Research Arts Humanities 2017 2018
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44<br />
The “Mountain Exile<br />
Hypotheses“<br />
The Colonization of an Afro-Alpine Environment<br />
by Stone Age Hunter-Gatherers<br />
Principal Investigator: Dr. Ralf Vogelsang | Institute of Prehistoric Archaeology,<br />
Palaeolithic <strong>Research</strong> Unit<br />
Funded by the German <strong>Research</strong> Foundation (DFG),<br />
<strong>Research</strong> Unit FOR 2358<br />
H<br />
igh-altitude mountain habitats are<br />
regarded as unfavorable regions for<br />
human colonization. Therefore, it seems<br />
reasonable that humans would only be<br />
pushed into such conditions by land scarcity<br />
in the lowlands following rapid population increase or<br />
ecological changes. On the other hand, tropical highlands<br />
in Africa have been mentioned time and again as potential<br />
refugia during times of environmental stress, such as the<br />
hyper-arid conditions in the Horn of Africa around 20,000<br />
years ago when most parts of the region were uninhabitable.<br />
A research unit approved by the DFG in 2016 is investigating<br />
this question in the Bale Mountains in Ethiopia, which<br />
are the largest alpine ecosystem on the African continent.<br />
Due to their remoteness, the mountains are classified as<br />
a natural environment with an abundance of endemic<br />
species. The research unit, however, is presenting the<br />
hypothesis that Stone Age hunter-gatherers developed
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