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Presentation at SAfA 2018 Conference in Toronto: The Dendi Lake Rock Shelter is situated circa 80 km west of Addis Abeba on the West Central Ethiopian Plateau in the Ginchi woreda of the Oromiya regional state of Ethiopia. In October 2012 a team from the University of Cologne, CRC 806 directed by R. Vogelsang excavated a test-trench that revealed four archaeological horizons that could clearly be distinguished in typological manners as well as by radiocarbon dates. The talk will focus on the lithics,...

The fresh and saline lakes of Ounianga Kebir and Serir in northeastern Chad are among the very few permanent aquatic ecosystems currently existing in the hyper-arid core of the Sahara desert. The confirmed modern fauna of aquatic molluscs at Ounianga comprises three widespread species (Melanoides tuberculata, Biomphalaria pfeifferi and Lymnaea natalensis), of which only the first appears to maintain a thriving population. We recovered seven more species of gastropods, among which one is new to science...

East African paleoenvironments are highly variable, marked by extreme fluctuations in moisture availability, which has far-reaching implications for the origin, evolution and dispersal of Homo sapiens in and beyond the region. This paper presents results from a pilot core from the Chew Bahir basin in southern Ethiopia that records the climatic history of the past 45 ka, with emphasis on the African Humid Period (AHP, w15e5 ka calBP). Geochemical, physical and biological indicators show that Chew Bahir...

The African origin of our species has essentially been accepted as a scientific fact, but evolutionary advantages connected with the reasons and circumstances of modern human dispersal remain widely unexplained or controversial. Consequently, this paper provides an overview of the natural and cultural context of earliest AMH (Anatomically Modern Humans). According to the locations and dating of AMH fossils, the focus is on E-Africa, NE-Africa and the Middle East within a time range from 200 ka to 70 ka. At...

The expansion of modern human populations in Africa 80,000 to 60,000 years ago and their initial exodus out of Africa have been tentatively linked to two phases of technological and behavioral innovation within the Middle Stone Age of southern Africa—the Still Bay and Howieson’s Poort industries—that are associated with early evidence for symbols and personal ornaments. Establishing the correct sequence of events, however, has been hampered by inadequate chronologies. We report ages for nine sites from...

This Bachelor of Science thesis will show the changes of the coastal area of the Red Sea at the time of the Upper Pleistocene and their effects on the dispersal of anatomically modern humans (AMH). Thus insights about possible routes of migration of AMH out of Africa shall be gained. For this research the palaeoclimate, the sea level changes and the tectonic processes will be decribed. By reconstruction of coastal areas it will be shown that a trespassing of the Bab al-Mandab strait at the mouth of the Red...

Hypotheses on the dispersal patterns of modern humans out of Africa have undergone much change in the past decade, with new ideas on the routes and geographic extent of movements proposed. New data and perspectives from the Nile Valley necessitate reassessment of the role of the Northern Route. Here, fossil evidence and technological strategies followed in the Nile Valley between 200 000 to 300 000 years ago, and its relevance to dispersal patterns are discussed. Most of the sites in the Nile Valley relate...

East African paleoenvironments are highly variable, marked by extreme fluctuations in moisture availability, which has far-reaching implications for the origin, evolution and dispersal of Homo sapiens in and beyond the region. This paper presents results from a pilot core from the Chew Bahir basin in southern Ethiopia that records the climatic history of the past 45 ka, with emphasis on the African Humid Period (AHP, ∼15–5 ka calBP). Geochemical, physical and biological indicators show that Chew Bahir...