Buya, Eritrea

Buya or Buia is an archaeological site in Eritrea.

Archaeology

The site was discovered in December 1995 due to surveys of the area carried out following a prospection of the region in November of 1994.

Buya was excavated between 1995 and 1997 by archaeologists Ernesto Abbate working for the University of Florence alongside a team of Eritrean and Italian paleontologists. They unearthed fragments of the skeleton of the Homo erectus fossil Madam Buya. This skeleton consisted of the fossil consisted of a nearly complete cranium, two fragments of a pelvis, and two incisors. They were found inside ancient river and lake sediments located within the Danakil Depression. The fossils found at the site were one million years old, and bared characteristics of both Homo erectus skeletons and Homo sapiens skeletons. It has a oval neurocranium, massive brow ridge, and wide cheekbones. These traits are all characteristics of a Homo erectus fossil. It also has a cranium which is widest high on the vault, which is a human trait. Prior to this discovery, the earliest known fossil with human traits was a 600,000 year old Homo heidelbergensis skeleton from Bodo, Ethiopia. The discovery is considered to have been an important source of information about the development of modern humans. According to a 1998 article by Archaeology.org, a publication of the Archaeological Institute of America, this discovery was likely to push "back the development of modern human morphology by some 300,000 years" and to "shed light on a time poory understood in the paleontological record."

Tsegai Medin working for the National Museum of Eritrea, conducted another excavation in 2011. Husein Omar, one of the excavators, discovered a set of molars dated from 650,000 to 1.4 million years ago. According to Medin, this discovery would provide a vital source of information about human development during this time period and would provide oppurtunity for further research in Eritrea.

Paleoecology

Numerous remains of flora and fauna have been found at the site. The type of fauna found at this site is typical of Early Pleistocene East African faunas. Remains of extinct taxa from this time period found at the site include: Theropithecus oswaldi, Hippopotamus gorgops, Palaeoloxodon recki, Bos buiaensis, Kolpochoerus olduvaiensis, Kolpochoerus majus, and the Metridiochoerus modestus. Other remnants of extant taxa such as Ceratotherium simum, Equus grevyi, Tragelaphus spekei, Kobus ellipsiprymnus, and Crocuta crocuta have been identified. Remains of water-dependent taxa such as the hippopotamus, waterbuck, sitatunga, crocodile, African rock python, Nile monitor lizard, and pelomedusidae found in the area indicate the region consisted of moist grassland habitats situated nearby water.

Geology and Geography

The Buya archaeological site is located in the Dandiero basin, which is the northernmost part of the Eritrean Danakil depression. It is named after the Buya village which is located 100 kilometers south-southeast of the port city of Massawa. The site of the human fossils found at the area is 12 kilometers southeast of Buya by the Alad wells and the Alid volcano. The area west of Buya is covered by a metamorphic base of low grade dolomitic rock, marble, calcareous meta-sediments, and graphitic slate that came into contact with high grade kyanite schist, amphibolite gneiss and granite gneiss .