Garba III (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia): a MSA site with archaic Homo sapiens remains revisited

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Garba III, in the upper Awash Valley of Ethiopia, is one of the many sub-sites of Melka Kunture, where the overall archaeological record starts at c. 1.8 Ma. Garba III was excavated over several years in the 1970s, under the direction of Francis Hours, who was able to publish only preliminary reports before his untimely death. At the base of the sequence, Acheulean layers were discovered and, above then, MSA layers characterized by ferruginous concretions, where three cranial fragments of Homo sapiens were also found. An age close to 150 ka was suggested for the human remains and associated industry of the upper layers, which are the focus of the current re-assessment. At the time, however, no clear-cut distinction was made between Acheulean and MSA. In 2011, the original site was re-located, geological trenches were dug, the stratigraphic sequence was documented in detail, and a geomorphological reconstruction was prepared. Lithic collections and anthropological remains, kept in Addis Ababa, were also re-studied. New field research highlights complex site formation processes, including cyclic phases of erosion and re-deposition of pre-existing soils and deposits. However, pedogenetic processes, which developed twice, also point to prolonged phases of stability, in good accordance with the state of preservation of the lithic industry, which is neither rolled nor fragmented. Small-sized obsidian pebbles were knapped, which were available locally in the alluvium deposits. The technological and typological analysis confirms that the lithic industry is Early MSA. A variety of knapping methods were in use, including the Levallois method, well established and mostly recurrent. Points were produced, as well as scrapers, denticulates, and scaled pieces. Circumstantial evidence points to an age not later than an early phase of MIS 5e. The anthropological remains, one of which was so far undescribed, are fragments of a right parietal bone, of a parietal or, more likely, of a frontal bone, and of an occipital bone. They contribute to the still scanty fossil record available at the key-time of the “archaic” H. sapiens emergence and early spread.