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Ethiopia is considered the area from whichanatomically modern humans emerged.[1] Archeological discoveries in the country's sites have garnered specific fossil evidence of early humansuccession, including the homininsAustralopithecus afarensis (3.2 million years ago) andArdipithecus ramidus (4.4 million years ago). Human settlements in present-day Ethiopia began at least in theLate Stone Age, and theagricultural revolution took place in the third millennium BCE. Ethnolinguistic groups ofAfroasiatic speakers (namelySemitic,Cushitic, andOmotic) andNilo-Saharan speakers—defined by new ethnic, cultural, and linguistic identities—emerged around 2000–1000 BCE.
One of the most prominent and precursor excavations in Ethiopia was conducted byGerard Dekker at the Stone Age site ofMelka Kunture in 1963. There, he recognized that the exposed layered rock on the bank of a flood-prone river represented a fossil record dating back 1.7 million years.[2] French paleoanthropologistJean Chavallion conducted a systematic expedition of the site between 1965 and 1995. SeveralHomo erectus fossils aged 1.5 million – 1.7 million years have been uncovered at the site, as well as cranial fragments of earlyHomo sapiens.[2]
Between 1967 and 1974, theOmo remains were excavated in the southwesternOmo Kibish area and have been dated to theMiddle Paleolithic, around 200,000 years ago.[1]
In 1974, American paleoanthropologistDonald Johnson excavated a 3.2-million-year-old early femaleAustralopithecus afarensis (nicknamed "Lucy") inHadar in theAwash Valley. Ethiopians refer to the fossil as "Dinqnesh". Lucy weighed about 60 pounds and stood three and a half feet tall.[3]
Between 1992 and 1994, a team led by paleoanthropologistTim White discovered the firstArdipithecus ramidus (nicknamed "Ardi") fossil in the Middle Awash area of Ethiopia, dating to 4.4 million years ago. Subsequently, 100 fossil specimens of Ardi were uncovered. These hominins lived inEarly Pliocene and were likely omnivores, consuming plants, meat, and fruit but not hard abrasive foods like nuts and tubers. In 2009, scientists formally announced and published their findings on Ardi. Ardi has certain human features—including smaller diamond-shaped canines and some evidence of upright walking—and is said to descend from the predecessorArdipithecus kadabba, found in the same area.[4]
In 2000, scientists led by paleoanthropologistZeresenay Alemseged discovered a veiled 3.3-million-year-oldAustralopithecus afarensis baby nicknamed "Selam". Searches continued in 2001 whenYohannes Haile-Selassie discovered fossils of a 5.2-million-year-oldArdipithecus ramidus family, 15 mi (24 km) fromAramis. Recently, Yohannes has also found fossil specimens of human ancestors in theAfar Region.[5]
During theLate Stone Age in 9000 BCE,[6] there were at least two bladelet-making archeological cultures in Greater Ethiopia:[7] theWilton culture (small stone blades) and the Hargeistan (long obsidian bladelet).[8] Humans associated with these cultures were semblance of "Afro-Mediterranean", while there is noKhoisan andNegroid population in the region.[9][10][clarification needed]
It is unclear whether or not these people[which?] transitioned toanimal husbandry until their successors. Rock paintings of human and animal figures inHararghe region andEritrea illustrate the domestication ofcattle and crafting ofpottery,hand axes, hoes, and grinding stones. This suggests that by the late third millennium BC, rudimentary agriculture commenced in many parts of western Ethiopia.[9] There is evidence of stone hand tools, blade instruments, and drawings in the limestone caves found inDire Dawa.[11][12] Recent findings suggest that crafting was introduced to Ethiopia fromSudan via theBlue Nile Valley.
The early inhabitants of Ethiopia began domesticating grains during theChalcolithic Age (6200–3000 BCE). The development of plough-based agriculture may imply the domestication of cattle around the same time. By theEarly Bronze Age (3000 BCE), animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, and donkeys were being domesticated.[13]
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Linguistic analysis indicates that proto-Ethiopians spoke Hamito-Semitic orAfroasiatic languages in the third millennium BCE; these languages probably originated from the EasternSahara after itsdesertification.[14] In the 1950s, scholars agreed that only the Afroasiatic language was an ancestor of five[inconsistent] major languages:Ancient Egyptian,Berber,Semitic, andCushitic.[15] Harold Fleming proposed including a sixth language group,Omotic (previously considered a branch of Cushitic), and speculated that the Afroasiatic homeland might be in southwestern Ethiopia.
The split between proto-Cushitic and proto-Omotic began by the fourth or fifth millennium BCE, and proto-Semitic separated toAsia Minor.[9] Inconclusive research suggests the Afroasiatic superfamily began to diffuse by 13,000 BCE, a period of Omotic slight migration southward.[clarification needed]I.M Diakonoff surmised Afroasiatic people in Ethiopia were attributed to North Africa, specifically from the Sahara to theNile Delta and over theSinai Peninsula. Gover Hudson hypothesized that proto–Semitic migrated toWest Asia acrossBab-el-Mandeb intoSouth Arabia. Also, independent linguistic analysis shows the presence of Semitic speakers in Ethiopia in at least 2000 BCE.[16] Linguistic and cultural fission of proto-Ethiopians occurred in this period. Proto–Ethiopians are classified into five stable groups:
TheNilotic peoples of Sudan migrated to Greater Ethiopia in different phases. Pre-Nilotes arrived in Ethiopia about the third millennium BCE. They were mostly agriculturalists who developed the cultivation ofsorghum and tuberous plants likeenset and yams. Today, they are settled in western parts of Ethiopia namelyBerta,Gumuz, and Koma. The second phase of Nilotic migration took place in the first millennium BCE. They are marked by cattle raising, millet cultivation, and dualistic social organization. Their settlement constitutes the western periphery of Ethiopia. The Nilotic represents two tribes, known asAnyuak andNuer.[18]
