Enset ( Ensete ventricosum ) and the Archaeology of Southwestern Ethiopia
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REVIEW ARTICLE
Enset (Ensete ventricosum) and the Archaeology of Southwestern Ethiopia Agazi Negash
Accepted: 21 September 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Enset (Ensete ventricosum) is an indigenous Ethiopian domesticate growing in what is known as the “enset zone” of southwestern Ethiopia. Few archaeological sites have been excavated in this region, and only one site has yielded remains of enset. However, the abundant megalithic and rock art sites in the region compensate for the paucity of the archaeological record. This review article provides an interpretative analysis of the existing body of work to shed new light on the beginning of agriculture in the “enset zone.” It integrates the region’s archaeological evidence, recovered through excavations, with the information from megalithic and unique rock art sites. The archaeological evidence of this zone indicates a late introduction of domestic stock and pottery. The unique megalithic and rock art traditions in this region are considered to be part of the distinct cultural adaptations related to the later phases of food production. Résumé Enset (Ensete ventricosum) est une culture indigène éthiopien domestique poussant dans ce qui est connu comme la “zone enset” du sud-ouest de l’Ethiopie. Peu de sites archéologiques ont été fouillés dans cette région et un seul site a donné des restes d’ensète. Cependant, les abondants sites mégalithiques et d’art rupestre de la région compensent la rareté des archives archéologiques. Cet article de synthèse fournit
A. Negash (*) Paleoanthropology and Paleoenvironment Programme, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia e-mail: [email protected]
une analyse interprétative de l’ensemble des travaux existants pour jeter un nouveau éclairage sur le début de l’agriculture dans la «zone enset». Il intègre les preuves archéologiques de la région, récupérées lors de fouilles, avec les informations provenant de sites mégalithiques et d’art rupestre uniques. Les preuves archéologiques de cette zone indiquent une introduction tardive du bétail domestique et de la poterie. Les traditions mégalithiques et rupestres uniques de cette région sont considérées comme faisant partie des adaptations culturelles distinctes liées aux phases ultérieures de la production alimentaire. Keywords Enset . Megaliths . Rock art . Southern Ethiopia
Introduction The archaeology of southwest Ethiopia is mostly known from site-specific investigations that centered on megalithic and rock art sites. However, a full integration of the evidence from the rock art, the megaliths, and the results of archaeological excavations is lacking. Southwest Ethiopia is also home to the domestication of enset (Ensete ventricosum), which forms the basis of one of Ethiopia’s four agricultural systems, the “hoe and vegeculture complex” (Westphal 1975). The other three systems are the plow and cereal complex of the central and northern highlands, the mixed farming complex of the western lowlands, and the hoe and cereal
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