Pre-Aksumite Plant Husbandry in the Horn of Africa - Datasets

We owe a debt of gratitude to our Ethiopian colleagues and field assistants who have participated in ETAP research at Mezber since 2007. In particular, we acknowledge Medhin Abate, the owner of the land upon which Mezber sits, and our many excavation assistants from the villages surrounding the site. We are grateful to Shannon Wood who completed site mapping, figures and participated in excavations, and Pamela Wadge who conducted flotation and preliminary archaeobotanical studies. Tesfay Gebremariam provided assistance with flotation. We thank Michael Tofollo for completing an initial analysis of Mezber phytoliths. Additional Mezber team members included Helina Woldekiros, Lynn Welton, Stephen Batuik, Steven Brandt, Andrea Manzo, Laurie Nixon-Darcus, Elizabeth Peterson, Michela Gaudiello, Aman Mohammed, Hagos Hailat and Stefano Biagetti. We thank the Authority for Research and Conservation of Cultural Heritage (ARCCH) and the Tigrai Bureau of Culture and Tourism (TBCT) for permission to excavate at Mezber, especially Kebede Amare and Dr. Yonas Beyene. We greatly appreciate the participation of ARCCH and TBCT Representatives including Habtamu Mekonnen, Abebe Mengistu, Endashash Awate and Giday Gebregziabhir. ETAP archaeobotanical investigations at Mezber were financially supported by two major grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), including Standard Research Grants 410-2007-2472 and 410-2011-1646. Further support was obtained from a SSHRC/SFU Institutional Grant from Simon Fraser University. The work of CL and ARG was supported by the "RAINDROPS" Project, funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the Horizon 2020 framework (ERC-Stg 759800).