Negus Kabri: A Middle Stone Age site at Asbole, lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia.

Studies of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in East Africa are important for understanding the time period when both anatomical and behavioral modernity first appear in the archaeological record. Ethiopia has significant early modern human fossils (e.g. McDougall et al. 2005, White et al. 2003) and a wealth of archaeological sites documenting MSA behavior (e.g. Clark 1988). In November of 2006, the Dikika Research Project conducted an archaeological survey on the left bank of the Awash River in an area known as Asbole, in the Lower Awash Valley, Ethiopia. There, several surface occurrences of MSA lithic assemblages were discovered at a locality called Negus Kabri. One of these, Site 12, was selected for collection and excavation. Here we present the excavation, stratigraphic context, and MSA lithic assemblage from Negus Kabri. Taphonomic studies indicate excellent preservation of the site in primary context. Lithic studies establish the MSA antiquity of the site, while tephrochronology establishes an age younger than 0.64 Ma with a minimum age pending radiometric analyses. The assemblage is largely made on volcanic raw materials available locally in gravels underlying the site; however, obsidian is also present and was likely transported from greater distances and in more advanced stages of reduction. Levallois and point technologies have long been considered a defining aspect of the MSA in East Africa. Levallois dominates among core technologies at Negus Kabri, and Levallois cores include very small examples, similar to those reported from Aduma in the Middle Awash (Yellen et al. 2005). Retouched artifacts are made preferentially on Levallois flakes. Points are the most common retouched artifacts, including small unifacial and bifacial points made on obsidian. Point technology is further explored via analysis of metric variation, breakage patterns, and comparisons with Eurasian Middle Paleolithic assemblages. Comparison with other sites in Ethiopia aids our understanding of MSA adaptations.