Plant environment and resource exploitation in SW Ethiopia >50 ka to the present

• Applicants: Dr. Karen Hahn; Professorin Dr. Katharina Neumann
• Subject Area: Prehistory and World Archaeology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 446948552

SW Ethiopia is one of the most ecologically and culturally diverse regions of Africa. The montane forest zone of the SW Ethiopian highlands captures more rainfall than the lowlands and might have acted as a refugium for humans during arid periods of the Late Quaternary. The montane forests could have served as a nexus within a refugium network, with easy access to larger lowland rivers (e.g. the Omo) and the Rift lakes, as well as to the alpine zones at higher altitudes. However, data on palaeoenvironment and available resources of the montane forest zone are currently insufficient to support any model of human agency, mobility and landscape utilization in the past. Recent archaeological excavations in the SW Ethiopian montane forest zone have revealed stratigraphies dating from 400 BP to > 50 ka (50,000 years) before present, and well-preserved plant remains. The project focuses on the reconstruction of the ancient vegetation and its resource potential through analysis of multiple palaeovegetation proxies (wood charcoal, phytoliths, and stable carbon isotopes) from three rockshelter sites: Mochena Borago, Sodicho, and Kumali, all located around 2300 m asl. We will correlate the vegetation proxies with global and regional palaeoclimate information to estimate the changes of the highland vegetation in relation to temperature and precipitation fluctuations during the last 50.000 years. In combination with the palaeoenvironmental studies, we will compile ethnobotanical data for an assessment of the availability of edible plants in the montane forests and adjacent vegetation types. A major focus lies on human impact on the vegetation, especially bushfires for landscape management. Human-induced bushfires might have been an adaptive strategy for humans already in the Late Pleistocene to increase the resource potential through the creation of mosaic-like landscapes. Four key questions are in the focus of our project: 1) Did Afromontane forest persist throughout Late Pleistocene climate fluctuations, or did more open vegetation types from higher altitudes replace it, at least partially? 2) Was mid to late Holocene vegetation dense forest, or more open woodland under increasing human impact? 3) To what extent did human-induced fire contribute to the spread and maintenance of an open vegetation? 4) What key plant resources would have been available in undisturbed and disturbed Afromontane forests and neighboring vegetation types under various climate regimes?The interdisciplinary project will be conducted in close cooperation between partners from Germany, Ethiopia, USA, and the UK. In addition to the scientific cooperation, capacity building for the University of Addis Ababa is a major focus of the project.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants