Late Holocene societies from South Ethiopia: results from the Nechisar Archaeological Project

This paper will present the results from an archaeological survey conducted
in November 2009 inside the Nechisar National Park in the south part
of Ethiopia. During this survey, we have found two rockshelters located on
the slope on the Mome Mountain on the south-western foothills of the
Somali plateau. Testing-pits were made in both sites, showing the presence
of several occupation layers that contained lithic artefacts, bones fragments
and in one of them ceramic sherds. For the moment, one of the sites gave a
date of the first millennium AD. These results that will be detailed in the
presentation are very important as they are the first archaeological evidence
for the late Holocene of the south part of the Somali plateau. It then gives
new insights into the cultural sequence for this very poorly known area.