 1951) have been describedin detail by other authors and are not included in this report. Ourvisit to both sites, however, found that the paintings in both arefading and disappearing. To prevent the imminent danger ofdestruction at these and other sites, immediate conservation andprotection is necessary. Other sites, such as Goda Buticha, Goda(Ganda) Biftu or Sourre, Goda Wonji, Wadessa, and Wybur share amore pressing conservation problem. Paintings in these sites arefading fast or are already badly damaged due to incursions bypeople and livestock. Alongside the conservation efforts, it isimportant to re-document all remaining paintings at these sitesusing new recording tools and methodologies such as the GigaPansystem (Mark and Billo, 2012), which allows producing high-resolution panoramas from hundreds of digital images capturedusing an automated robotic camera.

cts that are still visible to a naked eye. Abbreviations refer to: HU ¼ humped,

upeds Camels Unidentified Counts ofpaintings

Size

w95w80 20 m long, 7 m deep, and 7 m high

X X w70 10 m long, 10 m deep, and 5 m high? 10 m long, 1 m deep, and 1 m highw30 11 m long, 5 m deep, and about

3 m highX ? A ¼ 25 m long, 7 m deep

B ¼ 50 m long, 7 m deepw30 15 m in diameter and 7 m highw30 20 m long, 5 m deep, and 7 m highw25 A ¼ 12 m long and 8 m high

X w30 50 m long, 5 m deep, and 15 m high

? 2.75 m long, 5 m deep, and 1.7 high

X w40 18 m long, 5.75 highX ? 10 m long, 4 m high, and 2.5 m deepX ?

w15 ?X w20 ?

w4 ?w3 East ¼ 10 m long, and 3 m high


Fig. 8. (A) Haliya Butchiro rock shelter, (B) wheel-shaped and barbed figures of Haliya Butchiro.


8. Discussion

The first two seasons of work in and along the SoutheasternEthiopian Plateau yielded new sets of data derived from caves androck-shelters in the region. While only a few sites were tested andfewer yielded in situ archaeological material, these sites and thegeneral region demonstrate strong potential for research into thelate Upper Pleistocene and Holocene prehistory.

Although more LSA than MSA sites were encountered, both arefound over an elevation range of 900 m (Table 1). As in the CentralRift Valley of Kenya (Ambrose, 2001), MSA occurrences occur athigh elevations (e.g., Goda Wenji and Goda Dubetta B, at 2213 and2175 m above sea level, respectively). However, localities contain-ing MSA remains also occur at elevations lower than that reportedfromKenya (Table 1). Isaac (1972) and Bower et al. (1977) suggestedthat the range of habitats exploited by MSA groups in the CentralRift Valley was restricted, with a preference for a forest/savannaecotone. The topographic distribution of MSA localities in thenorthern escarpment of the Southeastern Ethiopian plateau sug-gests that this may not have been the case in this region. Ongoingpaleoclimatic and dating analyses of speleothems from multiplecaves and rock shelters in the study area (Asrat et al., 2008, 2007;Baker et al., 2010, 2007) will help test the hypothesis of anuanced paleoenvironmental context (cf. Ambrose, 2001).

With the exception of the open-air site of Rachid Hussein, allsites with LSA remains also contain rock art. At most rock art sitespottery was rare. Our survey has revealed the pastoralist rock arttradition in southeastern Ethiopia to be more widespread anddiverse than previously known. Systematic studies are needed toestablish the chronology and understand the stylistic variabilityand affinities of the different types of paintings across the region(Clark, 1962; Ambrose, 1998; Le Quellec, 2002-2003; Le Quellec,2004; Joussaume, 2007). A better understanding of the rock artwould provide new evidence for the history of animal domestica-tion and the spread of pastoralism across this region (Lesur-Gebremariam, 2009; Muigai and Hanotte, 2013), where the ori-gins of food production and domestication are still poorly under-stood. In northern Africa, herding of what may have beenindigenously domesticated humpless cattle may have originated asfar back as 9000 years ago, preceding the exploitation of domes-ticated plant foods by several thousands of years (Marshall andHildebrand, 2002). However, the southward spread of livestock


seems to have been a slow and irregular process (Bower, 1991;Marshall and Hildebrand, 2002), with eastern Africa representingan important corridor for the diffusion of cattle and other livestockinto southern Africa. Historical and genetic data indicate that thehorn of Africa was a primary entry point of South Asian humpedzebu cattle in Africa (Stokstad, 2002; Magnavita, 2006). EasternAfrica also appears to have provided the setting for the trans-formation of earlier, diversified subsistence strategies that com-bined herding with hunting and fishing into the specializedpastoralist practices characterized by a complete reliance on live-stock products that may still be found in the region (Marshall,1990). The influence of environmental variables on these eventsis of special interest (Brandt and Carder, 1987; Bower, 1991); theintroduction of zebu cattle may correspond with the onset of drierconditions in eastern Africa at about 2000 BP, and the shift to aspecialized pastoralist subsistence strategy with the emergence of abimodal rainfall pattern over part of East Africa at about 2500 BP(Marshall, 1990). The recent Raman spectrometry-based study(Gomes et al., 2013) of mineralogical characterization of somepigments from Gode Roriso (Rorissa e in Eastern Hararghe) hasshown the presence of organic material such as beeswax, whichmay be useful in providing alternative means of dating of thepaintings across the region. Our ongoing survey activities insoutheastern Ethiopia will provide the framework for documenta-tion and study of the distribution, chronology, and stylistic varia-tions of the rock art complex in the region.

Acknowledgments

We thank the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cul-tural Heritages (ARCCH) for permission to explore the study area.This research was supported by grants from the NationalGeographic Society (grants # 8110-06 and #8510-08). Fieldwork onthis project was greatly aided by the efforts of Tilahun G/Selassie,Workalemahu Bekele, Hadis, Haptewold H/Michael, and manyothers. We would like to thank the French Center for EthiopianStudies for providing technical support for the missions andfunding a part of the laboratory work. We thank zonal and localTourism and Culture Offices of the Eastern Harerghe, WesternHarerghe, the Dire Dawa Administration, and Harari NationalRegional State for fieldwork administrative support and informa-tion on many sites.



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