Gobedra

A small rock shelter near Axum in northern Ethiopia which has yielded a stratified sequence covering the last 12,000 years. The earliest occurrence was of large blades, followed c 8000 BC by an industry dominated by backed microliths. Pottery first appeared at a level tentatively dated to the 3rd millennium BC. The seeds of cultivated finger millet (Eleusine coracana) are dated to between 7000-5000 years ago. This find, if correctly associated with these dates, would be the earliest-known evidence for an indigenous African crop. The latest stone industry was a specialized one of small steep scrapers.

A small rock shelter near Axum in northern Ethiopia which has yielded a stratified sequence of industries covering the last ten millennia be. The earliest occurrence was of large blades, replaced c8000 be by an industry dominated by backed microliths. Pottery first appeared at a level tentatively dated to the 3rd millennium which also yielded seeds of cultivated finger millet, Eleusine coracana. The latest stone industry was a specialized one of small steep scrapers of a type commonly found on Axumite sites.