# Middle Awash

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UNESCO World Heritage Site in Ethiopia

Middle Awash UNESCO World Heritage Site Reconstruction of the skull of Australopithecus garhi, discovered at the site. Interactive map of Middle Awash Location Ethiopia Part of Lower Valley of the Awash Criteria Cultural: (ii)(iii)(iv) Reference 10 Inscription 1980 (4th Session) Coordinates 11°6′0.216″N 40°34′45.804″E / 11.10006000°N 40.57939000°E / 11.10006000; 40.57939000 Middle Awash Location of Middle Awash in Ethiopia

"Ardi", a 4.4 million year old fossilized hominin from Aramis, Ethiopia

The **Middle Awash** is a [paleoanthropological](/source/Paleoanthropology) research area[1] in the northwest corner of [Gabi Rasu](/source/Gabi_Rasu) in the [Afar Region](/source/Afar_Region) along the [Awash River](/source/Awash_River) in [Ethiopia](/source/Ethiopia)'s [Afar Depression](/source/Afar_Depression). It is a unique natural laboratory for the study of human origins and evolution and a number of fossils of the earliest [hominins](/source/Hominins), particularly of the *[Australopithecines](/source/Australopithecines)*, as well as some of the oldest known [Olduwan](/source/Olduwan) stone [artifacts](/source/Artifact_(archaeology)), have been found at the site—all of late [Miocene](/source/Miocene), the [Pliocene](/source/Pliocene), and the very early [Pleistocene](/source/Pleistocene) times, that is, about 5.6 million years ago (mya) to 2.5 mya. [2][3] [4] It is broadly thought that the divergence of the lines of the earliest [humans](/source/Humans) (hominins) and of [chimpanzees](/source/Common_chimpanzee) ([hominids](/source/Hominids)) was completed near the beginning of that time range, or sometime between seven and five mya. However, the larger community of scientists provide several estimates for periods of divergence that imply a greater range for this event, *see* [CHLCA: human-chimpanzee split](/source/CHLCA#Current_estimates).[5][6]

A recent find of *[Australopithecus anamensis](/source/Australopithecus_anamensis)* is dated to about 4.2 million years ago, which separates it only 200,000 years from an earlier fossil of the more primitive *[Ardipithecus ramidus](/source/Ardipithecus#Ardipithecus_ramidus)* (at 4.4 million years ago). *[Australopithecus garhi](/source/Australopithecus_garhi)* fossils are dated as recent as the very early [Pleistocene](/source/Pleistocene), or 2.5 mya; fossils of *[Homo erectus](/source/Homo_erectus)* in the [Daka member](/source/Bouri_Formation#Dakanihylo) at the site (at 1 mya) and *[Homo sapiens idaltu](/source/Homo_sapiens_idaltu)* (at 160 ka ago) are found in the middle and late Pleistocene. And patches of fire-baked [clay](/source/Clay), disputed as evidences of the controlled use of fire, are also found in that later period.[7]

[Sediments](/source/Sediment) at the site were originally [deposited](/source/Deposition_(sediment)) in lakes or rivers, and [carbonates](/source/Carbonate) found there contain low [carbon isotope](/source/Isotopes_of_carbon) ratios. This information suggests that the environment of the Middle Awash was wet during the late Miocene, and that this currently arid region was occupied then by [woodland](/source/Woodland) or grassy woodland habitats. Fossil remains of other [vertebrates](/source/Vertebrate) found with the hominins, including the [cane rat](/source/Cane_rat), further suggest such an environment.[5] The region was the site of periodic [volcanism](/source/Volcano), which probably created distinct [ecological](/source/Ecology) regions inhabited by different species of vertebrate animals.[8]

Important hominin fossils found in the Middle Awash include:[8][9]

- *[Ardipithecus kadabba](/source/Ardipithecus_kadabba)*

- *[Ardipithecus ramidus](/source/Ardipithecus_ramidus)*

- *[Australopithecus afarensis](/source/Australopithecus_afarensis)*

- *[Australopithecus garhi](/source/Australopithecus_garhi)*

- *[Australopithecus anamensis](/source/Australopithecus_anamensis)*

- *[Homo erectus](/source/Homo_erectus)*

- *[Homo sapiens idaltu](/source/Homo_sapiens_idaltu)* found at [Herto Bouri](/source/Herto_Bouri)

## See also

- [List of fossil sites](/source/List_of_fossil_sites) *(with link directory)*

- [List of hominina (hominid) fossils](/source/List_of_hominina_fossils) *(with images)*

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** ["Middle Awash project home"](https://middleawash.berkeley.edu/middle_awash.php). *middleawash.berkeley.edu*. Retrieved 2020-03-02.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Middle Awash"](https://web.archive.org/web/20051001080544/http://archaeology.about.com/library/glossary/bldef_middleawash.htm). *About.com*. Archived from [the original](http://archaeology.about.com/library/glossary/bldef_middleawash.htm) on 2005-10-01. Retrieved 2006-04-12.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Kipfer, Barbara Ann (2000) [2000-04-30]. *Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology*. New York, NY: Kluwer Acad./Plenum Publ. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-306-46158-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-306-46158-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-de_Heinzelin_4-0)** De Heinzelin, J; Clark, JD; White, T; Hart, W; Renne, P; Woldegabriel, G; Beyene, Y; Vrba, E (1999). "Environment and behavior of 2.5-million-year-old Bouri hominids". *Science*. **284** (5414): 625–9. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1126/science.284.5414.625](https://doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.284.5414.625). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [10213682](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10213682).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-si_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-si_5-1) Haile-Selassie, Yohannes (2001-07-12). "Late Miocene hominids from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia". *Nature*. **412** (6843): 178–181. [Bibcode](/source/Bibcode_(identifier)):[2001Natur.412..178H](https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001Natur.412..178H). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1038/35084063](https://doi.org/10.1038%2F35084063). [ISSN](/source/ISSN_(identifier)) [0028-0836](https://search.worldcat.org/issn/0028-0836). [PMID](/source/PMID_(identifier)) [11449272](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11449272). [S2CID](/source/S2CID_(identifier)) [4432082](https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:4432082).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Gilbert, W. Henry; Asfaw, Berhane (2008). [*Homo Erectus: Pleistocene Evidence from the Middle Awash, Ethiopia*](https://books.google.com/books?id=KRUw9-Cx5hoC&q=Awash). University of California Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-520-25120-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-520-25120-5).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Bogucki (1999) [1999-09-01]. *Origins of Human Society*. Blackwell Publishing. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [1-57718-112-3](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/1-57718-112-3).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-confex_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-confex_8-1) ["Bimodal volcanism and rift basin development in the Middle Awash region, Ethiopia"](https://web.archive.org/web/20091004112710/http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2004AM/finalprogram/abstract_73652.htm). Archived from [the original](http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2004AM/finalprogram/abstract_73652.htm) on 2009-10-04. Retrieved 2006-04-12.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-AP_9-0)** Borenstein, Seth. ["New Fossil Links Up Human Evolution"](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HUMAN_EVOLUTION?SITE=SCBMN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT). The Associated Press. Retrieved 2006-04-13. [*[dead link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Link_rot)*]

## References

- ["Middle Awash - Kalaloo Mbr.: Zanclian - Pleistocene, Ethiopia"](https://paleodb.org/cgi-bin/bridge.pl?action=displayCollectionDetails&collection_no=22133). *The Paleobiology Database*. Retrieved 2006-04-16.

[10°17′N 40°30′E / 10.283°N 40.500°E / 10.283; 40.500](https://geohack.toolforge.org/geohack.php?pagename=Middle_Awash&params=10_17_N_40_30_E_)

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