Early to Middle Holocene human adaptations on the Buri Peninsula and Gulf of Zula, coastal lowlands of Eritrea

Abstract

Recent excavations at three sites on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea revealed early-middle Holocene human occupations. Marine shells were found in close association with lithic artefacts at the sites, suggesting a coastal economy. Two broad occupation phases have been recognised: i) eighth millennium BP settlements at Gelalo NW and Misse East; and ii) a sixth millennium BP occupation at Asfet Unit F. Environmental changes and/or autocatalytic niche broadening mechanisms may have stimulated prehistoric human adaptations on the Eritrean coast. Drawing upon the archaeological evidence from the three excavated sites, this paper discusses the chronological and cultural contexts of early-middle Holocene human adaptations on the Red Sea coast of Eritrea.

Des fouilles récentes sur trois stations archéologiques sur la côte érythréenne de la Mer Rouge ont révélé des occupations humains de l'Holocène ancien et moyen. Les coquilles marines trouvées en association avec des outils lithiques suggèrent une économie littorale. Deux phases principales d'occupation sont reconnues: i) les sites de Gelala Nord-Ouest et de Misse Est du huitième millénaire BP; et ii) une occupation du sixième millénaire BP au site de Asfet Unit F. Des changements environnementaux et/ou des mécanismes autocatalytiques d'expansion des niches écologiques ont pu encourager les adaptations humaines préhistoriques sur la côte érythréenne. En employant les témoignages archéologiques des trois sites fouillés, cet article présente les contextes chronologiques et culturels des adaptations humaines pendant l'Holocène ancien et moyen sur la côte érythréenne de la Mer Rouge.

Keywords:

• Red Sea coast
• Eritrea
• Later Stone Age
• early-middle Holocene

Acknowledgements

Fieldwork was generously supported by the Dan David Prize, the LSB Leakey Foundation and the Wenner-Gren Foundation. I thank my dissertation committee-John Shea (advisor), John Fleagle, David Bernstein and Steven Brandt-and the University of Asmara and National Museum authorities in Eritrea: Zemenfes Tsighe, Yosief Libsekal, Abebe Kifleyesus, Senait Bahta and Tadesse Mehari. For research collaboration, I am grateful to Daniella E. Bar-Yosef (shell analysis), Ghebretinsea Woldu (geology), Michael Glascock (obsidian sourcing) and all my Eritrean research assistants and administrators from Irafailo and Gelalo. Thanks are due to Richard Leakey and Lawrence Martine for providing me with a postdoctoral fellowship in the Turkana Basin Institute. For editorial assistance I thank Peter Robertshaw.

This article is dedicated to the late Mr. Habtom Kahsay, a devoted staff member of the National Museum of Eritrea and an amicable research assistant throughout my fieldwork in Eritrea.