A Preface to the Paleoanthropological Section to be Launched on WIC Website

WIC Oct 14, 2000

Paleoanthropology involves the study of the physical and cultural evolution of human beings. Ethiopia, because of its unique geographical position and geological history, is one of the countries in the world to yield enormous information resource in this field of study. Taking this into consideration, the Walta Information Center (WIC) hereby announces the openning of a new section which has the objective of creating a web-based resource for those interested in paleoanthroplogical research activities in Ethiopia.

Because of numerous discoveries, particularly in the last few years, Ethiopia has attained the status of supreme contributor in the study of human origins. The articles and news to be posted at this section address will be presented by the Walta Information Center and the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritages Ministry of Information and Culture.

This section will have two parts: The first part will present a series of papers by professionals in the field on a monthly basis. The second one is designed to provide original news on a weekly basis on anything paleoanthopological related to Ethiopia. Since the Ethiopian paleoanthropological resources are part of the history of humankind in general, we believe, as guardians of this record of humankind, that peoples of the world who are interested in to know the day-8-day development of Cultural and Paleoantropologucal research activities in Ethiopia. Moreover, it is our belief that from this publications, everybody in the world gets scholarly information and in the long run such information will enhance the awareness of people interested in paleo-tourism in Ethiopia.

WIC invities surfers to forward their Contributions comments, or criticisms pertaining to the launching of our new section dedicated to the Ethiopian Paleoantropology.

History of Paleoanthropological Research in Ethiopia

Introduction

The geological history of the eastern part of the African continent has provided a unique setting in which the evolution of organisms can be studied paleontologically. Rifting in this area has led to the deposition and subsequent exposure of sediments spanning millions of years. Paleoanthropological attention has been drawn to Eastern Africa because this region offers many opportunities to investigate the evolution and behavior of a series of relatives and ancestors of Homo sapiens.

The last thirty years of discoveries in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania have been marked by an accumulation of geological and paleoanthropological data bearing on human origins.

Historical Background

The first vertebrate fossils reported from the Ethiopian rift system were found by an expedition led by the French explorer Bourg de Bozas who visited the area near the mouth of the Omo River  in Southern Ethiopia at the beginning of the 20th century. The first geological reconnaissance and substantial paleontological prospections of this southeastern most part of the Ethiopian rift system were carried out in the early 1930's. No hominid remains were recovered by that effort, leaving the initial honors to another French project in the same decade at Porc Epic Cave (1929 and 1933), by Teilhard de Chardin near Dire Dawa, far to the northeast. Brief visits to the Omo were made by Louis Leakey's associates in 1942 (Howell and Coppens, in de Heinzelin, 1983). Additional work on a variety of archaeological sites throughout the Horn of Africa was accomplished by Desmond Clark during World War Two (Clark, 1954).

Progress in Several Fronts: 1960-1981

Early in the 1960's, the Paleolithic site of Melka Kontoure, near Addis Ababa, in the head waters of Awash river, was located by G.Dekker, a hydro-geologist. A group lead by Jean Chavaillon began work in that area, on the edge of the rift, in 1965. Work there continued until 1982 (Chavaillon et al., 1979, and references therein). Research at the site is still in progress by an Italian mission led by Marchello-Pipperno. Meanwhile, in the late 1960's, a joint French-American-Kenyan expedition returned to the Lower Omo Basin. The work of this International Omo Expedition resulted in the recovery of paleontological and archaeological resources from a well-understood geological context (Howell, 1978; Howell and Coppens, 1974; Howell, et al., 1987; de Heinzelin, 1982, and references therein). The Omo project set the standards for large-scale paleoanthropological research in Africa.

Encouraged by Jean Chavaillon who was then excavating at Melka Kontoure, a French graduate student in geology, Maurice Taieb, proceeded in the late 1960's to conduct a geological survey along the Awash River, recording a variety of sites in the Afar Depression (Taieb, 1974). Maurice Taleb, Jon Kalb, and Donald Johanson formed the International Afar Research Expedition (I.A.R.E.) and began work at one of the sites he had found, Hadar (Johanson et al., 1982 and references therein). Jon Kalb, one of the members of the I.A.R.E. subsequently dropped out of the team and his Rift Valley Research Mission in Ethiopia (R.V.R.M.E.) proceeded to explore the Middle Awash region south of Hadar (Kalb et al., 1982a,b,c, and references therein). Another team under the direction of Desmond Clark undertook paleoanthropological work at Gadeb, on the plateau along the southeastern edge of the Ethiopian rift system (Clark and Kurashina, 1979; Williams et al., 1979). In the early 1970's, Fred Wendorf and associates investigated a small study area with Middle Stone Age sites in the Gademotta Formation (Lakes region, central Ethiopia; Wendorf and Schild, 1974). Finally, Clark and White undertook reconnaissance studies in the Middle Awash in 1981 (Clark et al., 1984).

The Development of Ethiopian Paleoanthropology: 1982-1988

The history presented above shows a pattern of mostly unsystematic reconnaissance for paleoanthropological resources, followed by discovery and intermittent or extended exploitation. Paleoanthropological collecting areas, once identified, have then continued to act as magnets to paleontologists, geologists and archaeologists working in Ethiopia. The results, particularly in the very productive sites such as Hadar and the Omo Shungura, have been spectacular increases in knowledge of the prehistory of this part of the world.

Paleoanthropological research in Ethiopia, before 1975, and for several years thereafter, was conducted by foreign-based expeditions, with little or no scientific collaboration by Ethiopian institutions or individuals. The Ethiopian Ministry of Culture (E.M.C.) regulated the research, issuing permits and mointoring it. Artifacts and fossils were usually loaned for study to foreign institutions. By the Fall of 1982, the Omo project was inactive and work at Gadeb had ended. Fieldwork at Melka Kontoure was being actively pursued. Fieldwork at Hadar had ceased in 1977 but was ready to resume in 1982. Fieldwork in the Middle Awash had ceased when Jon Kalb left the country. However, the work in the Middle Awash had resulted in the discovery of the Bodo Skull by Jon Kalb and Ethiopian colleagues in 1976. Investigation on the skull were carried out by Tsirha Adefris as a Ph.D. dissertation topic Research in the Middle Awash resumed under co-direction of Clark and White in the fall of 1981.

In the Fall of 1982 all fieldwork was being temporarily suspended until new national policies governing research were formulated and legislated. No fieldwork has been done by foreign expeditions since that ban went into effect, but a reconnaissance visit to the Gona area of the Afar by Ministry of Culture personnel and archaeologist J.W.K. Harris was made in the Fall of 1987.

In contrast to the stagnant fieldwork situation, the development of Ethiopian manpower and facilities in paleoanthropology has proceeded rapidly during the 1980's Ethiopian personnel have been trained at the professional and technical levels. Development of facilities at the National Museum of Ethiopia (under the Ethiopian Ministry of Culture) has also continued. The paleoanthropology laboratory funded by the National Science Foundation (N.S.F.) grant to Desmond Clark and colleagues now contains state-of the art casting and preparation capabilities, courtesy of the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation and the Institute of Human Origins, with trained technicians, computing facilities, and a growing cast collection. All fossil hominid collections from different sites of the country and other mammalian fossil remains have been curated in this facility along with archaeological remains.

Since 1981, Dr. Berhane Asfaw, who was then a doctoral student at the University of California at Berkeley, has held informal discussions with the Ministry of Culture representatives about the need for a nationwide survey of paleoanthropological resources. In September of 1987, anticipating his return to the Ministry, Dr. Berhane Asfaw made a formal proposal entitled "Inventory of Paleoanthropological Resources in the Ethiopian Rift" to the Ministry of Culture. In early 1988 the Ministry endorsed this proposal.

The inventory project was closed down in 1992 before it had accomplished its objectives.

The objective of the survey was to locate and assess the paleoanthropological potential of deposits in the Ethiopian rift system. The survey covered the Ethiopian rift system and adjacent highland areas with possible paleoanthropological resources. The most important data bearing on human origins and evolution have been found embedded and sealed in sedimentary envelopes within the rift. Occurrences bearing these data (usually artifacts and fossils) become susceptible to discovery as a result of erosion. For geomorphological reasons, fossiliferous occurrences in eastern Africa, as a very general rule, become rarer as their age increases--the older a deposit, the greater the chance that it has been eroded away or deeply buried. The results of fieldwork confirmed these general observations. For example, middle and late Miocene deposits (15 to 8 million years ago) that might hold clues to the origin of the Hominidae are rarer more disturbed than late Pleistocene deposits (last few hundred-thousand years ago).

Sites discovered by the survey span the time period between the Oligocene (30 million year ago) and the latest Stone Age and Iron Age occurrences in the last few thousand years (which are common).

Paleoanthropological Research Activities Since 1990

In the last 10 years, significant paleoanthropological results have been achieved in Ethiopia. This is as a result of fieldwork activities conducted by numerous research projects at various sites of the country, spanning from the time of Dinosaurs to the emergence of agriculture. The Hadar, Middle Awash, Konso, and Gona Paleoanthropological Research projects are among many others which have recovered early hominid specimens and ancient cultural artifacts that have earned worldwide recognition and scientific value.

The Hadar Research project has collected numerous hominid specimens since 1991. Among these, the first skull of Australopithecus afarensis, found in 1994, and a maxilla (upper jaw) of an early member of our genus Homo are to be mentioned as the most important specimens recovered. The specimens are 3.2 and 2.33 million years old, respectively.

The Middle Awash research project also has collected numerous hominid specimens. From these hominid discoveries, a new genus and species representing the earliest hominid ever found, Ardipithecus ramidus, was named in 1994. This species is 4.4 million years old. Another 2.5 million years old new species, Australopithecus garhi, was also recently named and it was the cover story of Time Magazine. This project has also recovered hominid specimens older than 5 million years.

The Konso Paleoanthropological project has, since its inception in 1993, been unearthing very significant hominid specimens dated to between one and two million years ago. Among the most significant discoveries are the first complete skull of an early hominid species named Australopoithecus boisei, and the best evidence of Acheulian stone tool technology ever found in the world.

The Gona Research project has been conducting archaeological research at a place called Gona in the Afar depression. This young project is being directed by one of the new generation of Ethiopian scientists, Dr. Sileshi Semaw. This site, from the cultural aspect of the prehistoric research in the country, has given to the world a new record on the origin of stone tool use at 2.6 million years ago.

Additional new paleoantropological research works include the following: A research programme is underway in Fejej area, Southern Ethiopia, under the direction of Professor Henry de Lumley, from the Institute de Paleontologie Humaine, France. An Austrian research group is beginning to undertake a paleoantropological research in Eastern Ethiopia. A paleontological survey between Gojjam and Gondar , in western Ethiopia , is being conducted by Mulugeta Feseha, a Ph.D Student in Austin, Texas, and his advisor John Kappelamn; a new paleoantropological project led by Dr. Zeresenay Alemseged, is conducting research south of Hadar and north of Talalak; John Fleagle and Zelalem Assefa are working in southern Omo around Kibish.  Ato Yohannes Haile-Selassie conducts palecontological research in the Mulu Basin and Galili area of his Ph.D. thesis; Ato Agazi Negash is conducting a prehistoric archaeological research in the Tembien area for this Ph.D. thesis; Ato Girma Hundie conducts research on prehistoric materials from around Yabello, southern Ethiopia for this Ph.D. thesis.

Summary

Because of the unique geological history of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Ministry of Information and Culture administers some of the most important antiquities on the planet, including sites and artifacts that document man's biological and cultural evolution over millions of years.

What is needed most in paleoanthropology is the discovery of new evidence. Although evidence will continue to come from sites that are already known, it is the evidence from undiscovered sites that may hold the most potential for advancing scientific knowledge about human origins and evolution.

The Ethiopian Government has promulgated a new legislation [proclamation No. 209/2000] and based on this law, the ministry of information and culture has issued new directive which gives wider opportunity for researchers interested to conduct research in Ethiopia.