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Akuku P, Saladié P, Mohamed A, Mwambwiga A, Bushozi P, Mercader J. Faunal Assemblages From Lower Bed I (Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania). Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.895305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Palaeobiological and archeological excavations at the site of Ewass Oldupa, found in the western Plio-Pleistocene rift basin of Oldupai Gorge (also Olduvai Gorge), Tanzania, revealed rich fossiliferous levels and the earliest remains of human activity at Oldupai Gorge, dated to 2 million years ago. This paper provides zooarchaeological taxonomic, taphonomic, and behavioral analyses, applying several methods to explore the setting in which the assemblage was formed. We identified agency behind bone surface modifications, such as cut, tooth and percussion marks, and determined the frequency of carnivore tooth marks as well as their distribution on both discrete specimens and across species. In addition, our work revealed co-occurrence of modifications to include butchering marks and carnivore tooth marks. Ravaging levels were estimated as percentage. The faunal accumulation from Ewass Oldupa contains two cut marked specimens, together with low degrees of percussion and carnivore tooth marks, moderate ravaging, and diagenetic changes suggestive of water flow. Thus, multiple lines of evidence indicate a palimpsest accumulation. Taxonomic diversity is high, with up to 22 taxa representing diverse habitats, ranging from open grassland to wooded bushlands, as well as moist mosaics during Bed I. Overall, this archaeo-faunal assemblage speaks to increased behavioral versatility among Oldowan hominins and interactions with the carnivore guild.
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Late Quaternary Proboscidean Sites in Africa and Eurasia with Possible or Probable Evidence for Hominin Involvement. QUATERNARY 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/quat5010018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
This paper presents a list of >100 publicly known late Quaternary proboscidean sites that have certain or possible traces of hominin utilization in Africa, Europe, and Asia, along with a sample of references, chronometric or estimated ages, and brief descriptions of the associated materials and bone modifications. Summary discussions of important sites are also presented. Lower Palaeolithic/Early Stone Age hominins created far fewer proboscidean site assemblages than hominins in later Palaeolithic phases, in spite of the time span being many times longer. Middle Palaeolithic/Middle Stone Age hominins created assemblages at eight times the earlier hominin rate. Upper Palaeolithic/Later Stone Age hominins created site assemblages at >90 times the rate of Lower Palaeolithic hominins. Palaeoloxodon spp. occur in nearly one third of the sites with an identified or probable proboscidean taxon and Mammuthus species are in nearly one half of the sites with identified or probable taxon. Other identified proboscidean genera, such as Elephas, Loxodonta, and Stegodon, occur in few sites. The sites show variability in the intensity of carcass utilization, the quantity of lithics bedded with bones, the extent of bone surface modifications, such as cut marks, the diversity of associated fauna, and mortality profiles.
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No sustained increase in zooarchaeological evidence for carnivory after the appearance of Homo erectus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022; 119:2115540119. [PMID: 35074877 PMCID: PMC8812535 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2115540119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 12/15/2021] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Many quintessential human traits (e.g., larger brains) first appear in Homo erectus. The evolution of these traits is commonly linked to a major dietary shift involving increased consumption of animal tissues. Early archaeological sites preserving evidence of carnivory predate the appearance of H. erectus, but larger, well-preserved sites only appear after the arrival of H. erectus. This qualitative pattern is a key tenet of the “meat made us human” viewpoint, but data from sites across eastern Africa have not been quantitatively synthesized to test this hypothesis. Our analysis shows no sustained increase in the relative amount of evidence for carnivory after the appearance of H. erectus, calling into question the primacy of carnivory in shaping its evolutionary history. The appearance of Homo erectus shortly after 2.0 Ma is widely considered a turning point in human dietary evolution, with increased consumption of animal tissues driving the evolution of larger brain and body size and a reorganization of the gut. An increase in the size and number of zooarchaeological assemblages after the appearance of H. erectus is often offered as a central piece of archaeological evidence for increased carnivory in this species, but this characterization has yet to be subject to detailed scrutiny. Any widespread dietary shift leading to the acquisition of key traits in H. erectus should be persistent in the zooarchaeological record through time and can only be convincingly demonstrated by a broad-scale analysis that transcends individual sites or localities. Here, we present a quantitative synthesis of the zooarchaeological record of eastern Africa from 2.6 to 1.2 Ma. We show that several proxies for the prevalence of hominin carnivory are all strongly related to how well the fossil record has been sampled, which constrains the zooarchaeological visibility of hominin carnivory. When correcting for sampling effort, there is no sustained increase in the amount of evidence for hominin carnivory between 2.6 and 1.2 Ma. Our observations undercut evolutionary narratives linking anatomical and behavioral traits to increased meat consumption in H. erectus, suggesting that other factors are likely responsible for the appearance of its human-like traits.
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Seasonality and Oldowan behavioral variability in East Africa. J Hum Evol 2021; 164:103070. [PMID: 34548178 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.103070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2021] [Accepted: 08/12/2021] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The extent, nature, and temporality of early hominin food procurement strategies have been subject to extensive debate. In this article, we examine evidence for the seasonal scheduling of resource procurement and technological investment in the Oldowan, starting with an evaluation of the seasonal signature of underground storage organs, freshwater resources, and terrestrial animal resources in extant primates and modern human hunter-gatherer populations. Subsequently, we use the mortality profiles, taxonomic composition, and taphonomy of the bovid assemblages at Kanjera South (Homa Peninsula, Kenya) and FLK-Zinj (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) to illustrate the behavioral flexibility of Oldowan hominins, who were targeting different seasonally vulnerable demographics. In terms of the lithic assemblages, the specific opportunities and constraints afforded by dry season subsistence at FLK-Zinj may have disincentivized lithic investment, resulting in a more expedient toolkit for fast and effective carcass processing. This may have been reinforced by raw material site provisioning during a relatively prolonged seasonal occupation, reducing pressures on the reduction and curation of lithic implements. In contrast, wet season plant abundance would have offered a predictable set of high-quality resources associated with low levels of competition and reduced search times, in the context of perhaps greater seasonal mobility and consequently shorter occupations. These factors appear to have fostered technological investment to reduce resource handling costs at Kanjera South, facilitated by more consistent net returns and enhanced planning of lithic deployment throughout the landscape. We subsequently discuss the seasonality of freshwater resources in Oldowan procurement strategies, focusing on FwJj20 (Koobi Fora, Kenya). Although more analytical studies with representative sample sizes are needed, we argue that interassemblage differences evidence the ability of Oldowan hominins to adapt to seasonal constraints and opportunities in resource exploitation.
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Ben-Dor M, Sirtoli R, Barkai R. The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2021; 175 Suppl 72:27-56. [PMID: 33675083 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Revised: 12/07/2020] [Accepted: 01/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter-gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution-guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter-gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miki Ben-Dor
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | | | - Ran Barkai
- Department of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
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Pante M, Torre IDL, d'Errico F, Njau J, Blumenschine R. Bone tools from Beds II-IV, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and implications for the origins and evolution of bone technology. J Hum Evol 2020; 148:102885. [PMID: 33049586 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102885] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2020] [Revised: 08/27/2020] [Accepted: 08/27/2020] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
The advent of bone technology in Africa is often associated with behavioral modernity that began sometime in the Middle Stone Age. Yet, small numbers of bone tools are known from Early Pleistocene sites in East and South Africa, complicating our understanding of the evolutionary significance of osseous technologies. These early bone tools vary geographically, with those in South Africa indicating use in foraging activities such as termite extraction and those in East Africa intentionally shaped in a manner similar to lithic tool manufacture, leading some to infer multiple hominin species were responsible for bone technology in these regions, with Paranthropus robustus assumed to be the maker of South African bone tools and Homo erectus responsible for those in East Africa. Here, we present on an assemblage of 52 supposed bone tools primarily from Beds III and IV, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, that was excavated by Mary Leakey in the late 1960s and early 1970s, but was only partially published and was never studied in detail from a taphonomic perspective. The majority of the sites from which the tools were recovered were deposited when only H. erectus is known to have existed in the region, potentially allowing a direct link between this fossil hominin and bone technology. Our analysis confirms at least six bone tools in the assemblage, the majority of which are intentionally flaked large mammal bones. However, one of the tools is a preform of the oldest barbed bone point known to exist anywhere in the world and pushes back the initial appearance of this technology by 700 kyr.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Pante
- Department of Anthropology and Geography, Colorado State University, 1787 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA.
| | - Ignacio de la Torre
- Instituto de Historia, Spanish National Research Council-CSIC, Albasanz 26-28, 28037, Madrid, Spain
| | - Francesco d'Errico
- UMR 5199 CNRS De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel: Culture, Environnement, et Anthropologie (PACEA), Université de Bordeaux, Allée Geoffroy Saint Hilaire, CS 50023, F - 33615, Pessac CEDEX, Talence, France; Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour, Øysteinsgate 3, Postboks 7805, 5020, University of Bergen, Norway
| | - Jackson Njau
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 E Tenth Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA; The Stone Age Institute, Bloomington, IN, 47407, USA
| | - Robert Blumenschine
- Palaeontological Scientific Trust and Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, P Bag 3, WITS 2050, South Africa
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Dunn RR, Amato KR, Archie EA, Arandjelovic M, Crittenden AN, Nichols LM. The Internal, External and Extended Microbiomes of Hominins. Front Ecol Evol 2020. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.00025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
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Swedell L, Plummer T. Social evolution in Plio-Pleistocene hominins: Insights from hamadryas baboons and paleoecology. J Hum Evol 2019; 137:102667. [PMID: 31629289 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.102667] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2019] [Revised: 08/21/2019] [Accepted: 08/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Reconstructions of hominin evolution have long benefited from comparisons with nonhuman primates, especially baboons and chimpanzees. The hamadryas baboon (Papio hamadryas) is arguably one of the best such models, as it exhibits both the male kin bonding and the cross-sex pair bonding thought to have been important in hominin evolution. Here we link processes of behavioral evolution in hamadryas baboons with those in a Plio-Pleistocene hominin, provisionally identified as Homo erectus (sensu lato) - a pivotal species in that its larger body and brain size and wider ranging patterns increased female costs of reproduction, increasing the importance of sociality. The combination of these higher costs of reproduction and shifts in diet and food acquisition have previously been argued to have been alleviated either via strengthening of male-female bonds (involving male provisioning and the evolution of monogamy) or via the assistance of older, post-reproductive females (leading to post-reproductive longevity in females, i.e., the grandmother hypothesis). We suggest that both arrangements could have been present in Plio-Pleistocene hominins if they lived in multilevel societies. Here we expand on our earlier scenario with two sets of recent data in support of it, (1) archaeological data from the 2 million year old Oldowan site of Kanjera South, Kenya and other sites that are suggestive of tool dependent foraging on nutrient dense resources (animal carcasses and plant underground storage organs), cooperation, and food sharing; and (2) a pattern of genetic variation in hamadryas baboons that suggests the operation of kin selection among both males and females at multiple levels of society. Taken together, these two sets of data strengthen our model and support the idea of a complex society linked by male-male, male-female, and female-female bonds at multiple levels of social organization in Plio-Pleistocene hominins.
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Affiliation(s)
- Larissa Swedell
- Dept of Anthropology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367-1597, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA; Anthropology Program, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; Biology and Psychology Programs, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA; Dept of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, Cape Town, South Africa.
| | - Thomas Plummer
- Dept of Anthropology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367-1597, USA; New York Consortium in Evolutionary Primatology, New York, NY, USA; Anthropology Program, CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.
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de la Torre I, Mora R. Oldowan technological behaviour at HWK EE (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). J Hum Evol 2019; 120:236-273. [PMID: 29773229 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.04.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2017] [Revised: 03/07/2018] [Accepted: 04/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
HWK EE (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) is a late Oldowan site dated to ∼1.7 Ma that contains a large fossil and lithic assemblage. This paper reports on the technology of the recently excavated stone tool collection, over 18,000 pieces. Our results indicate that reduction sequences were generally short, flaking productivity was low, and knapping methods were largely simple and expedient, lacking the technical skills observed in other Oldowan assemblages. Conspicuous differences are observed in the chaînes opératoires of the three main raw materials used at HWK EE: the quartzite reduction sequence can be reconstructed in full at the site, most of the lava detached pieces are missing, and there is a preferential use of chert for retouched tools. This portrays a composite picture, where knapping expediency and low productivity are accompanied by raw material selectivity and consistent presence of retouched artefacts. Coexistence of these features in the same assemblage leads us to question the monolithic structure of the Oldowan techno-complex, and highlights the kaleidoscopic nature of technological strategies at Olduvai immediately before the earliest Acheulean handaxes appear in the sequence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio de la Torre
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PY London, United Kingdom.
| | - Rafael Mora
- Centre d'Estudis del Patrimoni Arqueologic de la Prehistoria, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
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Rivals F, Uno KT, Bibi F, Pante MC, Njau J, de la Torre I. Dietary traits of the ungulates from the HWK EE site at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania): Diachronic changes and seasonality. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:203-214. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.08.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2017] [Revised: 08/07/2017] [Accepted: 08/08/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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A hidden treasure of the Lower Pleistocene at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania: The Leakey HWK EE assemblage. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:114-139. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2017] [Revised: 06/20/2017] [Accepted: 06/21/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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12
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Hominin raw material procurement in the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:378-401. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/31/2016] [Revised: 11/19/2017] [Accepted: 11/30/2017] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
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13
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Uno KT, Rivals F, Bibi F, Pante M, Njau J, de la Torre I. Large mammal diets and paleoecology across the Oldowan–Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania from stable isotope and tooth wear analyses. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:76-91. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.01.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2017] [Revised: 12/27/2017] [Accepted: 01/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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14
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Bibi F, Pante M, Souron A, Stewart K, Varela S, Werdelin L, Boisserie JR, Fortelius M, Hlusko L, Njau J, de la Torre I. Paleoecology of the Serengeti during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania: The mammal and fish evidence. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:48-75. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.10.009] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2017] [Revised: 10/12/2017] [Accepted: 10/14/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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de la Torre I, McHenry L, Njau J. From the Oldowan to the Acheulean at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania - An introduction to the special issue. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:1-6. [PMID: 29753442 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.03.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/04/2018] [Accepted: 03/04/2018] [Indexed: 10/16/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio de la Torre
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PY London, United Kingdom.
| | - Lindsay McHenry
- Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3209 N. Maryland Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
| | - Jackson Njau
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 E 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA; Stone Age Institute, 1392 W Dittemore Rd., Gosport, IN 47433, USA
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Arroyo A, de la Torre I. Pounding tools in HWK EE and EF-HR (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania): Percussive activities in the Oldowan-Acheulean transition. J Hum Evol 2017; 120:402-421. [PMID: 29169680 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2016] [Revised: 10/04/2017] [Accepted: 10/07/2017] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
In this paper, we present pounded objects from excavations at HWK EE and EF-HR, which are studied from macro and microscopic perspectives. Analysis of HWK EE revealed one of the largest collections of percussive objects from Olduvai Gorge, while excavations at EF-HR have allowed us to recover a much wider collection of percussive tools than previously recorded. Differences are observed between the two localities. At the Acheulean site of EF-HR, percussive tools were predominantly used in the production of flakes and large cutting tools (LCTs). At the Oldowan site of HWK EE, the tool repertoire probably related to a wider range of activities, including bone breaking and bipolar knapping. Comparison of these two assemblages, potentially produced by different hominin species, helps provide a wider picture of pounding activities during the Oldowan-Acheulean transition at Olduvai Gorge.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adrián Arroyo
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK.
| | - Ignacio de la Torre
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, London, WC1H 0PY, UK
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17
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de la Torre I, Albert RM, Arroyo A, Macphail R, McHenry LJ, Mora R, Njau JK, Pante MC, Rivera-Rondón CA, Rodríguez-Cintas Á, Stanistreet IG, Stollhofen H, Wehr K. New excavations at the HWK EE site: Archaeology, paleoenvironment and site formation processes during late Oldowan times at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. J Hum Evol 2017; 120:140-202. [PMID: 29153333 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.07.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/22/2016] [Revised: 06/30/2017] [Accepted: 07/05/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
This paper reports the results of renewed fieldwork at the HWK EE site (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). HWK EE is positioned across the boundary between Lower and Middle Bed II, a crucial interval for studying the emergence of the Acheulean at Olduvai Gorge. Our excavations at HWK EE have produced one of the largest collections of fossils and artefacts from any Oldowan site, distributed across several archaeological units and a large excavation surface in four separate trenches that can be stratigraphically correlated. Here we present the main stratigraphic and archaeological units and discuss site formation processes. Results show a great density of fossils and stone tools vertically through two stratigraphic intervals (Lemuta and Lower Augitic Sandstone) and laterally across an area of around 300 m2, and highlight the confluence of biotic and abiotic agents in the formation of the assemblage. The large size and diversity of the assemblage, as well as its good preservation, qualify HWK EE as a reference site for the study of the late Oldowan at Olduvai Gorge and elsewhere in Africa. In addition, the description of the stratigraphic and archaeological sequence of HWK EE presented in this paper constitutes the foundation for further studies on hominin behavior and paleoecology in Lower and Middle Bed II.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ignacio de la Torre
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PY London, United Kingdom.
| | - Rosa M Albert
- ICREA, Pg. Lluís Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain; ERAAUB/Departament de Historia i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Adrián Arroyo
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PY London, United Kingdom
| | - Richard Macphail
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PY London, United Kingdom
| | - Lindsay J McHenry
- Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee, 3209 N. Maryland Ave., Milwaukee, WI 53211, USA
| | - Rafael Mora
- Centre D'Estudis Del Patrimoni Arqueologic de La Prehistoria, Facultat de Lletres, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Jackson K Njau
- Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405-1405, USA; Stone Age Institute, 1392 W Dittemore Road, Gosport, Indiana 47433, USA
| | - Michael C Pante
- Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University, 1787 Campus Delivery, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
| | - Carlos A Rivera-Rondón
- Unidad de Ecología y Sistemática, Departamento de Biología, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Cra. 7 # 40-82, 110231 Bogotá, Colombia
| | - Ágata Rodríguez-Cintas
- ERAAUB/Departament de Historia i Arqueologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Ian G Stanistreet
- Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Street, Liverpool L69 3GP, United Kingdom; Stone Age Institute, 1392 W Dittemore Road, Gosport, Indiana 47433, USA
| | - Harald Stollhofen
- GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-University (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schloßgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany
| | - Karol Wehr
- Institute of Archaeology, University College London, 31-34 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PY London, United Kingdom
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