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Abstract:

The study of human occupation and land use of high-altitude areas has been widely neglected in Ethiopia. This is probably due to the hypothetical assumption of general hostility which these areas may have represented. However, recent studies from different parts of the world have evidenced multiple human occupation of highly elevated areas during the late Pleistocene and Holocene periods. As a consequence, the exact environmental circumstances and the human strategies used to colonize high-altitude mountains and plateaus are now coming into closer focus. The Bale Mountains National Park, the study area of this research, is one of the most mosaic and bio-diverse areas in Ethiopia. It unites highly diverse vegetation zones in a comparably small area. It is a floral and faunal hotspot, characterized by high numbers of unique endemic species. In the case of the fauna, this refers to animals such as Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis), Ethiopian highland hare (Lepus starcki), Bale monkey (Chlorocebus djamdjamensis), mountain nyala (Tragelaphus buxtoni), giant mole-rat (Tachyoryctes macrocephalus), not to mention many bird species as well. The Bale Mountains not only host the largest afroalpine areas, but also the largest spatial extent of high altitudes of the entire African continent. Before a survey in 2015, there were few paleoecological and botanical studies conducted in the area. The first archeological studies not only showed human MSA occupation and use of the afroalpine ecozone, but also led to the discovery of many rock shelters with occupation horizons. The Simbero rock shelter is one of the largest shelters in the Bale Mountains located in the northwest part of the park at 3,519 m asl elevations in an exceptional strategical location. Excavations at this site uncovered a stratigraphic sequence reaching back as early as c. 14,000 years until very recently, with a concentration of finds (fauna, charcoal, lithics) dating to between c. 5,000 and 2,000 years ago. Given the extraordinary number of faunal remains at this site, in-depth zooarcheological studies became mandatory as an ideal complement to the in-depth paleoenvironmental and archeological studies carried out at this site. Therefore, the first purpose of this research was to identify and investigate the agents of the faunal accumulations at the rock shelter. After human accumulation can be made sure, the identification of the predominantly exploited animals’ species should be achieved. Additionally, dietary variation and behavior of humans need to be investigated in relation to the identification of skeletal parts that were consumed predominantly. Finally, conclusions on the ecosystem and potential climatic changes on the base of faunal assemblage are desirable for the time of the human occupational periods at the rock shelter. In order to achieve these objectives, the faunal material of square K4 of the 2018 excavation at Simbero rock shelter was washed and dried for a better analysis of surface modifications. Each specimen was recorded separately and the information was stored into an Excel database, which formed the base for any statistical inquiry presented in this study. Consequently, more than 1,400 faunal remains were recorded and analyzed in terms of species abundance and skeletal part representation according to stratigraphic origin. By using the statistical means of the MNI, NISP and NSP values, it could be demonstrated that the prehistoric hunter-gatherers at Simbero rock shelter exploited a wide range of mammalian species. Abundant small mammals are followed by bovids of different size categories in the majority of studied levels. Hare, hyrax and rodents were among the commonly identified animals. In these cases, most elements of the body were recovered however, in the case of large and mid-sized mammals, most parts were represented by parts of long bones. Importantly, the vast majority of the faunal remains were burnt by humans, which forms the first and foremost anthropogenic modification of the bones, apart from distinct cut marks. As clear features for carnivores/owls or other non-anthropogenic agents are almost entirely missing, this study concludes that the faunal remains from Simbero rock shelter were hunted, transported, modified, and consumed by humans. With respect to skeletal part abundance, only small mammals are represented by a huge variety of body parts. This includes small, fragile part as well as large, robust long bones. This implies that there is a recurrent pattern of small mammals’ bones to have been locally captured, transported to shelter, and consumed there. This probably also includes small bovids (size classes I and II). In contrast, bovids and other mid- to large-sized mammals, represented mainly by parts of the long bones yielding large amount of meat, probably were dismembered at the killing places and only selected parts entered the rock shelter. It should be stressed that the bones were discovered in close association with stone tools and in charcoal-rich stratigraphic layers. This can be viewed as a good manifestation of humans using the tools to process the animal consumed and discovered in the rock shelter. The most surprising aspect of this study (requiring further investigations) is the unusual high amount of fire traces on bones (corresponding to those on lithic artifacts and sediments). These burnt bones came from all excavated levels. Some of them exhibited a very high degree of burning indicated by calcinated bones. Finally, due to the high fragmentation and resulting limitations in the identification of these bone fragments, in was not possible to include detailed analyses of the following two aspects: the identification of domesticates (especially from the younger top layers), and a more detailed paleoclimatic assessment. Therefore, further studies (e.g., by ZooMS) might contribute to the identification of domesticates. For an improved understanding the high-altitude land use and occupation in the Bale Mountains, this study proposes further analysis of zooarcheological remains of additional sites. As previously mentioned, only little work has been done on LSA faunal materials in Ethiopia. Thus, there are many sites identified in the park which might enable a regional study which could contribute to understanding the temporal and spatial patterns of site occupation, duration of occupation (seasonality), and the associated environmental changes and contrast these with other Holocene sites in Ethiopia.