Rising as high as 20 feet, ancient stone monoliths in southern Ethiopia are 1,000 years older than scientists previously thought, according to a new study in the Journal of African Archaeology. Under consideration as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sakaro Sodo and other archeological sites in the Gedeo zone have the largest number and highest concentration of megalithic stele monuments in Africa. They also identified, for the first time, the earliest known sources of obsidian artifacts that were recovered from the Gedeo stele sites. Surprisingly, most of the obsidian the researchers identified at Sakaro Sodo originated some 300 km away in northern Kenya, illustrating that the people at Sakaro Sodo obtained most of their obsidian raw materials through some form of exchange or trade. "For example, we know that the more recently constructed stele monuments of Tuto Fela in the north part of Gedeo were used as burial markers.

Source: Ethiopian News December 10, 2021 00:34 UTC