Chabu people of SW Ethiopian Highlands were hunter-gatherers until recently. Their ancestry, as well as that of the Majang, Bench, Sheko, Aari, & Gumuz is largely from populations closely related to the 2500 BC Mota Cave man from the nearby Gamo Highlands. sciencedirect.com
Chabu, Bench, Sheko, Majang, & Aari Blacksmiths (a lower caste among the Aari forbidden from outmarrying) have all experienced population decline since the end of 1st millennium AD, likely due to marginalization of hunter-gatherers at hands of farmers & pastoralists.
Aari Cultivators experienced a decline at similar time as the Aari Blacksmiths, but adopted farming & recovered. Gumuz also adopted agriculture late and recovered.
Chabu is language isolate per Roger Blench. Suggests it may be a surviving remnant of old Ethiopian Highlands hunter-gather language family - prior to arrival of Levantines bearing Omotic & Cushitic languages & Saharans bringing Eastern Sudanic languages. academia.edu
As the authors point out in the paper, things we learn from Ethiopia can be used for cross-cultural comparisons. Hereβs a thread from Herbalist on one of the few WHG groups who adopted farming:
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