This study is about the provenance and depositional history of clastic sediments deposited in arnrock shelter at the Bale Mountains, Southeastern Ethiopia. The sediment section has beenrnexcavated for archaeological study. Sedimentological and geochemical characteristics of thernsediments in the Fincha Habera section, at the excavated rock shelter site have been investigated.rnA total of 22 sediment samples have been collected and analyzed, and the analysis results arernused to determine the provenance (source) and depositional history of the sediments. The grainrnsize analyses of the unconsolidated sediments show that the sediments range from fine to coarsern(silt to silty sand) with mean particle size ranging from 11.97 to 140 Î¼m, poorly to very poorlyrnsorted, with standard deviation of most samples ranging from 1.829 to 5.12 Î¼m; very finernskewed to very coarse skewed with skewness ranging from -0.378 to 0.396 Î¼m, and platykurticrnto very leptokurtic with kurtosis ranging from 0.709 to 1.537Î¼m. The relationship between thernmean grain size and sorting suggests that sedimentation took place in high energy, open fluvialrndepositional environments. The integrated data from the field (lithofacies associations),rnsedimentological analysis (grain size and magnetic susceptibility measurement), andrngeochemical analysis (elemental and mineralogical compositions) of the sediments has been usedrnas a combined proxy for provenance determination. Accordingly, the integrated data suggest thatrnthe materials/sediments that are deposited in the rock shelter have a mixture of three sources:rngeogenic (either as endogenic or exogenic), biogenic or human induced (anthropogenic) origins.rnThe grain size analysis (sorting), the log ratio of major elements (low log (SiO2/Al2O3) value),rnthe less mobile major elements (Al2O3 and TiO2) ratio, and the mineralogical composition (i.e.,rnpredominantly of plagioclase feldspars, particularly anorthite and albite) suggests that therngeogenic materials are texturally as well as chemically immature and derived predominantlyrnfrom mafic source rocks. The magnetic susceptibility of the sediments is indicative of either thernanthropogenic sources of some layers in the section, or significant accumulation of organicrnmatter, as the combustion/heating of the sediments by anthropogenic activities or occurrence ofrnsizable quantity of organic matter such as ash and charcoal deposits, respectively, can affect thernmagnetic susceptibility value. Furthermore, the magnetic susceptibility value of the sedimentsrncan be correlated with the Ca and P concentrations (indicators of biogenic materials).