MIS 3 innovative behavior and highland occupation during a stable wet episode in the Lake Tana paleoclimate record, Ethiopia

Abstract

Securely dated archaeological sites from key regions and periods are critical for understanding early modern human adaptive responses to past environmental change. Here, we report new radiocarbon dates of > 42,000 cal years BP for an intensive human occupation of Gorgora rockshelter in the Ethiopian Highlands. We also document the development of innovative technologies and symbolic behaviors starting around this time. The evidenced occupation and behavioral patterns coincide with the onset and persistence of a stable wet phase in the geographically proximate high-resolution core record of Lake Tana. Range expansion into montane habitats and the subsequent development of innovative technologies and behaviors are consistent with population dispersal waves within Africa and beyond during wetter phases ~ 60–40 thousand years ago (ka).