The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) assigns the annual financial contribution for four archaeological missions in Ethiopia organized and led by Italian universities.
These archaeological campaigns are realized in coordination with the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH), stressing the strong and long-lasting cultural ties between Ethiopia and Italy.
The University of Rome “La Sapienza” is carrying out two important archaeological missions in Ethiopia, led by Prof. Enza Spinapolice and Prof. Marina Gallinaro.
This presentation aims at introducing two ongoing archaeological projects in southern Ethiopia. The projects are focused on two important steps in human evolution: the emergence of modern humans and behavioural modernity and the emergence of Pastoralism in East Africa.
We selected two particularly promising regions, lying in a key area immediately to the east of the better-known Omo Region, Gotera and Yabelo. These areas are of particular interest, as they are adjacent to the archaeologically prominent Rift Valley and their archaeological record is almost unknown, apart from very few investigations carried out some decades ago. Moreover, the archaeological record of the region covers a large part of the Late Quaternary, thus offering the opportunity to investigate local human dynamics in a diachronic perspective, in a key landscape for the study of human-environment interaction, and to try to identify any continuity or discontinuity in the human occupation pattern.
In Gotera, after extensive and systematic surveys, we are currently working on the Gotera 10 site, a stratified open-air site with fireplaces and MSA lithic industry, dated to MIS 3.
In Yabelo the archaeological record is characterised by the presence of several rock shelters with stratigraphic sequences and rock art evidence, we will focus here on YAB-6, a site locally known as Dhaka Kura.
This presentation is in collaboration with the Addis Ababa University (Institute of Ethiopian Studies – Departement of Archeology).