Halibee member archaeology: Middle Stone Age environment, technology, and postmortem modifications

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Beyene, Yonas; Asfaw, Berhane; White, Tim D.; WoldeGabriel, Giday; Bernor, Raymond; Bibi, Faysal; Boisserie, Jean -Renaud; Brasil, Marianne F.; Brochu, Christopher A.; Carlson, Joshua P.; Garcia, Nuria G.; Giaourtsakis, Ioannis X.; Hailu, Haregewin; Hart, William K.; Head, Jason J.; Hlusko, Leslea J.; Kaya, Ferhat; Louchart, Antoine; Melaku, Sahleselasie; Muller, Johannes; Niespolo, Elizabeth M.; Pehlevan, Cesur; Renne, Paul R.; Souron, Antoine; Sanchez-Romero, Laura
• 署名单位: University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Centro Nacional de Investigacion de La Evolucion Humana (CENIEH); Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History; Leibniz Institut fur Evolutions und Biodiversitatsforschung; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universite de Poitiers; CNRS - Institute of Ecology & Environment (INEE); Western Washington University; University of Iowa; Complutense University of Madrid; National & Kapodistrian University of Athens; University System of Ohio; Miami University; University of Cambridge; University of Cambridge; Centro Nacional de Investigacion de La Evolucion Humana (CENIEH); University of Oulu; Ecole Normale Superieure de Lyon (ENS de LYON); Universite Lyon 1; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Princeton University; Nevsehir Haci Bektas Veli University; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Berkeley Geochronolgy Center; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Universite de Bordeaux; CNRS - Institute of Ecology & Environment (INEE); University of Sevilla; University of Sevilla
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-8424; 1091-6490
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2534441123
• 发表日期: 2026-04-28
• 页码: e2534441123
• 关键词: paleoanthropology; ethiopia; Afar Rift; archaeology; Middle Stone Age; homo-sapiens; AWASH; pleistocene; fire; site; taxonomy

摘要

The Middle Awash study area of Ethiopia's Afar Rift features a composite strati-graphic thickness of >1 km. Near the top of this succession lie sediments of the lower Halibee member, comprising the Faro Daba and Chai Baro beds. The former are radioisotopically dated to similar to 100,000 y in age and contain abundant fossils and associated lithic artifacts representing the Middle Stone Age (MSA). Geological, paleontological, and archaeological datasets recovered from these sediments enlarge a sparse later Pleistocene record of African human evolution, a time before anatomically modern populations of our species expanded into Eurasia. The Faro Daba occurrences comprise the richest, least disturbed, and most spatially extensive of many open-air MSA-bearing localities in the study area and beyond. Protected atop a resistant underlying conglomerate, the largely horizontal outcrops of the soft, eroding fossiliferous Faro Daba sediments provide spatially extensive access to in situ assemblages of artifacts and fossils. Sedimentology, faunal composition, and combustion features are consistent with a wooded depositional environment with seasonal flooding distant from the main river channel. Archaeological and paleontological assemblages indicate minimal postdepositional disturbance of primary lithic tool manufacture and discard during ephemeral human occupations on this floodplain. Among the recovered fossils are three partial human skeletons with taphonomic evidence of different postmortem pathways.