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Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e11

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Hunter-gatherer reliance on inselbergs, big game, and dwarf antelopeat the Rifle Range Site, Buur Hakaba, southern Somalia ~20,000�5,000BP

Mica B. Jones a, *, Steven A. Brandt b, Fiona Marshall a

a Department of Anthropology, Washington University in St. Louis, Campus Box 1114, McMillan Hall, Room 112, One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130,USAb Department of Anthropology, 1112 Turlington Hall, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-7305, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:Received 18 February 2017Received in revised form28 August 2017Accepted 23 September 2017Available online xxx

1. Introduction

Subsistence and mobility shifts are the most well-knownhunter-gatherer responses to climatic oscillations of the latePleistocene and Holocene in northern and eastern Africa. Over thelast 20,000 years, climatic fluctuations had profound environ-mental effects, transforming deserts of the hyper-arid Last GlacialMaximum (LGM; ~26,000e15,000 BP) into well-watered grass-lands during the African Humid Period (AHP; ~11,000�5,000 BP)(Haynes, 2001; Watrin et al., 2009). The reasons for changes inclimate are better understood, however, than are the nature andscale of human responses. To date, forager approaches to climaticand environmental reorganization have been more intensivelystudied in the Sahara and better-watered grasslands to the souththan in semi-arid regions of eastern Africa.

During the hyper-arid period, much of the Sahara was aban-doned as hunter-gatherers retreated to the Libyan coast, Nile, andSahel where rivers and lakes offered key refuge areas from extremearidity (Barich and Garcea, 2008; Garcea, 2013). Lowermobility anda focus on aquatic resources can be seen later among fisher-hunter-gatherers of the Sahara, Nile, and eastern Africa as rainfall increasedin the humid early Holocene (Sutton, 1977; Gautier and Van Neer,

* Corresponding author.E-mail addresses: [email protected] (M.B. Jones), [email protected] (S.A. Brandt),

[email protected] (F. Marshall).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.0301040-6182/© 2017 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article in press as: Jones, M.B., et al., Hunter-gatherer relianBuur Hakaba, southern Somalia ~20,000�5,000 BP, Quaternary Internati

1989; Dale, 2007; Linseele and Zerboni, in press; Prendergast andBeyin, in press). Around Lake Victoria, early and mid-HoloceneKansyore hunter-gatherers adopted seasonal fishing techniquesand delayed-return social strategies (Dale, 2007; Prendergast,2009).

Changes in social organization are also observed in south-western Libya, where hunter-gatherers moved into the TadrartAcacus Mountains with the onset of the AHP. Groups in the Acacusincreased their investment in local subsistence through site-reoccupation and intensified local resource use and storage(Baistrocchi and Barich, 1987; Cremaschi and di Lernia, 1999;Garcea, 2001, 2006). Subsistence strategies that focused ondiverse montane plants and animals may have encouragedincreasingly sedentary settlement patterns, unequal distribution ofresources, and complex socio-economic systems (Barich andGarcea, 2008; Barich, 2013).

As the central Sahara returned to aridity ~5,000e4,000 yearsago, many hunter-gatherers abandoned the region. Other groupsbecamemoremobile and, in some cases, adopted herding practices(Marshall and Hildebrand, 2002; di Lernia, 2006). In less arid re-gions of the Sahara and Sahel, a greater range of responses waspossible as rivers and lakes offered key resources for mid-Holocenehunter-gatherers (Jousse, 2006; Jousse et al., 2008; Garcea, 2013).

Considerably less is known about variation in hunter-gatherermobility and subsistence choices in the more arid regions ofeastern Africa. An Indian Ocean core taken off the coast of Djiboutidocuments rapid climatic fluctuations in the Horn of Africa~15,000e5,000 years ago (Tierney and de Menocal, 2013; Tierneyet al., 2013). The challenges that hunter-gatherers must havefaced in response to such extreme Late Quaternary climatic shifts inthe regiondparticularly in the semi-arid coastal dune, grassland,and bushland environments of the eastern Horndprovide aninteresting contrast with those of the better-watered areas oflacustrine, highland, and coastal eastern Africa.

Unfortunately, excavated sites and long-term archaeologicalprojects are rare in the eastern Horn of Africa. Recent research hasproduced important new data on late Pleistocene and early

ce on inselbergs, big game, and dwarf antelope at the Rifle Range Site,onal (2017), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.030

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M.B. Jones et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e112

Holocene hunter-gatherer activities as well as the more recentspread of livestock (4,500e3,500 calBP) in Somaliland (northernSomalia) and Djibouti (Lesur et al., 2013; Gutherz et al., 2014, 2015).Archaeological research in central and southern Somalia, however,lags behind its neighbors to the north, due in large part to long-standing political instability. To help bridge this gap, we examine apreviously unstudied faunal dataset from the Rifle Range Site atBuur Hakaba, a granitic inselberg situated in the Inter-riverine re-gion of southern Somalia (Fig. 1).

First excavated by J.D. Clark in the early 1940's (Clark, 1954) andagain in 1989 by S.A. Brandt and the Buur Ecological and Archae-ological Project (BEAP) (Brandt and Gresham,1989), the Rifle RangeSite is one of the few sites in Somalia to preserve a late Pleistoceneand Holocene archaeological sequence. Here we use the site'sfaunal assemblages to study how Late Quaternary climatic changesimpacted hunter-gatherer behavior in southern Somalia's distinc-tive landscapes. We explore faunal taxonomic variability and den-sity to examine shifting patterns of hunting, butchery, cooking, andfood discard (heretofore referred to as “site use”) in order to gaugehunter-gatherer responses to fluctuating environments over thelast 20,000 years. Newly obtained radiocarbon dates are employedto interpret faunal patterns in the context of flaked stone artifact(lithic) and depositional variability at the Rifle Range Site, as well asother excavated sites nearby.

2. The Buur Region of inter-riverine southern Somalia

Rising above the predominantly “bushland and thicket” vege-tation (White, 1983) of the flat, low-lying inter-riverine region ofsouthern Somalia are hundreds of pre-Cambrian granitic inselbergs(“buur” in Somali) of varying sizes and shapes scattered over thelandscape.

Ecological studies of inselbergs across Africa outline distinctrelationships among rocky, irregular topographies, increased watercatchment, and productive vegetation (Jürgens and Burke, 2000;

Fig. 1. a - Map showing the Inter-Riverine region of southern Somalia and the inselbergs oImage of Buur Hakaba and location of Rifle Range Site (©2015 DigitalGlobe).


Porembski and Barthlott, 2000; Burke, 2003; Müller, 2007). In-selbergs such as Buur Heybe (Fig. 1), the largest and one of thetallest in the inter-riverine region at ~4.7 km2 in dimension and610m above sea level (a.s.l.), support a diversity of plant and animalspecies and provide ecologically-productive environments forsmall, mostly territorial animals such as dik-dik (Madoqua sp.) andhyrax (Procaviidae) (Brandt, 1986, 1988; Kingdon, 1971, 2004). Oryx(O. beisa), hartebeest (A. buselaphus), and lesser kudu (T. imberbis)may also be found in the vicinity of these unique ecosystems(Kingdon, 1989, 2004).

Smaller inselbergs, such as Buur Hakaba (0.6 km2 and 290 ma.s.l.), ~35 km southwest of Buur Heybe and the focus of this study(Fig. 1), are also ecologically important as they can still provideseasonal and perennial water sources that create favorable condi-tions for many plant and animal species adapted to thewarm, semi-arid climate of southern Somalia (Friis and Vollesen, 1989).

2.1. Paleoclimate of southern Somalia

Like today, climate change in late Pleistocene and Holoceneeastern Africawas characterized by fluctuations in temperature andrainfall resulting from variable seasonal shifts in the position of theIntertropical Convergence Zone (Nicholson and Flohn, 1980;Hassan, 1997; Thompson et al., 2002; Costa et al., 2014;Rachmayani et al., 2015). The timing, degree, and nature of thesepast climatic shifts, however, varied greatly by region (Costa et al.,2014; Enzel et al., 2015). Recent research on terrestrial leaf waxesrecovered from a marine core from the Gulf of Aden off the coast ofDjibouti indicates that transitions between humid and arid periods~15,000e5,000 calBP were especially abrupt (Tierney anddeMenocal, 2013; Tierney et al., 2013), posing unusual challengesfor human populations.

Rapid changes in precipitation significantly affect the abun-dance and diversity of animal resources in fringe environments(Tryon et al., 2016), such as the semi-arid grasslands and bushlands

f Buur Hakaba and Buur Heybe (modified by Rachel E. B. Reid from Brandt, 1988); b -


M.B. Jones et al. / Quaternary International xxx (2017) 1e11 3

of southern Somalia. The climate of the Buur region today is char-acterized as warm and semi-arid with a bimodal rainfall patternand mean annual rainfall of ~500 mm (White, 1983). Prone todroughts and famines (Maxwell and Fitzpatrick, 2012; Maystadtand Ecker, 2014), this region is ideal for studying Late Quaternaryhunter-gatherer adjustments to semi-arid environments undergo-ing abrupt climatic changes. Broad climatic shifts over the last~26,000 years in the eastern Horn of Africa are outlined in Table 1.

3. Background to archaeological research in the Buur Region

In 1935, Italian archaeologist P. Graziosi (1940) conducted thefirst professional archaeological investigations in southern Somaliawhen he excavated a large rock shelter along the southeastern footof Buur Hebye. His excavation of the “Buur Heybe” shelter, nowknown by its local name, Gogoshiis Qabe (Brandt, 1986), uncoveredwhat appeared to be a continuous occupation sequence withvarying frequencies of quartz and chert, ground stone, pottery, andfaunal and shell remains.

At the end of WWII, while a member of the British army sta-tioned in southern Somalia, J.D. Clark (1954) test-excavated variousopen-air and rock shelter sites in the Buur region. Between Apriland May of 1944 Clark excavated “Gure Warbei” (Guli Waabayo)rock shelter at Buur Heybe, where he uncovered an archaeologicalsequence almost identical to that of Gogoshiis Qabe, just a fewhundredmeters to the southwest. At the northern terminus of BuurHakaba (Fig. 1), Clark discovered numerous lithic artifacts, somepottery, and fossilized human and animal bones exposed in theback dirt of a long artificial trench. The trench was dug by Italiansoldiers sometime after 1913 to create an embankment in which toprop up their rifles for target practice. Clark spent 11 days in 1945excavating a large, deep trench at the “Rifle Range Site” just north ofthis embankment.

Clark's excavations revealed ~2.5 m of stratified sedimentscontaining lithics, fauna, pottery, and ostrich eggshell. Similar se-quences were also unearthed by Graziosi at Gogoshiis Qabe andClark at Guli Waabayo. The following is a brief stratigraphic andarchaeological description of the Rifle Range Site sequence (Clark,1954).

1. At the base was a layer of black “earth” encompassing a“Somaliland Magosian” industry characterized by a mix ofMiddle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) technologiesand tool types.

2. This was overlain by almost 1 m of artifactually sterile, compact,wind-blown sand.

3. The sterile deposits lay below ~15 cm of grey calcareous sedi-ments encompassing a distinct LSA industry characterized bysmall, often pressure-flaked unifacial, bifacial, and tri-facialpoints and drills usually made of chert. Clark named this

Table 1Summary of notable climatic episodes/events during the late Pleistocene/Holocenein the Horn of Africa, following Tierney and deMenocal (2013, pp. 843e844). B/A ¼ Bølling/Allerød Interstadial, YD ¼ Younger Dryas.

End of AHP~4960 BP

Abrupt return to aridity.

AHP~10,850e4960 BP

Rapid onset of humid conditions.

YD~13,000e10,850 BP

Return to aridity.

B/A~14,680e13,000 BP

Rapid transition to intermediate conditions.

LGM~26,000e14,680 BP

Extreme aridity.


industry the “Doian”, even though a decade earlier Graziosi haduncovered the same industry at Gogoshiis Qabe, which henamed the “Eibian” (Graziosi, 1940).

4. The Eibian deposits at the Rifle Range Site were overlain bysediments containing an unnamed LSA industry lackingdistinctive Eibian tools, but including various quartz tools madefrom bipolar and other cores. Clark also recovered potterysherds from the upper levels of this stratum.

Excavated before the advent of radiocarbon dating, Clark (1954)considered the Rifle Range sequence, as well as those from BuurHeybe, to be Holocene or at the earliest terminal Pleistocene in age.

3.1. The 1989 excavations at the Rifle Range Site

The Rifle Range Site and the excavated rock shelters at BuurHeybe remained chronometrically undated until the early 1980'sand the establishment of the Buur Ecological and ArchaeologicalProject (BEAP) (Brandt, 1986, 1988). The main goal of BEAP was toobtain more detailed, chronometrically dated cultural sequencesfrom the previously excavated sites in the Buur Region, as well asnew sites that could be used to test a model for predicting humanmobility strategies and the availability of natural resources (Dyson-Hudson and Smith, 1978; Brandt, 1988).

From 1983 to 1988 BEAP focused on sites in and around BuurHebye. In 1989, BEAP spent 3 weeks at Buur Hakaba for the solepurpose of relocating and test-excavating the Rifle Range Sitebefore the encroaching Somali Civil War consumed Buur Hakabaand the rest of the Buur Region. Although plans were made forBEAP to return to Buur Hakaba in 1990, the fall of Somalia's gov-ernment intervened, effectively putting an end to all archaeologicalresearch in southern and central Somalia to this day. The SomaliNational Museumwas completely ransacked and looted as the warengulfed Mogadishu, resulting in the destruction of all BEAP col-lections housed there, including soil samples and most of the hu-man skeletal remains from Buur Heybe and Guli Waabayo (S.Brandt, pers. comm.).

Fortunately, the Somali Academy of Sciences permitted BEAP toship much of the faunal, shell, lithic, and pottery collections fromGogoshiis Qabe, Guli Waabayo, and the Rifle Range Site to theUnited States prior to the downfall of the government. The faunaland lithic remains discussed in this paper derive from theseexpatriated collections, and are currently curated at the Universityof Florida, Washington University at St. Louis, and the University ofWisconsin, Madison.

The 1989 excavations at the Rifle Range Site consisted of nine1 m2 test units: seven on the north side of the bank, one on thesouth side (S12W51) and another one (N15W49) located inside anearby compound (Fig. 2). BEAP excavated the eight units aroundthe embankment by arbitrary 10 cm spits until a major sedimentarychange was recognized. N15W49 revealed extensive disturbanceand depositional mixing and so excavations at this unit wereabandoned early on. All excavated sediments from the other eightunits were screened using 5 mm mesh to maximize artifact re-covery. On-site flotation was not attempted due to time constraintsand lack of available water. Flotation samples were taken, but notshipped back to the U.S. Although some degree of disturbance fromthe previous embankment construction was expected, there waslittle evidence for this. However, the dry excavated matrix, partic-ularly after exposure to the air, made it difficult to read profiles andrecognize disturbances, features, and minor changes instratigraphy.


Fig. 2. Map of the Rifle Range Site.


3.2. Radiocarbon dating at the Rifle Range Site

In 2016, three ostrich eggshell (OES) samples and one Bos taurusbioapatite sample from the Rifle Range Site were submitted to theIllinois Geological Survey for AMS radiocarbon dating. Althoughcharcoal samples were shipped back to the U.S., OES was selectedover charcoal for initial AMS dating because previous attempts todate charcoal at the Buur Heybe shelters were problematic due tosample contamination. The 1989 excavations yielded a total of 470non-bead OES fragments, including 338 fragments from S12W51.Four OES samplesdone from each litho-stratigraphic unit (LSU) inS12W5dwere submitted for AMS dating to the Illinois GeologicalSurvey radiocarbon laboratory at the University of Illinois. The

Table 2Radiocarbon Dates for the Rifle Range Site, Unit S12W51. Calibrations employ OxCal 4.2.

LSU Radiocarbon sample number Materials dated 1

2 A3706 OES 83 A3707 OES 14 A3705 OES 13 A3818 Bos taurus bioapatite 1


resultant dates provide the first chronometric bench marks for theRifle Range sequence (Table 2 and Fig. 3).

Criteria for laboratory OES sampling and preparation followedprocedures in A. Brooks et al. (1990) as well as from discussionswith S. Ambrose and H. Wang at the University of Illinois (pers.comm.). External pores were visible on all samples, which made iteasier to exclude burned or highly-weathered specimens fromdating. Although this resulted in the elimination of the LSU 1sample for dating, there was enough well-preserved OES from theother three LSUs to produce dating samples from each unitweighing greater than 0.30 g. Once selected, samples were pre-pared by S. Ambrose in his laboratory and processed by H. Wang atthe Illinois Geological Survey.

4 (Bronk Ramsey et al., 2013; Reimer et al., 2013).

4C BP Calibration curve Calibrated age range BP (95.4%)

355 ± 25 IntCal13 9303e94610,105 ± 25 IntCal13 11,502e11,9746730 ± 60 IntCal13 19,981e20,40155 ± 15 IntCal13 5e282


Fig. 3. Profile of unit S12W51 showing stratigraphic location of LSUs and dated ostrich eggshell samples (cmbd ¼ centimeters below datum). General soil types: A ¼ 10YR5/3 e

Brown, medium-compacted with pebbles; B ¼ 10YR5/3 e Brown, compacted, and fine; C ¼ 10YR5/3 e Grayish brown, loose, fine, ashy; D ¼ 10YR6/3 e Pale brown, calcareous, hardearth (descriptions taken directly from original profile drawing). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of thisarticle.)


OES radiocarbon dates are generally considered reliable whenthe samples are well-preserved and properly prepared (Vogel et al.,2001). However, OES samples are not always accurate, as ispotentially the case for any material submitted for radiocarbondating. A recent example is the late Pleistocene/Holocene site ofLaas Geel in Somaliland (Gutherz et al., 2014; Lesur pers. comm.,2016) where OES dates were found to be inconsistent throughoutthe sequence. Therefore, the Rifle Range OES radiocarbon datespresented in Table 2 should be considered preliminary until theyare augmented by additional dates.

3.3. Toward a dated cultural sequence

These new OES dates, combined with recent, albeit preliminaryanalyses of the lithics from the 1989 excavations (Woldu, 2005; S.Brandt and C. M�enard, pers. comm.) provide a new perspective onthe age and significance of the Rifle Range cultural sequence. Theyalso contribute to a more securely dated understanding of hunter-gatherer responses to late Pleistocene and Holocene environmentalchanges in southern Somalia.

The 1989 test units at the Rifle Range Site were taken down tovarying depths, with S1W51 the deepest at 1.85 m below surface.Although the 1989 excavations never reached Clark's “SomalilandMagosian” deposits, nor the overlying sterile sand, the four recog-nized litho-stratigraphic units (Fig. 3) correspond closely withClark's 1954 stratigraphy.

LSU 4: The basal unit is composed of ~20 cm of compacted, grey-brown, calcareous sediments indicative of a more arid envi-ronment than the present. Preliminary analysis of the lithicsfrom the three test units that reached this stratum (S12W51,S1W41, and S1W51) suggest affinities with the distinctive Eibian

Please cite this article in press as: Jones, M.B., et al., Hunter-gatherer reliance oBuur Hakaba, southern Somalia ~20,000�5,000 BP, Quaternary Internationa

industry. Although undated, Brandt (1986, 1988) considered theEibian to be late/terminal Pleistocene in age, based on radio-carbon dates from overlying deposits at Gogoshiis Qabe. TheOES age of 19,981e20,402 calBP from near the bottom of LSU4 at the Rifle Range Site is the first radiocarbon date directlyattributed to the Eibian. If accurate, it firmly places the Eibian inthe LGM. This may lend some credence to two radiocarbon dateson OES fragments from “Doian”-like assemblages at MirsaaleWells in east-central Somalia (Clark, 1954), which yielded agesof ~15,000e16,000 calBP (Brandt and Gresham, 1989).LSU 3: Comprising ~65 cm of grayish brown, fine, ashy, sandysilt, the single OES age of 11,502e11,974 calBP from themiddle ofthis stratigraphic unit suggests LSU 3 dates to the terminalPleistocene/early Holocene. The lithic assemblages from thisunit closely resemble the earliest, pre-pottery phase of the earlyHolocene “Bardaale” Industry at Gogoshiis Qabe. The lowerlevels of a similar stratum at Gogoshiis Qabe are dated by asingle radiocarbon age of 10,185e10,646 calBP, derived from ageologically-formed calcium carbonate. Five apatite ages fromthe bones of human burials in the middle to upper levels atGogoshiis Qabe range between ~6,000e11,000 calBP (Brandt,1986, 1988; Brandt and Gresham, 1989).LSU 2: The compact brown, fine, sandy silt of this unit is only20 cm in thickness, and may reflect slower rates of deposition incomparison to LSU 3 sediments, or perhaps an unconformity.Dated by a single OES age of 9,303e9,461 calBP from the upperlevels, the lithics from this unit show little change from the LSU3 assemblages.LSU 1: The uppermost unit is 26 cm thick and composed of abrown, silty sand with gravel inclusions. It remains undated, butincludes some pottery sherds. The second phase of the Bardaaleindustry at Gogoshii Qabe also includes pottery, but remains

n inselbergs, big game, and dwarf antelope at the Rifle Range Site,l (2017), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.09.030


insecurely dated with radiocarbon ages ranging from~2,000e7,000 calBP.

4. Faunal methods

Faunal materials from the Rifle Range Site were sorted, identi-fied, and quantified using methods established in similar studiesfrom northern and eastern Africa (Gifford et al., 1980; Brain, 1981;Bunn, 1982; Marshall and Stewart, 1994; Prendergast, 2009).Maximally-identifiable bones are the primary focus of this study.Following Gifford and Crader (1977), identifiable specimens pre-serve characteristic landmarks that can be used to identify bodypart, estimated size of animal, and taxonomic classification to classor more specific designation.

Mammal bones dominate the assemblage from the Rifle RangeSite. Bovid and non-bovid mammal specimens were analyzedseparately. Bovid bones were divided into four size classes and non-bovid mammal specimens were sorted into five size classes(Table 3). Categories for size classes follow those used by Giffordet al. (1980), Brain (1981), and Mutundu (1999). When possible,identifiable mammalian specimens with distinctive landmarkswere identified to family or tribe according to criteria establishedfor African species (Gentry, 1978; Walker, 1985; Peters, 1988, 1989).Comparative materials from Washington University and the FieldMuseum were used for identification.

Number of Identifiable Specimens (NISP) andMinimumNumberof Individuals (MNI), were used to quantify the assemblage. NISPwas counted and recorded for all identifiable specimens and MNIwas calculated based on body part, species, and NISP (Klein andCruz-Uribe, 1984; Reitz and Wing, 1999). Four sets of secondaryanalyses were then conducted using NISP and MNI: faunal abun-dances, faunal densities, relative taxonomic frequencies, and di-versity indices. NISP was used in all analyses. MNI was used indetermining relative taxonomic frequencies. Results are presentedusing NISP values since no significant difference in faunal patternswas noted between NISP and MNI.

Faunal abundances were calculated using NISP by LSU(Schweitzer and Wilson, 1982). Higher faunal abundance measuresare considered an indication of heavier site-use and vice versa.Faunal densities were calculated for units S12W51, S1W41, andS1W51 and measure the density of bone per cubic meter of sedi-ment. Faunal densities for these strata were compared to faunalabundances from the same litho-stratigraphic units to examinechanging depositional rates of animal bone to sediment for eachLSU. Faunal densities were calculated using the following formula:NISP per LSU / Volume per LSU ¼ Density (NISP/m3). We consideredthe possibility that shifting faunal abundances and densities couldresult from changing taphonomic processes through time. This isnot supported, however, by examination of bone preservationacross LSUs. Neither bone weathering nor body part representationvaries greatly among units.

Using categories established by A.K. Behrensmeyer (1978), mostof the bones from the Rifle Range Site (excluding those frommodern domestic taxa) show signs of stage 2 weathering in whichthe outer surfaces are preserved with only minor flaking. We found

Table 3Mammalian size classes.

Bovid size classes Non-bovid size classes

1 (<20 kg) 1a (<5 kg)1b (5e20 kg)

2 (20e60 kg) 2 (20e60 kg)3 (60e100 kg) 3 (60e100 kg)4 (100e500 kg) 4 (100e500 kg)


no evidence for more extreme weathering such as cracking orsplitting of bone from the lower levels of the site. Body part rep-resentation also does not vary greatly among LSUs. There is noindication of greater attrition of low density bone in one unit overanother.

Relative taxonomic frequencies of various faunal types werecalculated for each LSU using NISP and MNI. Comparisons withinand between taxonomic subgroups illustrate changes in thecomposition of hunted species through time. Frequencies of iden-tifiable specimens were calculated for large mammals (>20 kg),small mammals (<20 kg), and reptiles, amphibians, birds, and fish.Mammals were split into two size categories due to the predomi-nance of mammals weighing less than 20 kg in the assemblage.Taxonomic frequencies were calculated using the following for-mula (following Reitz and Wing, 1999): Xn / Yn ¼ Zxn. In this for-mula: Xn ¼ NISP or MNI of faunal materials attributed to subgroupX by LSU n; Yn ¼ NISP or MNI of ID specimens by LSU n;Zxn ¼ relative frequency of subgroup X in LSU n.

Diversity indices were calculated using NISP by LSU. We usediversity indices to measure “niche breadth” or the relationshipbetween the dietary needs of hunter-gatherer societies and theabundance of species available for food within the natural envi-ronment (Neusius, 1986). Higher diversity indices indicate awidened, more localized “niche breadth”. Lower diversity indicesindicate a narrowed “niche breadth”, suggesting hunter preferencefor certain species or an overall decrease in the number of speciesavailable. Combined with measures of overall faunal abundanceand density, diversity indices indicate how intensively and to whatextent hunter-gatherers at the Rifle Range Site hunted fauna livingon Buur Hakaba. Diversity index formulae (Reitz and Wing,1999):; E ¼ D=ðnatural log RÞ *D ¼ PR

n¼1ðPnÞðnatural log PnÞ. Inthese formulae: R ¼ Richness (number of species); E ¼ Evenness(how equally abundant those species are); D ¼ Diversity (hetero-geneity of the sample; *Shannon-Weaver function);Pn ¼ percentage of the total sample (per LSU) attributed to speciesn (calculated using NISP). Pn values are established for each iden-tified taxa then clustered into three major taxonomic categories.These include: small mammals (<20 kg), large mammals (>20 kg),and reptiles, amphibians, birds, and fish.

Greater richness measures indicate a greater number of identi-fied species in the sample. Evenness measures closer to zero meanthat one taxonomic group is more abundant than the others.Conversely, evenness measures closer to one indicate that taxo-nomic groups are more evenly distributed within the sample.

5. Results

The faunal assemblage from the Rifle Range Site totals 17,821specimens and weighs 9,857 g. Identifiable specimens comprise4.1% (NISP ¼ 729) of the assemblage. Mammal bones dominate theassemblage, making up 91.4% (666/729) of identifiable specimens(Table 4). Most of these are well preserved with little weathering.Bovids make up 75.8% (505/666) of the mammalian assemblage.Bovid species include: hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), East Af-rican oryx (Oryx beisa), lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis), impala(Aepyceros melampus), Soemmerring's gazelle (Nanger soemmer-ringii), oribi (Ourebia ourebi), and common duiker (Sylvicapragrimmia).

Members of the Neotragini tribe (dwarf antelope, including dik-dik and oribi) are the most prevalent taxon in the assemblage(38.5%, 281/729). These are territorial species that inhabitinselberg-like environments today (Kingdon, 1971, 2004). Due tostatistical overlap in skeletal measurements between species ofsmall antelope in this region, the tribal level and general term“dwarf antelope” is used to describe all potential species known to


Table 4Identified taxa from the Rifle Range Site by LSU. Data presented as NISP (MNI).

Taxon LSU 4 LSU 3 LSU 2 LSU 1

Hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus) e e 1 (1) e

Impala (Aepyceros melampus) e 1 (1) e

Soemmerring's gazelle (Nanger soemmerringi) e 1 (1) e e

Gazelle, indeterminate (Nanger sp.) e 1 (1) e e

East African Oryx (Oryx beisa) e 1 (1) e 1 (1)Lesser kudu (Tragelaphus imberbis) e 4 (1) 3 (1) 1 (1)Oribi (Ourebia ourebi) e 1 (1) 1 (1) e

Common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) e 1 (1) e 1 (1)Dwarf antelope (Neotragini) 8 (1) 136 (8) 106 (6) 31 (2)Domestic cattle (cf. Bos taurus) 2 (1) 32 (2) 16 (1) 4 (1)Domestic goat (cf. Caprinae) e e 2 (1) e

African wild ass (Equus africanus) e e 1 (1) e

Horse, ass or zebra (Equus sp.) e e 2 (�) e

Warthog (Phacochoerus sp.) 2 (1) 2 (1) 2 (1) e

Hare (Lepus sp.) 1 (1) 9 (2) 5 (1) 1 (1)Hyrax (Procaviidae) e 1 (1) e e

Naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber) e 5 (1) e e

Rodent, indeterminate (Rodentia) 1 (1) 2 (�) e 3 (1)Eagle, hawk or kite (Accipitridae) e 1 (1) e e

Quail, partridge, francolin or spurfowl (Phasianidae) 2 (1) 16 (2) 11 (1) e

Heavy-bodied, ground-feeding bird (Galliformes) e e 1 (�) e

Bird, indeterminate (Aves) e 9 (�) 12 (�) 2 (1)Monitor lizard (Varanus sp.) e e 1 (1) e

Snake (Serpentes) e 1 (1) e e

Turtle or tortoise (Testudines) 1 (1) e 1 (1) e

Reptile, indeterminate (Reptilia) e 1 (�) 1 (�) e

Frog or toad, indeterminate (Anura) e 1 (1) e e

Shark, torpedo, skate or ray (Selachii) e 1 (1) 1 (1) e

Table 5


weigh <20 kg. These include members of the generaMadoqua (dik-diks), Ourebia ourebi (oribi), and Sylvicapra grimmia (commonduiker). The majority of specimens identified as Neotragini can beattributed to one of three species of dik-dik (Madoqua saltiana,M. piacentinii, andM. guentheri) based on the prevalence of dik-diksin Somalia today (Kingdon, 1971, 2004) as well as the small size ofspecimens. Other mammal species identified include: African wildass (Equus africanus), warthog (Phacochoerus sp.), hyrax (Procavii-dae), hare (Lepus sp.), and naked mole rat (Heterocephalus glaber).

Only seven identified reptile and amphibian specimens arefound in the assemblage (0.1%, 7/729). Identified reptile taxainclude: Testudines (turtles and tortoises), Serpentes (snakes), andVaranus sp. (monitor lizard). One specimen in the assemblage isidentified to the order Anura (frogs and toads). Bird remainsconstitute a relatively small proportion of the identifiable faunalassemblage from the Rifle Range Site. Fifty-four specimens areidentified to Aves (7%, 54/729). Identified bird taxa include: Galli-formes (heavy-bodied, ground-feeding birds), Phasianidae (quails,partridges, francolins, and spurfowl), and Accipitridae (eagles,hawks, and kites). The assemblage contains only two fish bones.Both are vertebrae from a small, indeterminate shark species (orderSelachii). The presence of shark vertebrae in the assemblage in-dicates some degree of contact between the Rifle Range Site and theIndian Ocean, ~142 km to the SE. More data is needed, however, tounderstand what role these marine taxa played in the lives ofpeople living at the site. It should also be noted that becauseflotation was not possible during excavations, recovery of micro-faunal and macrobotanical remains were limited. If preserved,these materials would have provided further detail on the subsis-tence strategies and paleoenvironmental context of hunter-gatherer occupation at the site.

Faunal abundances by NISP and weight (g). LSUs 1e3 represent data from all units,LSU 4 represents data from units S12W51, S1W41, and S1W51 only.

LSU 4 LSU 3 LSU 2 LSU 1

NISP 1330 8734 5365 2391Weight (g) 729.94 5972.88 2388.18 765.09

5.1. Domestic fauna and stratigraphic integrity

Domestic taxa (54 specimens) was found in all LSUs at the site,though the majority was recovered from LSUs 2 and 3 (88.9%, 48/


54). Unlike the rest of the assemblage, however, all these specimenswere highly weathered, light, and lacked the characteristics of thesub-fossil assemblage. To determine whether they representedearly herding or, as we suspected, modern intrusive burial we ob-tained a direct date on one of these specimens (Table 2). Themodern date led us to exclude all domestic taxa from our analysis.No evidence for unweathered domestic bone was found at the RifleRange Site. This evidence for mixing was a concern. Based on ex-amination of field notes taken during excavations, however, weconclude that at the level of the litho-stratigraphic unit assemblage,the samples have integrity. Nevertheless, individual specimensshould be directly dated to better anchor faunal datachronologically.

5.2. Change through time: faunal data

Variation is observed in faunal abundances, the density of faunaper volume excavated, taxonomic frequencies, and diversity indicesat the Rifle Range Site through time. Shifts in faunal abundances areset forth in Table 5 and Fig. 4. Faunal abundance is lowest in LSU 4,greatest in LSU 3, and tapers off in LSU 2 and LSU 1. To compensatefor differing sedimentary volumes among litho-stratigraphic units,the density of fauna per unit volume is used in discussion of results.Faunal densities show a somewhat different pattern of change tofaunal abundances (Fig. 4). Where they differ, faunal densities are abetter indication of human-animal interaction at the site since theyaccount for differing volumes between LSUs. Taphonomic expla-nations for shifting faunal densities were excluded based on similar


Fig. 4. Faunal abundances (blue) and faunal densities (red) for units S12W51, S1W41, and S1W51. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader isreferred to the web version of this article.)


bone preservation observed across LSUs (Table 6).Shifting ratios of small to large mammals are found in Fig. 5.

Large mammals are more prevalent (68%, n ¼ 30) in the smallsample from LSU 4 than other LSUs. Body part data do not indicateincreased attrition in LSU 4 compared to other levels (Table 6). Wetherefore conclude that differential preservation does not accountfor the overall bone frequency patterns observed in LSU 4. The largesamples from LSU 3 and LSU 2, reflect most of the hunting activity

Table 6Body part representation of large and small mammals by LSU. Data presented asNISP.

Taxon Body part LSU 4 LSU 3 LSU 2 LSU 1

Large mammals (>20 kg) Teeth 8 23 22 9Cranium e 3 3 e

Mandibles e e 2 2Vertebrae e 10 6 1Ribs e 7 3 1Scapula e 1 e 1Pelvis & sacrum e 2 1 1Humerus 1 3 4 e

Radius & ulna e 3 2 e

Femur e e e e

Tibia e 1 e e

Carpals & tarsals 1 1 1 e

Metapodials e 12 3 2Phalanges e 10 7 1

Small mammals (<20 kg) Teeth 1 11 11 5Cranium 1 13 4 e

Mandibles e 8 8 3Vertebrae 2 21 19 3Ribs e 10 4 e

Scapula e 6 5 e

Pelvis & sacrum 1 13 7 2Humerus 1 19 11 2Radius & ulna e 16 8 3Femur e 7 9 1Tibia e 6 2 3Carpals & tarsals 1 15 11 10Metapodials 4 20 17 4Phalanges e 39 26 8


at the site and are dominated by small mammals (LSU 3, 61.4%n ¼ 224; LSU 2, 59.2% n ¼ 148). The sample size decreases in LSU 1,but is still dominated by small mammals (62.9% n ¼ 44). Reptiles,amphibians, birds, and fishes make up a relatively low proportionof the assemblage in all levels, though frequencies are slightlygreater in LSU 2 than in the rest of the sequence and lower in LSU 1.

Table 7 sets forth variability in faunal diversity. Richness valuesare highest and evenness values are lowest in LSU 2 and LSU 3,while richness is low and evenness is high in LSU 1 and LSU 4.

6. Discussion

The Rifle Range Site provides new evidence for broad faunalshifts and changing patterns of hunter-gatherer behavior insouthern Somalia from the LGM through the middle Holocene. Twoof the main findings from this study are variation through time inthe intensity of site-use and a high reliance on small ungulates.Hunter-gatherer use of the Rifle Range Site was low during theearliest and latest occupations, but significantly higher in themiddle levels of the site. Further chronological information willrefine the timing of subsistence and occupational shifts, but thegeneral patterns are evident.

The most dramatic change in site-use and hunting practicesoccurred between LSU 4 and LSU 3. The faunal evidence, distinctiveEibian-like lithics, the OES date of 19,981e20,401 calBP from nearthe base of the stratum, and the arid nature of the LSU 4 sedimentssuggest that at the height of the cold, hyper-arid LGM, the RifleRange Site may have served as a temporary camp for mobileforaging groups. During this time, hunter-gatherers periodically,and probably opportunistically, hunted grazing antelope, warthog,and other animals in the grasslands surrounding Buur Hakaba.

By the beginning of the Holocene, judging from the OES date of11,502e11,974 calBP from the middle of LSU 3, hunter-gathereractivity at the site dramatically intensified as the arid landscapesof the LGM, or the less arid Younger Dryas ~13,000e10,850 calBP(Tierney and deMenocal, 2013), gave way to more productive bush/grassland environments in the plains surrounding Buur Hakaba. Onthe flanks and apex of the inselberg, natural water reservoirs and


Fig. 5. Relative taxonomic frequencies at the Rifle Range Site. Data presented in NISP. LSUs 1e3 represent data from all units, LSU 4 represents data from units S12W51, S1W41, andS1W51 only.

Table 7Diversity indices for LSUs 1e3 (all units). LSU 4 values calculated using data fromunits S12W51, S1W41, S1W51 only.

LSU 4 LSU 3 LSU 2 LSU 1

Richness 7 17 16 8Evenness 0.41 0.3 0.33 0.37


localized habitats supported a wide array of smaller game-dparticularly dwarf antelopedas well as wild, edible plant foods.Hunter-gatherer groups moved away from a dependency on thelarger mammal species of the surrounding plains, to a more local-ized, less mobile subsistence strategy during this period.

Buur Hakaba and its environs could have witnessed a significantincrease in the number of settlements as hunter-gatherer pop-ulations grew in the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene. TheRifle Range Site may have also grown in size as the range of do-mestic activities broadened at this time. In addition to thecontinued use of spear and bow and arrow technology, net-huntingand snare strategies were likely added to the repertoire of huntingmethods for capturing dik-dik and other small game in and aroundthe inselberg. Lending support to this scenario are the sediments ofLSU 3, which suggest more humid conditions, as well as a radicalchange in lithics from the well-made, and probably curated Eibian-like tools of the late/terminal Pleistocene, to the expedient quartz-dominated, Bardaale-like assemblages of the early Holocene.

The early Holocene subsistence and land-use patterns, evi-denced by the faunal and lithic assemblages in LSU 3, continued forat least another 2000 years, based on the OES date of 9303e9461calBP from the middle levels of LSU 2. Hunter-gatherers spent moretime at the site during this prolonged period than they had previ-ously, intensively hunting Buur Hakaba's small, wild mammalcommunities in a system that was maintained for thousands ofyears.

LSU 1, the uppermost stratum in the Rifle Range sequence, re-mains undated. But the sediments reflect a return to aridity, andperhaps the end of the AHP ~5,000e4,500 calBP. These upper levelsare close to the surface, suggesting a relatively recent date. A smallsample of potsherds, if not intrusive, was recovered with lithicassemblages similar to those from LSU 2. Pottery is also found in theupper strata of Gogoshiis Qabe and Guli Waabayo at Buur Heybe,but is insecurely dated at Gogoshiis Qabe to sometime between


7,000 and 2,000 calBP. Faunal samples from LSU 1 are small andindicate a dramatic decrease in site-use and a coincident drop inthe number of reptiles, birds, and fish. Dwarf antelope still make upa significant portion of the fauna, however, which contrasts withpatterns observed in the small samples from LSU 4. This may lendfurther support to the idea that the deepest levels of LSU 1 date tothe end of the AHP when the environment became more arid, butnot to the degree of the LGM. Despite its proximity to the modernland surface, there is no evidence for domestic animals in LSU 1,suggesting that the site continued to be used intermittently forhunting but not herding.

6.1. Ecological productivity, shifting subsistence strategies, andsocial change

Faunal and artifactual shifts through the stratigraphic sequenceprovide a basis for examining hunter-gatherer behavior in thecontext of changing local ecologies at the Rifle Range Site. We un-covered evidence suggesting that at the height of the hyper-aridLGM, some 20,000 years ago and until ~11,000 BP at the latest,the region was occupied by highly-mobile hunter-gatherer groupswho relied on large mammals. With the onset of humid conditionsin the early Holocene, hunter-gatherers apparently reduced theirdependency on big game hunting and instead established anoccupational and subsistence strategy that relied on the local re-sources of Buur Hakaba. Following this transition, people main-tained a more sedentary lifestyle for at least 2,000 years, thoughprobably considerably longer.

The maintenance of a localized subsistence strategy centered ondwarf antelope and the increased use of the Rifle Range Site in theearly Holocene, suggests that people's perceptions of the BuurHakaba inselberg were evolving as climatic conditions shiftedabruptly from hyper-arid to more humid in southern Somalia.Similar instances of people increasing their reliance onecologically-productive areas during times of climatic fluctuation inthe Holocene are noted archaeologically in lake, riparian, andmontane environments of northwestern Africa (Jousse, 2006;Garcea et al., 2013). Consistent reliance on inselbergs withinsavanna grasslands is also seen at Lukenya Hill (Marean, 1997;Kusimba, 2001) and in the Serengeti (Bower and Chadderdon,1986). Most of these examples, however, focus on concentratedresources in geographically expansive areas of high primary



productivity, such as lake shores, rivers, mountains, and savannas.The unique habitats of southern Somalia's inselbergs amid an

arid or semi-arid landscape have seldom been viewed by scholarsas potential Pleistocene refugia, or examined through the lens ofchanging forager attitudes toward place (Brandt, 1988). Due to itsheight and size, Buur Hakaba by itself could not have providedresources predictable and rich enough for hunter-gatherer pop-ulations to have survived the severe environmental and socialstresses of the hyper-arid LGM. Instead, it represented a pointresource within a broader region of hyper-arid grasslands andbushlands. During brief intervals of climatic amelioration withinthe LGM, hunter-gatherers traveled to inter-riverine southern So-malia from as yet unknown refugia, making short, periodic visits toinselbergs like Buur Hakaba rather than completely abandoning thearea as they did in the Sahara (Manning and Timpson, 2014;Stojanowski and Knudson, 2014). Hunter-gatherer groups thenintensified their focus on the Rifle Range Site and the local re-sources of Buur Hakaba as conditions improved in the early Holo-cene. Using natural caches of food and water found in and aroundthe inselberg, people were able to survive for thousands of years ina semi-arid region that otherwise would not have supported moreintensive human occupation.

If inselbergs had a deep history of providing resource stabilityduring long periods of climatic amelioration, it follows that long-lasting relationships with these places might have developedover time. Scholars tie rock art and burials to an increased invest-ment in place in many regions worldwide, including southern So-malia (Cashdan et al., 1983; Brandt, 1988; Barich, 1990; Littletonand Allen, 2007). From this perspective, ownership or attachmentto place permitted sites on or near inselbergs, like Buur Hakaba, totransform from short-term hunter-gatherer campsites toward theend of the Pleistocene to longer-term habitations in the early tomiddle Holocene. It is intriguing that fauna and land-use patternsfrom regions as distant as the Libyan Acacus Mountains (Garcea,2006) and Lake Victoria (Prendergast and Lane, 2010) also sug-gest similar transformations among hunter-gatherer societies asthey focused on geographically distinctive local landscapes duringthemore humid periods of the Holocene. From this perspective, theRifle Range Site provides a unique source of information for un-derstanding the relationships between changing environmentalconditions and economic and social strategies in the eastern Hornof Africa. Current research on faunas from BEAP excavations at BuurHeybe's Gogoshiis Qabe and Guli Waabayo rock shelters will pro-vide larger data sets with which to further examine many of theissues concerning the archaeology of hunter-gatherers in theeastern Horn of Africa only touched upon here.

Acknowledgements

We thank Washington University in St. Louis for funding thenew OES radiocarbon dates. Members of the Washington Univer-sity Zooarcharchaeology laboratory assisted with the project. Wethank Drs. Stanley Ambrose and Hong Wang for assistance withradiocarbon dating, and are also grateful for Dr. Rachel E. B. Reid'sstratigraphic and isotopic data as well as help with the maps. Lor-raine Hu provided assistance with Fig. 2. Comments and graphicdata were provided by Steven T. Goldstein. This paper alsobenefitted from the insightful comments of reviewers. Finally, wethank the U.S. National Science Foundation and the U.S. FulbrightProgram for funding research in southern Somalia, Dr. Ali Abdur-ahman Hersi of the Somali Academy of Sciences for his continuedsupport, the many team members of the Buur Ecological andArchaeological Project, and the people of Buur Hakaba.


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