Late hunters of western Ethiopia: the sites of Ajilak (Gambela), c. AD 1000–1200

Abstract

The dual model of foragers versus producers is increasingly perceived as inadequate for understanding the complexities of subsistence practices in the past and in the present. A wide spectrum of in-between strategies, falling under the label ‘low-level food production’ (Smith 2001), has been pointed out. Africa has, however, remained mostly outside this debate, despite offering many examples of societies that combine hunting and gathering with food-production, particularly in ecological and cultural borderlands. This paper examines one such society by presenting the first archaeological evidence from the region of Gambela, in the borderland between South Sudan and Ethiopia. Field survey here identified several sites with traces of occupation during the early second millennium AD. One of these sites (Ajilak 6) furnished a large number of faunal remains, most of which derive from wild animals. The exploitation of aquatic resources is also attested. Human remains were found that show traces of manipulation, tentatively identified as evidence for the practice of secondary burial. The sites are interpreted as being related to a low-level food-producing group that was probably ancestral to present-day populations engaging in similar economic activities.