Editing History of Djibouti (section)

== Prehistory ==
[[File:Rock art at Balho.JPG|thumb|Rock art at [[Balho]]]]
The [[Bab-el-Mandeb]] region has often been considered a primary crossing point for early hominins following a southern coastal route from East Africa to [[South Arabia]] and Southeast Asia.

Djibouti area has been inhabited since the [[Neolithic]]. According to linguists, the first [[Afroasiatic languages|Afroasiatic]]-speaking populations arrived in the region during this period from the family's proposed [[Afroasiatic Urheimat|urheimat]] ("original homeland") in the [[Nile Valley]],<ref>Zarins, Juris (1990), "Early Pastoral Nomadism and the Settlement of Lower Mesopotamia", (Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research)</ref> or the [[Near East]].<ref>Diamond J, Bellwood P (2003) Farmers and Their Languages: The First Expansions SCIENCE 300, {{doi|10.1126/science.1078208}}</ref> Other scholars propose that the Afroasiatic family developed in situ in the Horn, with its speakers subsequently dispersing from there.<ref name="Blench143144">{{cite book|last1=Blench|first1=R.|title=Archaeology, Language, and the African Past|date=2006|publisher=Rowman Altamira|isbn=978-0759104662|pages=143–144|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=esFy3Po57A8C|access-date=8 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914171419/http://www.google.com/books?id=esFy3Po57A8C|archive-date=14 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref>

The cut stones 3 million years old, collected in the area of [[Lake Abbe]].{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} In the Gobaad plain (between Dikhil and Lake Abbe), the remains of an [[Palaeoloxodon recki]] elephant were also discovered, visibly butchered using basalt tools found nearby. These remains would date from 1.4&nbsp;million years BC.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} Subsequently identified other sites of these cuts, probably the work of [[Homo ergaster]]. An [[Acheulean]] site (from 800,000 to 400,000 years BC), where [[stone]] was cut, was excavated in the 1990s{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}, in Gombourta, between [[Damerdjog]] and [[Loyada]], 15&nbsp;km south of [[Djibouti City|Djibouti]]. Finally, in Gobaad, a [[Homo erectus]] jaw was found, dating from 100,000 BC. AD On Devil's Island, tools dating back 6,000 years have been found, which were no doubt used to open shells. In the area at the bottom of [[Ghoubbet-el-Kharab|Goubet]] (Dankalélo, not far from Devil's Island), circular stone structures and fragments of painted [[pottery]] have also been discovered. Previous investigators have also reported a fragmentary maxilla, attributed to an older form of [[Homo sapiens]] and dated to ~250 Ka, from the valley of the Dagadlé Wadi.
[[File:Pottery of Asa Koma.JPG|thumb|upright|Geometric design pottery found in [[Asa Koma]].]]
Pottery predating the mid-2nd millennium has been found at [[Asa Koma]], an inland lake area on the Gobaad Plain. The site's ware is characterized by punctate and incision geometric designs, which bear a similarity to the Sabir culture phase 1 ceramics from Ma'layba in [[Southern Arabia]].<ref name="Ohvah">{{cite book|last1=Walter Raunig|first1=Steffen Wenig|title=Afrikas Horn|date=2005|publisher=Otto Harrassowitz Verlag|isbn=978-3447051750|page=439|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JpNY7VPn1WUC|access-date=7 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914164620/http://www.google.com/books?id=JpNY7VPn1WUC|archive-date=14 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Long-horned humpless cattle bones have likewise been discovered at Asa Koma, suggesting that domesticated cattle were present by around 3,500 years ago.<ref name="Connah">{{cite book|last1=Connah|first1=Graham|title=Forgotten Africa: An Introduction to Its Archaeology|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1134403035|page=46|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggD1wdQxBOcC|access-date=7 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914164726/http://www.google.com/books?id=ggD1wdQxBOcC|archive-date=14 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Rock art of what appear to be antelopes and a giraffe are also found at [[Dorra]] and [[Balho]].<ref name="Amvjaa">{{cite book|last1=Universität Frankfurt am Main|title=Journal of African Archaeology, Volumes 1–2|date=2003|publisher=Africa Manga Verlag|page=230|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ExwkAQAAIAAJ|access-date=7 September 2014|isbn=9783937248004|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140914164618/http://www.google.com/books?id=ExwkAQAAIAAJ|archive-date=14 September 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Handoga]], dated to the fourth millennium BP, has in turn yielded obsidian microliths and plain ceramics used by early nomadic pastoralists with domesticated cattle.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Finneran|first1=Niall|title=The Archaeology of Ethiopia|date=2013|publisher=Routledge|location=1136755527|isbn=978-1136755521|page=86|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MNGIzz1VJH0C|access-date=29 December 2016}}</ref>

The site of Wakrita is a small [[Neolithic]] establishment located on a [[wadi]] in the tectonic depression of Gobaad in Djibouti in the [[Horn of Africa]]. The 2005 excavations yielded abundant ceramics that enabled us to define one Neolithic cultural facies of this region, which was also identified at the nearby site of [[Asa Koma]]. The faunal remains confirm the importance of fishing in Neolithic settlements close to [[Lake Abbe|Lake Abbé]], but also the importance of bovine husbandry and, for the first time in this area, evidence for caprine herding practices. Radiocarbon dating places this occupation at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, similar in range to Asa Koma. These two sites represent the oldest evidence of herding in the region, and they provide a better understanding of the development of Neolithic societies in this region.

Up to 4000 years BC. AD, the region benefited from a [[climate]] very different from the one it knows today and probably close to the [[Mediterranean climate]]. The water resources were numerous: lakes in the Gobaad, lakes Assal and Abbé larger and resembling real bodies of water. The humans therefore lived by [[Hunter-gatherer|gathering]], fishing and [[hunting]]. The region was populated by a very rich fauna: [[Felidae|felines]], [[African Buffalo|buffalo]]es, elephants, [[rhino]]s, etc., as evidenced, for example, by the bestiary of cave paintings at [[Balho]]. In the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC. A few [[nomad]]s settled around the lakes and practiced fishing and cattle breeding. The burial of an 18-year-old woman, dating from this period, as well as the bones of hunted animals, bone tools and small [[Gemstone|jewels]] have been unearthed. About 1500 BC. AD, the climate is already changing, water is scarce. Engravings show dromedaries (animal of arid zones), some of which are ridden by armed warriors. Sedentary peoples return to [[Nomad]]ic life. A stone [[tumuli]] (of various shapes), sheltering graves and dating from this period, have been unearthed all over the [[territory]].