Archaeologists Uncover Evidence of an Ancient High-Altitude Human Dwelling [View all]

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Published in the journal Science, the research details a remarkable discovery in Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains at a site located more than 11,000 feet above sea level. There, a team of experts unearthed a trove of artifacts—among them stone tools, clay fragments, burnt animal bones and a glass bead—indicating that people had lived there as early as 47,000 years ago. These finds, according to the study, represent “the earliest evidence of a prehistoric high-altitude [human] residential site.”

At Fincha Havera—one of more than 300 elevated rock shelters that the researchers investigated—they quickly dug up signs of ancient human occupation. Crucial to their discovery were the remnants of hearths, which provided charcoal that could be dated to between 47,000 and 31,000 years ago, according to Zimmer.

In spite of the challenges of high-altitude living, Fincha Havera’s ancient occupants may have seen it as prime real estate. They inhabited the site during the Last Glacial Maximum, when much of the Bale Mountains were covered with ice—but Fincha Havera was located beyond the icy region. Melting glaciers would have offered an ample supply of water, perhaps more than could have been found in lower—and drier—valleys. Food seems to have been plentiful at Fincha Havera, as the researchers found “abundant burnt bones, mostly of giant mole-rats,” the study authors write, suggesting the site’s inhabitants were roasting rodents for meals. They also seemed to have been using nearby obsidian outcrops to make their tools.

"The settlement was therefore not only comparatively habitable, but also practical,” says Bruno Glaser, study coauthor and expert in soil biogeochemistry at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in Germany.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/found-earliest-evidence-high-altitude-home-humans-180972878/#sFgUzTtxPmMKFwQX.99