Abstract
The Herto study area (geologically identified as the Herto Member of the Bouri Formation), lies in the Middle Awash, Afar Rift of Ethiopia (10.27° N; 40.52° E). Archaeological research by the Middle Awash research project began on the Bouri peninsula in 1981 (Clark et al., 1984). Project efforts were initially focused on the older deposits of the Bouri Formation (Fm.), the results of which have been presented elsewhere (de Heinzelin et al., 1999, 2000; Schick & Clark, 2000). This chapter summarizes the archaeological and paleontological finds in the younger deposit of the Bouri Fm. Abundant fossils and artifacts were identified early on in the younger deposits outcrop** atop the crest of the Bouri ridge near the Herto village, but intensive fieldwork in the Upper Herto Member (UHM) was launched in 1997. The subsequent announcement of discoveries of fossilized remains of early Homo sapiens from the UHM localities put the area on the spotlight of paleoanthropological discussions (Clark et al., 2003; White et al., 2003). Because the UHM deposits yielded fossils of early Homo sapiens in association with behavioral evidence in a securely dated context (154–160 thousand years ago = ka), the discoveries feature prominently in current debates about Homo sapiens evolution. Regular revisits to the Upper Herto localities continued to yield important paleoanthropological data (Sahle et al., 2019a, b). Results of initial and ongoing field and laboratory research in the UHM summarized here aim to shed light on the temporal, behavioral, and anatomical contexts of Homo sapiens origin in Africa during the Middle Pleistocene.
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Acknowledgments
We thank the Ethiopian Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage for field and laboratory research facilitation. We also thank authorities and colleagues at different levels who have made this long-term research possible. Special thanks go to the Middle Awash project co-leader Tim D White, and active collaborators William K Hart, Paul B Renne, Leah E Morgan, and Joshua P Carlson. More comprehensive acknowledgments and original sourcing of much of the foregoing encapsulation are provided in Clark et al. (2003), White et al. (2003), and Sahle et al. (2019a, b). Part of the work reported in this chapter was supported by the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the John Templeton Foundation.
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Beyene, Y., Defleur, A., Asfaw, B., WoldeGabriel, G., Sahle, Y. (2023). Herto, Ethiopia. In: Beyin, A., Wright, D.K., Wilkins, J., Olszewski, D.I. (eds) Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-20290-2_23
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