The Late Acheulean of the Mieso Valley (Central-East Ethiopia)

Abstract

The Mieso valley contains Middle and Upper Pleistocene deposits that were reported for the first time in recent years (Benito- Calvo et al, 2014; de la Torre et al, 2014). The Middle Pleistocene sequence has yielded several Acheulean occurrences that show significant inter-assemblage variability, including areas of handaxe production where conjoining sets are abundant, and sites where handaxes appear fully formatted and possibly used on-site. 40Ar/39Ar dates of the Middle Pleistocene sequence indicate an age younger than 212 ka for unequivocally-Acheulean sites which, if confirmed, would indicate persistence of this technology in the Rift Valley in a time span where the Middle Stone Age prevailed in nearby archaeological regions. This presentation will discuss the structure of the archaeological record in the Mieso Acheulean and contextualise it within the chrono-stratigraphic sequence of the East African Middle Pleistocene.