Garba XIII (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia): A new Acheulean site of the late Lower Pleistocene

Garba XIII is a new Acheulean site, recently excavated at Melka Kunture (2000 m asl), in the Upper Awash Valley of Ethiopia. The investigated archaeostratigraphic unit is located along the Garba gully and belongs to the Lower to basal Middle Pleistocene Melka Kunture Formation. In this paper, we discuss the evidence from a level discovered directly above a tuff unit recently dated to ∼1.0 Ma and stratigraphically below another tuff dated to ∼0.8 Ma. A detailed lithostratigraphic study of the exposed section is provided, as well as a paleontological analysis and chronological, ecological, and contextual information. Moreover, the analysis of the lithic assemblage allows a first evaluation of the technical and economic structure of this Acheulean production, documenting a set of innovations occurring on the Ethiopian highlands at the end of the Lower Pleistocene: the procurement of large boulders for the extraction of the LCT flake blanks right at the primary source; adoption of the Kombewa method; standardized façonnage for biface and cleaver manufacture and preference for discoid technology among small débitage methods.