Raw material utilisation and technological trends in Gadeb and Middle Awash during the Early to Middle Pleistocene: an analysis and comparison of large cutting tools and cores

The Acheulean archaeological record of Ethiopia has played a key role in understanding the evolution of lithic technology throughout the African Earlier Stone Age. Sites situated in the Great Rift Valley and Highland areas of Ethiopia range in age from the Early to the Middle Pleistocene and provide opportunities to investigate how tool manufacturing was impacted by different ecological settings through time. Despite the importance of Ethiopian Acheulean sites, comparisons across different geographical locations and temporal boundaries remain rare. This paper compares Acheulean large cutting tools (LCTs) and cores from Gadeb, located in the Highlands, with the Rift Valley localities of Bouri, Hargufia, Bodo and Dawaitoli, which collectively date to between ∼1.04 and ∼0.6 million years ago. The results demonstrate a high degree of homogeneity in core and large cutting tool (LCT) reduction strategies, specifically in raw material procurement and blank selection. These patterns of continuity reflect a refined focus on the early phases of stone tool manufacturing towards the onset of the Late Acheulean period, generally characterised by complex core and LCT reduction sequences. Temporal intensification in LCT refinement through time demonstrates a coherent evolutionary trend, heightened neuromotor competence and the behavioural adaptability required for hominins to navigate across diverse eastern African terrains. This cross-regional analysis demonstrates technological continuity across diverse ecological regimes, but also the presence of strategic flexibility to change reduction approaches in order to accommodate variation in raw material availability and quality.