The Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeology of eastern corresponds to the emergence and expansion of Homo sapiens populations within and out of Africa.
Despite its long research history, some points such as population dynamics and interactions, the role of different environments in the developments of regional identities and the mode and tempo of technological variability of the archaeological record is still a matter of debate. This is due, in part, to the lack of well-dated sites.
Here we present a proposal on a new MSA site in southern Ethiopia, named GOT-10, an open-air stratified sequence preliminary dated to MIS3, that we discovered in the Gotera area we are exploring since 2016. The site has yielded lithic artifacts and faunal remains in situ. These fresh data have the potential to contribute to the broader debate about occupation and behavioural dynamics of our species, in an area of East Africa still virtually unknown and out of the Rift and to gather new human fossils in this key period.
The Grandi Scavi Program will allow us to finalise the study of the archaeological materials, to continue the investigation of the area, and, above all, to prosecute the excavation and sampling of the GOT-10 site.
This multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research project will contribute to the knowledge of modern human behaviour and dispersal dynamics in East Africa. Furthermore, by combining data from archaeology, geology and paleoclimate with modelling and statistics, it will be possible to hypothesize the structure of Homo sapiens populations that settled the region. Comparison with other MSA sequences inside and outside Ethiopia will give an insight about the continental variability of the MSA. Comparison with non-human primates will help to elucidate cognitive and evolutionary aspect in stone tool evolution.
