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Abstract Current models of early hominin biological and cultural evolution are shaped almost entirely by the data accumulated from the East African Rift System (EARS) over the last decades. In contrast, little is known about the archaeological record from the high-elevation regions on either side of the Rift. Melka Wakena is a newly discovered site-complex on the Southeastern Ethiopian Highlands (SEH) (>2300 m above mean sea level) just east of the central sector of the Main Ethiopian Rift (MER), where eight archaeological and two paleontological localities were discovered to date. Nine archaeological horizons from three localities were tested so far, all dated to the second half of the early Pleistocene (∼1.6 to >0.7 Ma). All the lithic assemblages belong to the Acheulian technocomplex. Here we report on geochronological, stratigraphic, paleontological and lithic technological aspects of the tested localities and contextualize them in the broader framework of hominin cultural evolution in eastern Africa. Findings from Melka Wakena, assessed against the backdrop of the few other highland sites (Melka Kunture and Gadeb), support a scenario of expansion rather than dispersal from the Rift to the highlands. When considered in the context of the Rift-highlands interface, results of the first-phase research at Melka Wakena help to parse existing general models into archaeologically testable hypotheses and demonstrate the site’s potential to contribute to research of early prehistory and to understanding the dynamics of early Pleistocene hominin populations in eastern Africa.

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Oxygen and carbon (δ18Ο/δ13C) isotope, growth rate and trace element data are reported for a U-Th dated, annually-laminated stalagmite, GM1 from Goda Mea Cave, Ethiopia. The stalagmite grew intermittently around the last interglacial. The proxy records are used to develop a conceptual growth model of the stalagmite and to assess its potential for revealing a climate signal in this climatically sensitive northeastern African region during an important period in the evolution of Homo sapiens and dispersal of Anatomically Modern Humans out of Africa. Speleothem deposition is of short-duration occurring at ∼129 ka, ∼120 ka, in an undated growth phase, and at ∼108 ka; probably due to tectonic activity. δ18Ο composition is very stable within growth phases (1σ variability < 0.76‰), as are Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca, all indicative of well-mixed source-waters. A shift to positive δ18Ο values and increased variability in Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca and Ba/Ca prior to growth hiatuses is observed, indicating a loss of the well-mixed water source prior to growth cessation. Mean δ18Ο composition (−3.82 to −7.77‰) is lower than published modern and Holocene stalagmites from the region. Geochemical data, statistical analyses, and a conceptual model of stalagmite growth, demonstrate that climatic conditions recorded by GM1 were wetter than the Holocene. The ∼129 ka growth phase particularly presents an annual record of the relative Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) position. The GM1 record, the oldest high-resolution continental climate record from Ethiopia so far published, presents evidence that any early human migrations which occurred during MIS 5 are likely to have occurred during a wet event in northeast Africa.