Fossil footprints at Gombore (Melka Kunture, Upper Awash, Ethiopia): a rare snapshot of Pleistocene environments

Gombore is a gully of the Melka Kunture archaeological complex, at 2000 m asl in the Upper Awash Valley of Ethiopia. During the last decades, many sites were unearthed along the fluvial incision, revealing a long archaeological record from ~1.7 Ma up to the time of the Middle Pleistocene Transition, i.e. over approximately one million years. In recent years, the research of the Italian Archaeological Mission brought to light layers containing fossil footprints. At Gombore II OAM and Gombore II-1 (0.85 Ma), Gombore II-2 and Gombore X (0.7 Ma), as well as at Gombore III (0.6 Ma), sediments turbated by biogenic structures have been evidenced both during excavations and through the revision of original pictures kept in the archives of the Mission. Overall, ichnosurfaces are quite rare in the Pleistocene record. This is the first time they are reported from Ethiopia. Footprints are a first-hand source to reconstruct past environments. They provide direct evidence of the behavioral patterns of species that happen to be underrepresented or not represented at all in the fossil record, producing a different picture of the prevailing animals in the general environment. We underline that special attention is required to identify and investigate this precious but fragile record, as well as a specific methodology and a documentation protocol supported by modern technology