The Great African Rift at the crossroads of time - ^2nd day

Exploitation of rift resources in time and space

Authors : Lamya Khalidi (CNRS), Joséphine Lesur (Muséum national d'histoire naturelle), Virginie Tallio (Instituto Universitário de Lisboa), Jacques Varet (SARL Géo2D), Doris Barboni (CNRS), Cécile Doubre (Université de Strasbourg)

Water at human pace

Authors : Doris Barboni (CNRS), Benoît Hazard (CNRS)

Abstract : Paleontologists and anthropologists work on very different " time steps ", don't speak the same language, and don't study the same " objects ". These differences gave rise to a book chapter on water. In the East African Rift, water is the key resource of alternating highland and lowland socio-ecosystems. Our observations of water sites from northern Ethiopia to northern Kenya, from the very distant past (over a million years ago) to the present and historical period, suggest the importance of this resource. Beads of life, refuges, evolutionary cul-de-sacs, the " water places " of arid zones present a variety of materials that call for interdisciplinary methodologies. They open up new perspectives on the past socio-ecological dynamics of what are today desert areas, on the evolutionary past of our ancestors, and more recently on the resilience of today's pastoral societies. Today, however, we are witnessing a paradigm shift : human activities are having an unprecedented impact on water.

Dispersal/isolation from river systems and landforms

Authors : Isabelle Crevecœur (CNRS), Sandrine Prat (CNRS), Jean-Renaud Boisserie (CNRS), Carlo Mologni (University of Cambridge), Mathieu Schuster (CNRS), Jessie Cauliez (CNRS)

Abstract : Human evolution in the Rift Valley has developed at the interface of local environmental diversity, linked to the multiplication of more or less connected watersheds, and major global climatic changes. These transformations in living environments, with alternating periods of aridity and humidity, have sometimes constituted veritable environmental barriers or refuge zones for fauna and human groups. Using a few key examples from human evolutionary history, we will discuss the complexity of responses to environmental change, dispersal dynamics and the extraordinary adaptability of human populations. We will show, among other things, that the choices leading to certain mobilities are multifactorial, often difficult to identify in the fossil record, and not necessarily linked to climatic determinism.

Environmental impacts on historical societies in the Ethiopian highlands

Authors : Marie-Laure Derat (CNRS), Jean-Renaud Boisserie (CNRS), Pierre Sepulchre (CNRS), Doris Barboni (CNRS)

Abstract : Understanding the effects of climate disruption and environmental change on societies is a challenge that concerns scientists today, but is also of interest to those working on the past. There are numerous examples of civilizations whose collapse is explained by drastic changes in climate. The decline of the Aksumite civilization in the ^7th century AD is one of the cases in the East African Rift that has attracted the attention of archaeologists, paleoclimatologists and paleobotanists. To date, however, the correlations between environmental transformations and the decline of Aksum are inconclusive. How, in the future, can we try to find answers to explain the decline of Aksum, or highlight environmental changes ? What markers and methods could refine our knowledge of the natural environment of the first millennium in the Ethiopian highlands ? And how can we better understand the relationship between Aksumite societies and their environment ?

From technical gesture to cultural expression, from raw materials to ecology : potters' skills and know-how from the Ethiopian Rift, reference models

Authors : Jessie Cauliez (CNRS), Claire Manen (CNRS), Anne-Lise Goujon (Ministère de l'Europe et des affaires étrangères)

Abstract : Thanks to ethnographic research in traditional production contexts, we know that every technical act leading to the creation of an object is based on knowledge acquired within a social niche structured by heritages, norms, prohibitions and exchanges. To decipher actions on matter (technical gestures) is to gain access to the cultural expression of a society. The paper presented here questions the actualist sources inherent in several pottery communities in Ethiopia, a country where the diversity of technical traditions is exceptional. The aim is to show how these sources enable : 1) to restore past settlement dynamics by studying current pottery traditions and analyzing the historical depth of these early skills ; 2) to provide answers to problems of techno-economic and socio-cultural interpretation of archaeological assemblages ; 3) to increase the effectiveness of analytical protocols for Neolithic archaeological ceramic remains from Africa and Europe ; 4) to suggest ways of enhancing the value of these traditional crafts and encouraging heritage projects, by focusing on their integration into modern dynamics.

Relations between mankind and "nature" : the heritage angle

Authors : Jean-Renaud Boisserie (CNRS), Guillaume Blanc (Université de Rennes), Jean-Baptiste Eczet (EHESS)

Abstract : When described by Western cultures, African heritage spaces are subject to tenacious clichés. In East Africa perhaps more than anywhere else, the reality of the relationship between humans and "nature" is masked by preconceived ideas that seem impervious to the passage of time and advances in research. The Rift is thus designated as the geographical origin of humanity, home to populations with " primitive " lifestyles and whose "   traditions" attest, according to some, to an ancestral communion with their environment, and according to others, to a catastrophic propensity to degrade an original environment, to be safeguarded at all costs. The "natural" sciences and the human and social sciences allow us to question these concepts and the uses to which they are put, i.e. the "right" ways of governing nature and humans. Today, it is crucial to take a step back from the notions of " nature " and " heritage ", and to finally combine the tools of life and social sciences to describe the real interactions between human groups and their environments. A more realistic description of these interactions will have practical consequences for their management.

Heritage in the Rift, a political factory ? The case of Ethiopia

Authors : Marie Bridonneau (CNRS), Jessie Cauliez (CNRS), Marie-Laure Derat (CNRS), Raphaël Pik (CNRS), Jean-Renaud Boisserie (CNRS)

Abstract : The heritage of an asset means first identifying and selecting it, then conserving and promoting it. While the first steps may be taken by associations or scientists, conservation and development are the responsibility of a sovereign authority, often the State. Beyond this, Unesco is the guarantor of a label whose contours have continued to expand since its creation in 1972, encouraging the growing representation of the Rift States on the World Heritage List. Among the sites to be designated in 2023, two are Ethiopian : one as a natural heritage site (the Bale Mountains), the other as a cultural landscape (Gedeo). Here, Unesco provides an arena and a stage for a state in crisis, in conflict in recent years with several of the regional and/or ethnolinguistic entities that make it up. In Ethiopia, more than ever, World Heritage is a matter of domestic politics..

Preserving and promoting archaeological and palaeontological collections in the rift : experiences of scientific collaboration

Authors : Clément Ménard (Centre européen de recherches préhistoriques de Tautavel), Anne-Lise Goujon (Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères), Antoine Souron (Université de Bordeaux), Jessie Cauliez (CNRS), Jean-Renaud Boisserie (CNRS)

Abstract : Archaeological and paleontological collections are generally built up by scientists to study them and advance the state of knowledge. Once established, the management and enhancement of these collections respond to various imperatives (enabling these studies, conserving for future generations, generating a tourist activity) and involve a large number of individual and institutional players. Based on the experience of scientific cooperation in Rift Valley countries (Djibouti, Ethiopia), we will present the advantages and limitations of such systems, and propose solutions to improve their implementation.

Round Table : the future of research in the Rift (and more broadly in Africa)

With the participation of : Raymonde Bonnefille, Guillaume Blanc, Marie Bridonneau, Jessie Cauliez, Marie-Laure Derat, Raphaël Pik, Pierre Sepulchre, Virginie Tallio.

Program