The Transition from Hunting–gathering to Food Production in the Gamo Highlands of Southern Ethiopia

Authors

John W. Arthur, University of South Florida
Matthew C. Curtis, University of California, Los Angeles
Kathryn J. W. Arthur, University of South Florida
Mauro Coltorti, Universita di Siena
Pierluigi Pieruccini, Università di Torino
Joséphine Lesur, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle
Dorian Fuller, University College London
Leilani Lucas, Community College of Southern Nevada
Lawrence B. Conyers, University of DenverFollow
Jay Stock, University of Cambridge
Sean Stretton, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Robert H. Tykot, University of South Florida

Publication Date

3-7-2019

Document Type

Article

Organizational Units

College of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences, Anthropology

Keywords

Gamo Highlands, Anthropogenic deposits, Plant domestication, Hunting–gathering

Abstract

Over three field seasons between 2007 and 2012, we excavated three caves—Mota, Tuwatey, and Gulo—situated at an average elevation of 2,084 m above sea level in the cool and moist Boreda Gamo Highlands of southwestern Ethiopia. Anthropogenic deposits in these caves date from the Middle to Late Holocene (ca. 6000 to 100 BP) and provide excellent preservation of material culture, fauna, flora, and human skeletal remains from which to investigate changes in technologies and habitat use over the last several thousand years. Here, we present results and interpretations, suggesting ways in which Holocene communities of the Boreda Gamo Highlands constructed new landscapes and technologies in their transition from hunting and gathering to an agropastoral way of life.

Publication Statement

Copyright held by author or publisher. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.

Recommended Citation

Arthur, John W, et al. “The Transition from Hunting–Gathering to Food Production in the Gamo Highlands of Southern Ethiopia.” The African Archaeological Review, vol. 36, no. 1, 2019, pp. 5–65. doi: 10.1007/s10437-018-09322-w.