Late hunters of western Ethiopia

The sites of Ajilak (Gambela),c. AD 1000–1200

Bibliographic Data

ID6041563
AuthorsAlfredo González Ruibal (0000-0003-3464-1626, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, corresponding author), Alfredo González-Ruibal, Carlos Marín Suárez (0000-0002-1289-8095, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), Manuel Sánchez-Elipe (Universidad Complutense de Madrid), Joséphine Lesur (0000-0003-4245-7140, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Candela Martínez Barrio (0009-0009-8355-540X, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas)
Year2014
Volume49
Issue1
Pages64-101
Publication date2014-01-02
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAzania Archaeological Research in Africa (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0067-270X • E-ISSN: 1945-5534
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/0067270x.2013.866843
OpenAlexW2025470754
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited34

The dual model of foragers versus producers is increasingly perceived as inadequate for understanding the complexities of subsistence practices in the past and in the present. A wide spectrum of in-between strategies, falling under the label ‘low-level food production’ (Smith 2001), has been pointed out. Africa has, however, remained mostly outside this debate, despite offering many examples of societies that combine hunting and gathering with food-production, particularly in ecological and cultural borderlands. This paper examines one such society by presenting the first archaeological evidence from the region of Gambela, in the borderland between South Sudan and Ethiopia. Field survey here identified several sites with traces of occupation during the early second millennium AD. One of these sites (Ajilak 6) furnished a large number of faunal remains, most of which derive from wild animals. The exploitation of aquatic resources is also attested. Human remains were found that show traces of manipulation, tentatively identified as evidence for the practice of secondary burial. The sites are interpreted as being related to a low-level food-producing group that was probably ancestral to present-day populations engaging in similar economic activities

Agriculture · Archaeology · Biology · Ethnology · Geography · Subsistence agriculture · African history and culture analysis · Archaeology and Rock Art Studies · Ecology · History · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology