Since 1965, from October to January each year, geologists and archeologists have been camping by the Awash River at this point, because two million years ago at the entrance to the gorge lived some of the earliest ancestors of mankind. They left behind tools, traces of meals and shelters which are now the focus of archeological interest. Here in the lowest levels men of the Middle and later Stone Age have left many examples of beautiful two-edged hand-axes, obsidian scrapers and sets of bolas (the round stones used several together in nets to throw at animals). At Melka Konture also were discovered fossil bone of the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, el-ephant and various antelope.
