Agazi Negash

AGAZI NEGASH, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, was awarded funding in April 2022 to aid research on “Raw Material Transport in the Middle Stone Age of Ethiopia: A Geochemical Approach.” Extensive sampling of primary and secondary source obsidians was undertaken from the Ethiopian and Afar Rifts. In view of recent studies that indicate intra source variability samples were collected from as many places as possible. In the Afar Rift samples were collected from a number of localities found intercalated with rhyolites and the Afar Stratoid Series basalts. These obsidians are generally found in the form of gravels and boulders, or superficial lapilli. On the other hand, samples from the Main Ethiopian Rift are found in the form of massive lava flows and domes,some showing flow lamination. This funding has resulted in the identification of potential sources for the currently unknown archaeological artifacts of several sites, ranging in age from the Early Stone Age to the Neolithic.