Melka Kunture

Melka Kunture is a Palaeolithic site in Ethiopia. It is located 50 kilometers south of Addis Ababa by road, across the Awash River from the village of Melka Awash, with a latitude and longitude of 8°41′0″N 37°38′0″E / 8.683333°N 37.633333°E / 8.683333; 37.633333. Three waterfalls lie downstream of the bridge across the Awash here, which provides access south to Butajira.^[1]

French archeologists sponsored by the Mission Archéologique Française en Éthiopie have worked in the neighborhood of Melka Kunture since the 1960s, uncovering over 30 occupation sites. The finds are dated by volcanic depositions left by eruptions of Mount Zuqualla, southeast of Melka Kunture.^[2] A museum was built at the site by the Oromia Culture and Tourism Commission with financial assistance from the European Community, consisting of four buildings of exhibits—one on Prehistoric Africa, another on Geology and Volcanology, a third on Paleoanthropology, the fourth on the Prehistory of Melka Kunture—and the "Open Air Museum", which displays the excavation of two Acheulean sites that have been dated to 0.8 Million years Before Present.^[3]

Notes

1. ^ Philip Briggs, Ethiopia: The Bradt Travel Guide, 3rd edition (Chalfont St Peters: Bradt, 2002), p. 374
2. ^ Paul B. Henze, Layers of Time (New York: Palgrave, 2000), p. 8
3. ^ "Melka Kunture - Home", University of Rome, "La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Archeologiche e Antropologiche dell’Antichità.

External links

• "Melka Kunture", University of Rome, "La Sapienza, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Archeologiche e Antropologiche dell’Antichità.
• Jean Chavaillon and Marcello Piperno (editors), Studies on the Early Paleolithic site of Melka Kunture, Ethiopia. Florence: Istituto Italiano di Preistoria e Protostoria, 2004.