Abstract
The ability of early hominins to adapt to diverse landscapes and ecological niches was a key factor in their range expansion. However, the behavioral and cognitive prerequisites underlying this adaptability remain poorly understood. Assuming that resource procurement played a pivotal role in hominin dispersal, we investigate the mobility-subsistence system of early Oldowan groups who occupied the Lower Omo landscape of southern Ethiopia some 2.3 million years ago (Ma). With its extensive archaeological record and scattered lithic resources, this context provides a landscape-scale record of early hominin behavior. Multiple lines of evidence derived from an integrated environmental, spatial and technological analysis indicate a regionally-structured mobility strategy, involving the provisioning of quartz pebbles and the transport of partially transformed products from distant sources to the biotic-rich but stone-poor margins of the paleo-Omo River, where highly mobile foraging activities were concentrated along the meandering channel. This regional strategy of early hominin displacement reflects a “Shungura exception” in the Early Pleistocene record. It coincides with the emergence of stone tool-mediated activities in the Lower Omo Valley, marking a tipping point in the capacity of early hominins to develop environment-specific adaptive strategies‒a crucial asset for their expansion into new ecological niches.
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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article and its supplementary information file, or publicly accessible through Nakala data repository (https://nakala.fr/10.34847/nkl.25d73am0).
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Acknowledgements
This work was granted a permit by the Ethiopian Heritage Authority (EHA) as part of the Omo Group Research Expedition (OGRE). We thank the EHA curators for their unfailing help and logistical support during our study sessions at the National Museum of Ethiopia, as well as the staff members of the French Center for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE) in Addis Ababa, all field workers for their essential contribution, and the South Omo Zone, the Nyangatom and Dassanech Woredas and their people for their help and reception. We would like to thank James Clark for his highly relevant comments.
Funding
This study was supported by public grants from the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (to J.-R.B.), from the French National Research Agency (ANR-project OLD, grant N° ANR-16-CE27-0009-01 to A.D.), and from the University of Bordeaux’s IdEx “Investments for the Future” program / GPR “Human Past” (to A.D).
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Anne Delagnes: Conceptualization, Field investigation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing, Data curation, Review and editing, Funding acquisition. Pascal Bertran: Conceptualization, Field investigation, Methodology, Writing, review and editing. Brad Gravina: Field investigation, Formal analysis, Writing, Review and editing. Frédéric Santos: Formal analysis, Methodology, Writing, Review and editing. Océane Spinelli Sanchez: Field investigation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing, Review and editing. Aline Galland: Field investigation, Writing, Data curation, Review and editing. Michel Brenet: Field investigation, Methodology, Formal analysis, Writing, Review and editing. Haregwin Belete Hailu: Field investigation, Formal analysis, Review and editing , Bisrat Gebreegziabher Araya: Field investigation, Formal analysis, Review and editing, Fikeru Mekonenn Sissay: Field investigation, Formal analysis, Review and editing, Misganaw Gebremichael Woldetsadik: Field investigation, Formal analysis, Review and editing, Jean-Renaud Boisserie: Field investigation, Formal analysis, Writing, Data curation, Review and editing, Funding acquisition.
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Delagnes, A., Bertran, P., Gravina, B. et al. A regional-scale mobility model for the early hominin occupation of the Lower Omo Valley (Ethiopia). Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39972-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-39972-9
