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39-558: The Bale Mountains faced long glaciation periods, creating an Afro-alpine climate and ecosystem. Glaciation periods were categorized by Glacial stages I, II, and III throughout the MSA. The first glacial stage, approximately occurring between 48,000 and 42,000 years ago, occurred during a wet and cold climate period in Eastern Africa that followed an arid ecosystem. Advancements of valley glaciers during this stage, corroborated with

78-549: A 30,000-year-old Middle-Stone Age rock shelter at the Fincha Habera site in Bale Mountains of Ethiopia over 11,000 feet above sea level in 2019. According to the study published in the journal Science, this dwelling was the earliest proof of the highest-altitude of human occupation. Thousands of animal bones, hundreds of stone tools, and ancient fireplaces were revealed on the ground. This article about

117-511: A break in rainfall during mid-season when the Intertropical Convergence Zone or monsoon trough moves poleward of their location during the middle of the warm season; Typical vegetation in these areas ranges from moist seasonal tropical forests to savannahs . When the wet season occurs during the warm season, or summer , precipitation falls mainly during the late afternoon and early evening hours. The wet season

156-589: A location in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Tropics The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator , where the sun may shine directly overhead . This contrasts with the temperate or polar regions of Earth, where the Sun can never be directly overhead. This is because of Earth's axial tilt ; the width of the tropics (in latitude)

195-571: A method of preparation and hunting found at the site was not an individual case - in fact, the same pattern of hunting and consuming rodents is documented around tropical geographical sites globally. The method of small fauna exploitation is also very similar with lifestyles of hunter-gatherers located in Southern Africa during both the Middle Stone Age and Late Stone Age . One resembling case of low-heat roasting and preaparation

234-500: Is a time when air quality improves, freshwater quality improves and vegetation grows significantly due to the wet season supplementing flora, leading to crop yields late in the season. Floods and rains cause rivers to overflow their banks, and some animals to retreat to higher ground. Soil nutrients are washed away and erosion increases. The incidence of malaria increases in areas where the rainy season coincides with high temperatures. Animals have adaptation and survival strategies for

273-413: Is still undetermined if permanent residence occurred and no additional human residential sites of the same age have been identified near the settlement. The Fincha Habera hunter-gatherers also utilized hearths throughout the period of inhabitance and livestock enclosures during the later period of time. The diet of hunter-gatherers at Fincha Habera heavily relied on the endemic giant mole rats found in

312-472: Is that of MSA bird exploitation at the archaeological site Sibudu Cave . Other fauna apparent at Fincha Habera, and perhaps integrated into the diet of the prehistoric residents there, included mountain nyala (an endemic bovid to the Afro-alpines), baboons , and small carnivores like foxes . Hyenas were also heavily present near the rock shelter during the MSA and competed with hunter-gatherers for

351-585: Is that the tropics represent a ' Garden of Eden ', a heaven on Earth, a land of rich biodiversity or a tropical paradise. The alternative is that the tropics consist of wild, unconquerable nature. The latter view was often discussed in old Western literature more so than the first. Evidence suggests over time that the view of the tropics as such in popular literature has been supplanted by more well-rounded and sophisticated interpretations. Western scholars tried to theorise why tropical areas were relatively more inhospitable to human civilisations than colder regions of

390-406: Is twice the tilt. The tropics are also referred to as the tropical zone and the torrid zone (see geographical zone ). Due to the overhead sun, the tropics receive the most solar energy over the course of the year, and consequently have the highest temperatures on the planet. Even when not directly overhead, the sun is still close to overhead throughout the year, therefore the tropics also have

429-605: The Andes as far south as the northernmost parts of Chile and Perú . The climate is changing in the tropics, as it is in the rest of the world. The effects of steadily rising concentrations of greenhouse gases on the climate may be less obvious to tropical residents, however, because they are overlain by considerable natural variability. Much of this variability is driven by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) . The Tropics has warmed by 0.7–0.8 °C over

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468-652: The Awash River , part of the Ethiopian Highlands . They include Tullu Demtu , the fourth-highest mountain in Ethiopia (4377 meters), and Mount Batu (4307 meters). The Weyib River , a tributary of the Jubba River , rises in these mountains east of Goba . The Bale Mountains National Park covers 2,200 square kilometers of these mountains. The park's main attractions are the wild alpine scenery and

507-732: The Pantropic . The system of biogeographic realms differs somewhat; the Neotropical realm includes both the Neotropics and temperate South America, and the Paleotropics correspond to the Afrotropical , Indomalayan , Oceanian , and tropical Australasian realms . Flora are plants found in a specific region at a specific time. Some well-known plants that are exclusively found in, originate from, or are often associated with

546-579: The Waterberg Biosphere of South Africa , and eastern Madagascar rainforests. Often the soils of tropical forests are low in nutrient content, making them quite vulnerable to slash-and-burn deforestation techniques, which are sometimes an element of shifting cultivation agricultural systems. In biogeography , the tropics are divided into Paleotropics (Africa, Asia and Australia) and Neotropics (Caribbean, Central America, and South America). Together, they are sometimes referred to as

585-719: The axial tilt of the Earth . The Tropic of Cancer is the Northernmost latitude from which the Sun can ever be seen directly overhead , and the Tropic of Capricorn is the Southernmost. This means that the tropical zone includes everywhere on Earth which is a subsolar point at least once during the solar year . Thus the maximum latitudes of the tropics have equal distances from the equator on either side. Likewise, they approximate

624-473: The Afro-alpine ecosystems. These mole-rats were densely populated near the rock shelter, with around 29 individuals appearing per hectare in the surrounding geographical area and constituted 93.5% of the area's fauna. As such, they were heavily hunted by Fincha Habera residents. Throughout the archaeological site, evidence of burn marks and burnt bones of these mole rate in early MSA deposits indicated that

663-513: The Fincha Habera settlement that was categorized by cold, humid ecosystems. Although glaciers advanced and surrounded the area around Fincha Habera, it is important to note that they never made contact with the settlement. The rock shelter was approximately 500 to 700 meters below land levels in which the glaciers were found. Thus, more moderate climates allowed Fincha Habera to be suitable for habitation by gatherers multiple times throughout

702-405: The MSA and provided refuge against arid climates in the lowlands. Systems for water drainage have been found to exist far past the third glacial stage, suggesting a climate or ecosystem that managed to preserve fresh water past the need for melting ice caps. Heavy presence of a ground beetle species found at the site and phylogenetically dated much after the end glacial stage III also pointed to

741-475: The MSA, colliding with the third glacial period that created fresh water sources and water drainage systems, as well as providing a habitat for prey of hunter-gatherers residing at the shelter. Deposits from conglomerate rock that formed between flows of basalt lava helped form the actual rock shelter. Both hearth remains and specifically placed boulder piles at the entrance of the archaeological site interpreted to be for livestock enclosures were discovered at

780-475: The National Park offers trekking opportunities from the park headquarters at Dinsho . ( Dodola is also a useful base for exploring these mountains.) The largest group of Ethiopian wolves is found here. Other characteristic large mammals are mountain nyalas , Menelik's bushbucks , warthogs , and bohor reedbucks . The Juniper - Hagenia forests lie between 2,500 and 3,300 m and are mostly found on

819-399: The angle of the Earth's axial tilt. This angle is not perfectly fixed, mainly due to the influence of the moon, but the limits of the tropics are a geographic convention, and their variance from the true latitudes is very small. Many tropical areas have both a dry and a wet season. The wet season , rainy season or green season is the time of year, ranging from one or more months when most of

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858-553: The archaeological sites. Other features of the settlement included methods of storage and disposal of organic resources and waste, as well as fire pits and areas for food preparation. Deposits from the archaeological site suggest that hunter-gatherers occupied the rock shelter during the Late Pleistocene , likely between 47,000 and 31,000 years ago, using technology attributed to the Middle Stone Age . Although

897-459: The average annual rainfall in a region falls. Areas with wet seasons are disseminated across portions of the tropics and subtropics , some even in temperate regions. Under the Köppen climate classification , for tropical climates , a wet-season month is defined as one or more months where average precipitation is 60 mm (2.4 in) or more. Some areas with pronounced rainy seasons see

936-415: The existence of humid, rich organic matter soil conditions that corroborated the availability of fresh water to foragers at Fincha Habera. Studies of increased Podocarpus and Ericaceae pollen within dung deposits at the Fincha Habera site indicate the appearance of vegetation belts along the Bale Mountains. This suggests that gallery forests would have appeared near Fincha Habera in the drier periods of

975-460: The geographic region; these usages ought not be confused. The Earth's axial tilt is currently around 23.4° , and therefore so are the latitudes of the tropical circles , marking the boundary of the tropics: specifically, ±23°26′09.8″ (or 23.43605°). The northern one is called the Tropic of Cancer , and the southern is the Tropic of Capricorn . As the Earth's axial tilt changes, so too do

1014-481: The giant mole rats as a food source. Tools by the inhabitants of Fincha Habera were primarily made of obsidian . Five obsidian outcrops were located at around 4200 meters above sea level in the Ethiopian highlands and Bale Mountains . These outcrops were the sites of extensive human extractions of obsidian for resources and raw materials. As such, obsidian was the primary raw material that made up almost all of

1053-961: The last century—only slightly less than the global average—but a strong El Niño made 1998 the warmest year in most areas, with no significant warming since. Climate models predict a further 1–2 °C warming by 2050 and 1–4 °C by 2100. Tropical plants and animals are those species native to the tropics. Tropical ecosystems may consist of tropical rainforests , seasonal tropical forests , dry (often deciduous) forests , spiny forests, deserts , savannahs, grasslands and other habitat types. There are often wide areas of biodiversity , and species endemism present, particularly in rainforests and seasonal forests. Some examples of important biodiversity and high-endemism ecosystems are El Yunque National Forest in Puerto Rico , Costa Rican and Nicaraguan rainforests, Amazon Rainforest territories of several South American countries, Madagascar dry deciduous forests ,

1092-461: The lithic tools found at Fincha Habera's rock shelter. The MSA stone tool assembly at Fincha Habera included primarily unifacial tools with retouched points and blades. Creation of such tools likely included a reduction sequence that used two perpendicular platforms to create unipolar cores. Additionally, modifications of the lithic tools at the site included basal thinning and alternate edge retouch, both of which were common for MSA stone tools at

1131-445: The lowest seasonal variation on the planet; "winter" and "summer" lose their contrast. Instead, seasons are more commonly divided by precipitation variations than by temperature variations. The tropics maintain wide diversity of local climates, such as rain forests , monsoons , savannahs , deserts , and high altitude snow-capped mountains . The word "tropical" can specifically refer to certain kinds of weather , rather than to

1170-467: The method of preparation for food was roasting , but at a low degree of heat. Despite the name giant mole rat, the prey were likely small in size. The smaller scale of these animals help explain the lack of cut marks made by hunter-gatherers on the left-over bones at the site, since harsh butchering was not needed to prepare the rats for consumption. Instead, the residents might have used smoke to push these animals outside of their tunnels to hunt them. Such

1209-635: The northern slopes. An unusual plant of the Dinsho area is the white-flowered Abyssinian rose . The alpine moorland of the Sanetti Plateau is covered in heath-like vegetation broken by heather plants and stands of giant lobelia which grow up to 6 meters high. One of the most common and distinctive plants throughout the Bale region is the red-hot poker , an aloe which can be identified by its orange spear-shaped flowers. Archaeologists have discovered

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1248-448: The occupation existed at a high altitude, the alpine ecosystem within the Bale Mountains allowed the inhabitants of Fincha Habera to have access to sustainable food and living resources without need for heavy physical strain. Because of these factors, the rock settlement likely was home to longer-term stays, providing methods of subsistence to inhabitants all year-round. However, while long-term settlements likely occurred at Fincha Habera, it

1287-619: The relative ease with which visitors can see unique birds and mammals. The Bale Mountains are home to many of Ethiopia's endemic animals, notably the Ethiopian wolf ( Canis simensis ), found on the Sanetti Plateau . The park also contains the Harenna Forest , situated to the south of the mountains, which is a largely unexplored area thought to contain many undiscovered species of reptile as well as lions , leopards , hyenas and various types of antelope . Besides wildlife,

1326-417: The specific climate, created a scenario in which glaciers advancing throughout the valley led to ice flow down multiple outlet glaciers. These outlets subsequently acted as sources of fresh water to MSA hunter-gatherers at Fincha Habera after the ice melted in the tropics and was drained throughout the nearby Web Valley. The second and third glacial stages continued this trend and created a stable environment for

1365-484: The time. Scrapers and points were also utilized. Throughout the site, a high number of unworked or barely worked-on nodules for cores were found - such an upward count of tested-on nodules signifies resource predictability, especially with obsidian. Bale Mountains The Bale Mountains (also known as the Urgoma Mountains ) are mountain ranges in the Oromia Region of southeast Ethiopia , south of

1404-516: The tropical and polar circles . The tropics constitute 39.8% of Earth's surface area and contain 36% of Earth's landmass . As of 2014 , the region was home also to 40% of the world's population , and this figure was then projected to reach 50% by 2050. Because of global warming , the weather conditions of the tropics are expanding with areas in the subtropics , having more extreme weather events such as heatwaves and more intense storms. These changes in weather conditions may make certain parts of

1443-469: The tropics include: Tropicality refers to the image of the tropics that people from outside the tropics have of the region, ranging from critical to verging on fetishism. Tropicality gained renewed interest in geographical discourse when French geographer Pierre Gourou published Les pays tropicaux ( The Tropical World in English), in the late 1940s. Tropicality encompassed two major images. One,

1482-568: The tropics uninhabitable. The word "tropic" comes via Latin from Ancient Greek τροπή ( tropē ), meaning "to turn" or "change direction". The tropics are defined as the region between the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at 23°26′09.8″ (or 23.43605°) N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at 23°26′09.8″ (or 23.43605°) S; these latitudes correspond to

1521-726: The wetter regime. The previous dry season leads to food shortages into the wet season, as the crops have yet to mature. However, regions within the tropics may well not have a tropical climate. Under the Köppen climate classification, much of the area within the geographical tropics is classed not as "tropical" but as "dry" ( arid or semi-arid ), including the Sahara Desert , the Atacama Desert and Australian Outback . Also, there are alpine tundra and snow-capped peaks, including Mauna Kea , Mount Kilimanjaro , Puncak Jaya and

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