Archaeologists have uncovered human remains dating back around 100,000 years. Thousands of stone tools and animal bones found in Ethiopia’s Afar Rift suggest that Homo sapiens returned multiple times to a wooded, resource-rich area on the savannah, long before humans spread into Eurasia.
Led by Yonas Beyene from the French Center for Ethiopian Studies, the team worked at the Halibee site, where layers of ancient sediment reveal details about the environment these early humans lived in. Unlike many other sites, Halibee offers one of the richest open-air snapshots of Middle Stone Age life found in Africa.
Why This Site Is Unusual
Halibee used to be a floodplain surrounded by dense woodland, making it an attractive place for early humans. The area was full of resources, from plants to animals, which likely drew people back again and again. Yonas Beyeneand his team believe these groups didn’t settle there permanently, but visited regularly to take advantage of what was available.
“Procurement of locally exposed raw material,” as the team’s study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, stated, “enabled fine and heavy-duty tool manufacture during occupations of unknown frequency and duration.”
The team found thousands of stone tools made from basalt, which was easy to find in the area. These tools were used for cutting and other tasks. Only about 2% were made from obsidian, a material not found locally, suggesting some movement or exchange with other regions.
Animal bones from monkeys, antelopes, and even predators like lions show that humans shared this landscape with a wide range of species. Over time, tools and remains were buried in sediments and are now being exposed again by erosion.
“During recurrent ephemeral occupations of this rich landscape, humans shared this catchment with an array of animals. The results of this manufacture — and sometimes the remains of the human visitors — were embedded in overbank silts on an aggrading floodplaindistal to the main river channel. They are now being revealed by slow wind and water erosion at Faro Daba.”
Three Different Fates: Human Remains Tell Their Stories
Among the surprising finds at Halibee were the remains of three humans. The first skeleton was almost complete and well preserved. It looks like the body was quickly buried, possibly by flooding, with no clear sign of a burial ritual.
The second individual is known only from a tooth and a few bone fragments. These show signs of burning, though it’s unclear whether this was caused by a wildfire or human activity.
Thethird set of remains shows clear signs of animal damage, including bite marks and missing joints. This suggests the body may have been scavenged after death, though it’s hard to say exactly what happened.
Living Alongside Wild Animals
The animal bones found at the site reveal a wide range of species that lived alongside early humans, from small rodents and lizards to larger predators like lions.
What’s interesting, according to the researchers, there’s no clear evidence that humans were butchering these animals. This suggests they may not have been actively hunting them, but instead living alongside them, possibly scavenging or simply sharing the same environment.
This finding helps paint a clearer picture of what life was like for early Homo sapiens. While they lived in a rich environment, it wasn’t without its dangers. Beyene and his colleagues conclude that:
“The surface and subsurface resources embedded in Ethiopia’s Halibee member will last for generations.”
And with much of the site still unexplored, Halibee may have more to reveal in the future.
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