Archaeology and Context of Hugub, an Important New Late Acheulean Locality in Ethiopia's Northern Rift

Abstract

It is during the late Acheulean, approximately 600–300 kya, that post- erectusHomo becomes more Neanderthal-like in western Eurasia (culminating with the Middle Paleolithic Neanderthals) and progressively more human-like in Africa. In this paper we present the initial report of anew well-dated Late Acheulean assemblage from the Hugub open-air locality (Ethiopia). The Hugub Bed, an excavated 10–20cm archaeological unit, is rich with in situ artifacts and paleoenvironmental data. In this vast exposed area, the fauna and depositional context suggest a seasonally inhabited lakeshore environment adjacent to xeric grasslands. The studied lithic assemblage yields numerous, often diminutive broad-tipped ovate and pointed bifaces made on large flakes. These showthe earliest evidence of intensive on-site resharpening as well as the earliest use of the plano-convex method. This emergent pattern of tool production, maintenance, and discard is typical for the post-Acheulean industries and has no ana-logs among earlier Acheulean-making populations of Homo erectus. Single crystal 40Ar/39Ar dates on tuffs bracket the Hugub Bed between 600 and 500 thousand years ago, making this locality the earliest securely dated Late Acheulean archaeology in Africa.