A combined team of archaeologists and other specialists from the University of Cologne, the University of Florida, the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of the Cultural Heritage and other international institutions continued excavations at Moche Borago rock shelter in south-western Ethiopia during February/March 2011.
The rock shelter contains one of the most securely dated and comprehensive cultural sequences for early OIS 3 (~ 58–43 ka) in all of Africa. Ongoing analyses of the finds promise new insights into Eastern African Late Pleistocene palaeoenvironments and human lifeways, while the numerous open-air sites in the region may also permit reconstruction of Late Quaternary hunter-gatherer landscapes.
The rock shelter during excavation. | Photo: Hannah Parow-Souchon |