An Afar Sultanate in eastern Ethiopia. The Afar are for the most part pastoral nomads, practicing a lax form of Islam. Assaw was one of the few permanent polities established by this fierce people. It is in this region, at Hadar, that the oldest (3.5 million yrs) pre-hominid remains (Australopithecus afarensis) have been found, including the famous nearly complete skeleton called Lucy.