The Gademotta Formation in the Main Ethiopian Rift Valley is known for its

Middle Stone Age The Middle Stone Age (or MSA) was a period of African prehistory between the Early Stone Age and the Late Stone Age. It is generally considered to have begun around 280,000 years ago and ended around 50–25,000 years ago. The beginnings of ...

archaeological sites. It is located west of

Lake Ziway Hora-Dambal also known as Lake Zway or Dambal ( Oromo: ''Hora Dambal'', Amharic: ዟይ ሐይቅ) is one of the freshwater Rift Valley lakes of Ethiopia. It is located about 100 miles south of Addis Ababa, on the border between the Oromia and S ...

. In addition to the type-site, which assumes the same name, the formation contains a cluster of sites at Kulkuletti, some away. The near-lake environment and locally available

obsidian Obsidian () is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed when lava extruded from a volcano cools rapidly with minimal crystal growth. It is an igneous rock. Obsidian is produced from felsic lava, rich in the lighter elements such as silicon ...

may have attracted the continuous/repeated occupation of the area by Middle and Late

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

hominins. The Gademotta Formation site-complex was discovered in the early 1970s by a team of researchers under the leadership of Fred Wendorf and

Romuald Schild Romuald Schild (2 October 1936 – 23 November 2021) was a Polish archaeologist who was professor for the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. He died on 23 November 2021, at the age of 85. An age of over 279,000 years old is published for the oldest Middle Stone Age site in the Formation. Although similar in age with the oldest Middle Stone Age site in the

Kapthurin The Kapthurin Formation is a basalt outcrop in Kenya near Lake Bogoria and Lake Baringo. Part of the East African Rift System, it is also an important archaeological site in the study of early humans who occupied the area and left Acheulean ston ...

Formation,

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

, the oldest occupation at Gademotta is characterized by technological elements that are exclusively attributable to the Middle Stone Age. Stone-tipped throwing spears of that age have been studied.

References

{{Reflist, 2 Archaeological sites in Ethiopia Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region Archaeology of Eastern Africa