High-Altitude Residential Sites In Africa Provide Evidence of Humans Mountaineering 30,000 Years Ago
Archaeologists have long been trying to understand how ancient humans inhabited Earth. Every new finding reveals how innovative ancient humans were in terms of managing their resources. In many cases, they have surpassed the expectations of experts with their abilities. This happened when archaeologists uncovered certain artifacts in Africa’s Bale Mountains, stated Smithsonian Magazine. Findings regarding these items located in Fincha Habera were published in Science.
Researchers announced the discovery in 2019. The collection of artifacts found at the site included clay fragments, a glass bead, stone tools, and burnt animal bones. Examinations unveiled that these objects were used some 47,000 years ago. This implies that human habitation existed in the area during that period. The site is located more than 11,000 feet above sea level. This means that the group was living in high-altitude mountains. The finding stunned experts because before this discovery, the general belief was that the mountains were one of the last places to be inhabited by humans. The evidence indicates that was not the case.
Moreover, the age of the artifacts makes the Bale Mountains one of the oldest known prehistoric high-altitude [human] residential sites analyzed by researchers. The pursuit of examining Fincha Habera was not easy. The team had to travel 700 miles on foot and rest on horses to reach the remote location. The site was a rock shelter and contained several ancient objects. The most noteworthy finding for researchers was the remnants of hearths at the location. The hearth had charcoal, which was sent for testing by experts. The results indicated that it dates somewhere between 47,000 and 31,000 years ago.
The discovery stood apart from other evidence of ancient human presence in high altitudes because it was the first site that implied settlements. According to researchers, ancient humans lived at Fincha Habera for a considerable time, though possibly not permanently. "Prehistoric humans at that time were mobile hunter-gatherers, so they never stayed sedentary at a single site," Götz Ossendorf, an archaeologist at the University of Cologne and lead author of the new study shared. Experts further claim that the site was repeatedly inhabited as a group supposedly arrived at the rock shelter to live around 10,000 years ago, according to analysis. Researchers think that ancient humans were roasting rodents for meals. There were also tools at the shelter, which the population was supposedly making with obsidian outcrops.
The study claims that ancient humans were attracted to the site because of the resources it provided to them. The group lived there during the Last Glacial Maximum when almost all of the Bale Mountains were enveloped with ice. Fincha Havera, though, did not fall in the icy region, and therefore, the population living there could easily get water from the melting glacier. There was no dearth of food, as indicated by the burnt bones of rodents spotted at the site. "The settlement was, therefore, not only comparatively habitable but also practical," said Bruno Glaser, study coauthor and expert in soil biogeochemistry at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in Germany.