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Riga A, Davies TW, Azzarà B, Boschian G, Buzi C, Kimambo JS, Manzi G, Masao FT, Mgimwa A, Nyambo H, Tafforeau P, Jilala W, Moggi-Cecchi J, Cherin M. New hominin dental remains from Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania). J Hum Evol 2024; 193:103556. [PMID: 38971116 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103556] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2024] [Revised: 05/28/2024] [Accepted: 06/02/2024] [Indexed: 07/08/2024]
Affiliation(s)
| | - Thomas W Davies
- Department of Human Origins, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Beatrice Azzarà
- Department of Physics and Geology, University of Perugia, Italy
| | | | - Costantino Buzi
- Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA), Tarragona, Spain; Department of History and History of Art, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona, Spain
| | - Jackson S Kimambo
- Eastern Africa Research Centre for Palaeosciences (EARCEP), Karatu, Tanzania
| | - Giorgio Manzi
- Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
| | - Fidelis T Masao
- Department of Archaeology & Heritage, University of Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania
| | - Amon Mgimwa
- Antiquities Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania
| | - Happiness Nyambo
- Antiquities Division, Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, Tanzania
| | - Paul Tafforeau
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France
| | - Wilson Jilala
- National Museum and House of Culture, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
| | | | - Marco Cherin
- Department of Physics and Geology, University of Perugia, Italy
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2
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Grine FE, Mongle CS, Fleagle JG, Hammond AS. The taxonomic attribution of African hominin postcrania from the Miocene through the Pleistocene: Associations and assumptions. J Hum Evol 2022; 173:103255. [PMID: 36375243 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2021] [Revised: 08/21/2022] [Accepted: 08/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Postcranial bones may provide valuable information about fossil taxa relating to their locomotor habits, manipulative abilities and body sizes. Distinctive features of the postcranial skeleton are sometimes noted in species diagnoses. Although numerous isolated postcranial fossils have become accepted by many workers as belonging to a particular species, it is worthwhile revisiting the evidence for each attribution before including them in comparative samples in relation to the descriptions of new fossils, functional analyses in relation to particular taxa, or in evolutionary contexts. Although some workers eschew the taxonomic attribution of postcranial fossils as being less important (or interesting) than interpreting their functional morphology, it is impossible to consider the evolution of functional anatomy in a taxonomic and phylogenetic vacuum. There are 21 widely recognized hominin taxa that have been described from sites in Africa dated from the Late Miocene to the Middle Pleistocene; postcranial elements have been attributed to 17 of these. The bones that have been thus assigned range from many parts of a skeleton to isolated elements. However, the extent to which postcranial material can be reliably attributed to a specific taxon varies considerably from site to site and species to species, and is often the subject of considerable debate. Here, we review the postcranial remains attributed to African hominin taxa from the Late Miocene to the Middle and Late Pleistocene and place these assignations into categories of reliability. The catalog of attributions presented here may serve as a guide for making taxonomic decisions in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Frederick E Grine
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA; Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA.
| | - Carrie S Mongle
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA; Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA; Turkana Basin Institute, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA
| | - John G Fleagle
- Department of Anatomical Sciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-4364, USA
| | - Ashley S Hammond
- Division of Anthropology, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024-5192, USA; New York Consortium of Evolutionary Primatology (NYCEP), New York, NY 10024, USA
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3
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Fujioka T, Benito-Calvo A, Mora R, McHenry L, Njau JK, de la Torre I. Direct cosmogenic nuclide isochron burial dating of early Acheulian stone tools at the T69 Complex (FLK West, Olduvai Bed II, Tanzania). J Hum Evol 2022; 165:103155. [PMID: 35303498 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2022.103155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2021] [Revised: 01/25/2022] [Accepted: 01/26/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Toshiyuki Fujioka
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain; Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO), Sydney, Australia.
| | - Alfonso Benito-Calvo
- Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain
| | - Rafael Mora
- Facultat de Lletres, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain
| | - Lindsay McHenry
- Department of Geosciences, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 3209 N. Maryland Ave, Milwaukee, WI, 53217, USA
| | - Jackson K Njau
- Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 E 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA; The Stone Age Institute, 1392 W. Dittemore Rd, Bloomington, IN 47407, USA
| | - Ignacio de la Torre
- Instituto de Historia, CSIC-National Research Council, Albasanz 26-28, 28037 Madrid, Spain.
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4
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Ponce de León MS, Bienvenu T, Marom A, Engel S, Tafforeau P, Alatorre Warren JL, Lordkipanidze D, Kurniawan I, Murti DB, Suriyanto RA, Koesbardiati T, Zollikofer CPE. The primitive brain of early Homo. Science 2021; 372:165-171. [PMID: 33833119 DOI: 10.1126/science.aaz0032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 48] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Revised: 10/08/2020] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
The brains of modern humans differ from those of great apes in size, shape, and cortical organization, notably in frontal lobe areas involved in complex cognitive tasks, such as social cognition, tool use, and language. When these differences arose during human evolution is a question of ongoing debate. Here, we show that the brains of early Homo from Africa and Western Asia (Dmanisi) retained a primitive, great ape-like organization of the frontal lobe. By contrast, African Homo younger than 1.5 million years ago, as well as all Southeast Asian Homo erectus, exhibited a more derived, humanlike brain organization. Frontal lobe reorganization, once considered a hallmark of earliest Homo in Africa, thus evolved comparatively late, and long after Homo first dispersed from Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcia S Ponce de León
- Department of Anthropology and Anthropological Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8052 Zurich, Switzerland.
| | - Thibault Bienvenu
- Department of Anthropology and Anthropological Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8052 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Assaf Marom
- Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 31096, Israel
| | - Silvano Engel
- Department of Anthropology and Anthropological Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8052 Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Paul Tafforeau
- European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, 38043 Grenoble, France
| | - José Luis Alatorre Warren
- Department of Anthropology and Anthropological Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8052 Zurich, Switzerland.,Fetal Neonatal Neuroimaging and Developmental Science Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.,Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | | | - Iwan Kurniawan
- Museum of Geology, Jln. Diponegoro 57, Bandung 40122, Indonesia
| | - Delta Bayu Murti
- Department of Anthropology, Airlangga University, Surabaya, 60115 Jawa Timur, Indonesia
| | - Rusyad Adi Suriyanto
- Laboratory of Bioanthropology and Paleoanthropology, Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta 55281, Indonesia
| | | | - Christoph P E Zollikofer
- Department of Anthropology and Anthropological Museum, University of Zurich, CH-8052 Zurich, Switzerland.
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5
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Key AJM, Roberts DL, Jarić I. Statistical inference of earlier origins for the first flaked stone technologies. J Hum Evol 2021; 154:102976. [PMID: 33773284 DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2021.102976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/06/2020] [Revised: 02/13/2021] [Accepted: 02/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
Identifying when hominins first produced Lomekwian, Oldowan, and Acheulean technologies is vital to multiple avenues of human origins research. Yet, like most archaeological endeavors, our understanding is currently only as accurate as the artifacts recovered and the sites identified. Here we use optimal linear estimation (OLE) modelling to identify the portion of the archaeological record not yet discovered, and statistically infer the date of origin of the earliest flaked stone technologies. These models provide the most accurate framework yet for understanding when hominins first produced these tool types. Our results estimate the Oldowan to have originated 2.617 to 2.644 Ma, 36,000 to 63,000 years earlier than current evidence. The Acheulean's origin is pushed back further through OLE, by at least 55,000 years to 1.815 to 1.823 Ma. We were unable to infer the Lomekwian's date of origin using OLE, but an upper bound of 5.1 million years can be inferred using alternative nonparametric techniques. These dates provide a new chronological foundation from which to understand the emergence of the first flaked stone technologies, alongside their behavioral and evolutionary implications. Moreover, they suggest there to be substantial portions of the artifact record yet to be discovered.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alastair J M Key
- School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK.
| | - David L Roberts
- Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NR, UK
| | - Ivan Jarić
- Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Hydrobiology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic; University of South Bohemia, Faculty of Science, Department of Ecosystem Biology, České Budějovice, Czech Republic
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6
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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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A 1.4-million-year-old bone handaxe from Konso, Ethiopia, shows advanced tool technology in the early Acheulean. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:18393-18400. [PMID: 32661154 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2006370117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
In the past decade, the early Acheulean before 1 Mya has been a focus of active research. Acheulean lithic assemblages have been shown to extend back to ∼1.75 Mya, and considerable advances in core reduction technologies are seen by 1.5 to 1.4 Mya. Here we report a bifacially flaked bone fragment (maximum dimension ∼13 cm) of a hippopotamus femur from the ∼1.4 Mya sediments of the Konso Formation in southern Ethiopia. The large number of flake scars and their distribution pattern, together with the high frequency of cone fractures, indicate anthropogenic flaking into handaxe-like form. Use-wear analyses show quasi-continuous alternate microflake scars, wear polish, edge rounding, and striae patches along an ∼5-cm-long edge toward the handaxe tip. The striae run predominantly oblique to the edge, with some perpendicular, on both the cortical and inner faces. The combined evidence is consistent with the use of this bone artifact in longitudinal motions, such as in cutting and/or sawing. This bone handaxe is the oldest known extensively flaked example from the Early Pleistocene. Despite scarcity of well-shaped bone tools, its presence at Konso shows that sophisticated flaking was practiced by ∼1.4 Mya, not only on a range of lithic materials, but also occasionally on bone, thus expanding the documented technological repertoire of African Early Pleistocene Homo.
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8
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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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9
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Prassack KA, Pante MC, Njau JK, de la Torre I. The paleoecology of Pleistocene birds from Middle Bed II, at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, and the environmental context of the Oldowan-Acheulean transition. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:32-47. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.11.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2016] [Revised: 11/07/2017] [Accepted: 11/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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10
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Technological behaviour in the early Acheulean of EF-HR (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). J Hum Evol 2018; 120:329-377. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2017] [Revised: 12/25/2017] [Accepted: 01/02/2018] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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11
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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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12
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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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13
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Stanistreet IG, McHenry LJ, Stollhofen H, de la Torre I. Bed II Sequence Stratigraphic context of EF-HR and HWK EE archaeological sites, and the Oldowan/Acheulean succession at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:19-31. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.01.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2017] [Revised: 01/05/2018] [Accepted: 01/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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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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15
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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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Proffitt T. Is there a Developed Oldowan A at Olduvai Gorge? A diachronic analysis of the Oldowan in Bed I and Lower-Middle Bed II at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:92-113. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.01.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2016] [Revised: 01/12/2018] [Accepted: 01/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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17
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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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18
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The carnivorous feeding behavior of early Homo at HWK EE, Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. J Hum Evol 2018; 120:215-235. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.06.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2016] [Revised: 06/19/2017] [Accepted: 06/20/2017] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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19
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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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20
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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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21
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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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