The Excavation of Gobedra Rock-shelter, Axum: an Early Occurrence of Cultivated Finger Millet in Northern Ethiopia
- 1 January 1977
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis in Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa
- Vol. 12 (1) , 53-82
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00672707709511248
Abstract
The small-scale excavations at Gobedra have provided the first dated succession of later Stone Age industries in northern Ethiopia, extending from before 8000 b.c. down to historic times. Particular interest attaches to the level which is marked by the appearance of pottery, an event which probably took place in the fourth or third millennium b.c. This level has yielded seeds of cultivated finger millet (Eleusine coracana, which appear to be the earliest extant trace of any of the indigenous African cereal crops. A single camel tooth from the same horizon suggests that cultural contact between the Ethiopian highlands and the Arabian peninsula were established significantly earlier than has previously been believed.Keywords
This publication has 2 references indexed in Scilit:
- Excavations at Aksum, 1973–4: a Preliminary ReportAzania: Archaeological Research in Africa, 1974
- Agricultural Origins: Centers and NoncentersScience, 1971