Melka Kunture

Melka Kunture sits on the upper Awash at around 2,000 metres, where river terraces have preserved a sequence of occupation layers running from roughly 1.7 million years ago into the later Stone Age, with stone tools, butchered animal bone and hominin remains through the whole span. The tool sequence is the point: Oldowan choppers, Acheulean handaxes and later technologies appear in stratigraphic order at one place, which is unusual and makes the site important for tracing how toolmaking changed. Nearby Balchit provided the obsidian. A small site museum in several huts displays finds by theme, and excavation areas are covered and can be walked. The property, including Balchit, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 2024.

History

The site was discovered by Gerard Dekker in 1963, surveyed by Gérard Bailloud in 1964 and then systematically explored by a French mission under Jean Chavaillon in 1965-1982 and 1993-1995; since 1999 an Italian mission led by Marcello Piperno for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Sapienza University of Rome has worked here with the Ethiopian heritage authority and the Oromia culture and tourism bureau. Its river terraces hold deposits with a combined thickness of about 100 metres, and in 2024 the site became a World Heritage Site (Wikipedia, Melka Kunture).

What's there

• Stratified tool layers - Oldowan to later Stone Age in sequence.
• Excavation shelters - covered digs open to walk through.
• The site museum - finds displayed in thematic pavilions.
• The Awash gorge - the river terraces the deposits sit in.

When to go

October to March for the roads and dry ground. The site is open daily. It is usually combined with Adadi Mariam and Tiya on a day trip from Addis Ababa.

Before you go

Stone tools in situ are not visually dramatic and the site rewards interest in the subject rather than casual sightseeing. The museum pavilions are simple and labelling is limited. Some excavation areas may be closed. The World Heritage inscription is recent and facilities have not caught up with it.

Nearby

Adadi Mariam lies west; Tiya is south on the same road.

Key facts