Geochronological and Paleoecological Context of the late Acheulean at Mieso, Ethiopia
Final Report Abstract
The site of Mieso in Ethiopia records the persistence of a classic Acheulean lithic assemblage that may be as young as ~212 ka, making it one of the youngest examples of this Early Stone Age technology in Africa. Other levels in the Mieso sequence also contain stone tools assigned to the Late Stone Age (LSA) and possibly also to the Middle Stone Age (MSA), as well as a diverse assemblage of fossil vertebrates. The exact age of the sediments at Mieso is, however, uncertain and the fauna was never described. Given the importance of documenting the technological and paleoecological context of transitions in human evolution, and the paucity of information on Middle to Late Pleistocene evolution in African faunas, our objectives were 1) to revisit the Mieso site to collect samples and conduct new geochronological analyses, and 2) to study and analyze the Mieso fauna and its reconstruct its ecological context. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by civil conflict, prevented these objectives from being fulfilled.
