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by Laura Bishop
2016, Journal of anthropological sciences = Rivista di antropologia : JASS / Istituto italiano di antropologia
The Early Stone Age archaeological record does not become persistent and widespread until approximately 2.0-1.7 million years ago, when Oldowan sites spread across Africa and ultimately into Eurasia. However, good records of hominin behavior from this important time interval are uncommon. Here we describe recent findings from the two million year old Oldowan site of Kanjera South, on the Homa Peninsula of southwestern Kenya. Kanjera South is the oldest Oldowan site with large assemblages of stone artifacts and well-preserved archaeological fauna. Our research indicates that hominin activities were situated in an open habitat within a grassland dominated ecosystem, the first documentation of an archaeological site in such an open setting. Hominins selectively collected and transported stone materials (30% of the lithic assemblage) over longer distances (at least 10 km) than is typical for the Oldowan, reflecting their preference for hard, easily-flaked lithologies unavailable on the ...
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2022, Quaternary Science Reviews
The shift to increased meat consumption is one of the major adaptive changes in hominin dietary evolution. Although meat eating by Oldowan hominins is well evidenced at Pleistocene archaeological sites in eastern Africa by butchery marks on bones, the methods through which carcasses were acquired (i.e., hunting vs. scavenging) and extent of their completeness (fleshed vs. defleshed) is less certain. This study addresses these issues through a geographic information systems (GIS) comparative analysis of bone modification patterns created by hominins and carnivores observed in the ca. 2.0 Ma assemblage from Kanjera South, Kenya and those of several modern, experimentally modified bone assemblages. Comparison of GIS-generated models shows that the pattern of bone preservation at Kanjera South is similar to that found in experimental bone assemblages that were first butchered and hammerstone fractured by humans, and subsequently scavenged by carnivores. The distribution of bone modifications on the Kanjera fauna also suggests hominins had early access to small bovids. Butchery marks appear almost exclusively in 'hot zones'dareas where flesh does not typically survive lion consumptiondfurther suggesting Kanjera hominins were not scavenging carnivore kills. Our findings support previous claims that the Kanjera assemblage offers the earliest clear evidence of repeated butchery of antelope carcasses by Early Stone Age (Oldowan) hominins and perhaps the earliest evidence for hunting. Kanjera carnivore damage frequencies are lower than those reported for the slightly younger site of FLK Zinj (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania), suggesting differing competitive regimes at the two sites.
Advances in the study of Oldowan research have suggested that the earliest tool-makers had the technological capabilities usually suggested in later time periods. Work in West Turkana and Gona research areas suggests that Pliocene hominins had a concise understanding of stone fracture mechanics and had a clear conception of how to reduce cores in a manner that maintained flaking surfaces. Here we investigate if these same patterns existed at the Pliocene site of Kanjera South in Western Kenya. Technological analyses suggest that although many of the technological capabilities described for other Oldowan sites are present in the Kanjera South assemblage, specific aspects of the context of the site (raw material variability) produced a different expression of these behaviors. The most obvious difference between the Kanjera South site and other Oldowan sites is that as reduction continues several different reduction patterns can be seen. This suggests that a reduction sequence or core reduction mode is not an immutable formula and can change depending on its context.
2009, Interdisciplinary Approaches to …
2009, Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan
Azania: Archaeological Research in Africa
2004, American Journal of Physical Anthropology
The role of raw material quality in Oldowan technology has not been fully explored. There are numerous studies suggesting Oldowan hominins preferred certain types of stone for artifact manufacture. Previous studies of the artifact assemblage from the early Pliocene Oldowan locality of Kanjera South (South Rachuonyo District, Kenya) show that raw material selection and transport was an important aspect of Late Pliocene hominin adaptations. Yet the exact properties of stones that hominins were selecting remain enigmatic. Two potentially important features of artifact raw material are durability and fracture predictability.We investigate fracture predictability through mechanical tests of stone and investigations of the affect of stone properties on fracture patterns in archaeological collections. We investigate stone durability with actualistic studies of edge attrition combined with further mechanical tests of various lithologies. Oldowan hominins at Kanjera appear to have selected raw materials based on their durability. The ability for a stone to fracture consistently does not appear to be as important in hominin toolstone preference as previously assumed. Hominins that produced the assemblages at Kanjera South appear to have incorporated an extensive understanding of various attributes of raw material in the transport and production of stone artifacts. When combined with previous research on the transport patterns at Kanjera, the results of this study provide evidence for a more complex raw material acquisition strategy than has previously been suggested for Late Pliocene Oldowan hominin
2006, African Archaeological Review
2013
This dissertation presents taphonomic analyses of human- and carnivore-modified bone assemblages in order to elucidate the timing of hominin access to carcass resources in the African Early Pleistocene. One of the defining adaptations of the genus Homo is the routine incorporation of animal tissue into the diet with the aid of tools. As a nutritionally dense food source, the addition of meat to the diet is often associated with important changes in the morphology and behavior of early hominins. Yet the ecological and behavioral implications of meat consumption for hominins are not well understood. This study tests competing hypotheses of hominin carcass acquisition and hominin-carnivore competition through a comparative study of carnivore- and hominin-induced modifications in the zooarchaeological assemblages from Kanjera South, Kenya (ca. 2 Ma) and FLK I Level 22 (FLK Zinj), Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania (ca. 1.84 Ma). Patterns of bone preservation and the distribution of bone surface modifications from these two sites are analyzed within a comparative framework of new and existing taphonomic models. The new taphonomic models presented here include the largest modern bone assemblages documenting large felid and canid bone damage to date. A GIS image analysis method is used to analyze patterns of bone damage in experimental and archaeological assemblages. The GIS method originally described by Marean et al. (2001) is expanded here to incorporate ArcGIS Spatial Analyst tools, and this method is applied for the first time to analyze patterns of hominin and carnivore damage. Results of these analyses suggest hominins at both Kanjera South and FLK Zinj had early access to carcasses. At both sites, small and medium bovid carcasses may have been obtained through hunting, while remains of larger carcasses may have been obtained through active scavenging. Despite the evidence for early carcass access at both sites, overall frequencies of both hominin and carnivore modifications are lower at Kanjera South compared to FLK Zinj, suggesting differing competitive regimes at the two sites and potentially signaling differing behavioral strategies.
2009, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology
... acquisition, response to environmental constraints (including raw mate-rial availability), andvariations in inter-or ... The presence of stone tool cut marks (eg, Bunn, 1981; Potts and Shipman, 1981 ... ranging in size up to elephants demon-strates that Oldowan hominins had become ...
2017
The Early-Middle Pleistocene is an important but poorly understood interval in human prehistory. Archaeological assemblages of this age typically lack well-preserved faunal remains recovered in primary association with artifacts, and as a result, studies have largely focused on lithic technology to the exclusion of faunal analyses. The large faunal sample from Elandsfontein, South Africa (ca. 1.0 – 0.6 Ma) is exceptional and has greatly influenced the way that we interpret hominin foraging during this time. Surface collections, starting in the 1950s, recovered ~13,000 mammalian fossils and >160 associated Acheulean artifacts. The faunal material from Elandsfontein was interpreted as having predominantly accumulated through natural mortality and subsequent scavenging by carnivores and hominins, with hominins playing a very minimal role in carcass modification. Low frequencies of stone tool cutmarks were taken as evidence that Acheulean hominins had limited ability to obtain large ...
2019, Journal of Human Evolution
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) e 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.
A study of raw material selection patterns at the Late Pliocene Oldowan site A. L. 894 (Hadar, Ethiopia) raised methodological questions inherent specifically to the study of the very early lithic assemblages These in turn have a significant effect on our understanding of patterns of raw material selection and use as well as inferences about hominin cognitive abilities and ecological adaptations. Here we identify some of these methdological problems and propose potential ways of addressing them.
A structural foundation has recently been laid down to describe early stone industries using a four-phase evolutionary sequence: Homogeneity, Variability, Diversity, and Multiplicity. Homogeneity refers to a hypothetical phase predating the earliest recognizable industries (>2.6 Ma) during which stones could have been used for pounding or throwing but controlled knapping was not practiced. The Variability phase, already explored in previous publications, refers to a subsequent stage wherein simple knapping strategies were discovered and tested. It precedes the innovation of shaped tools in Africa and Eurasia within largely divergent timeframes. This paper explores the Diversity phase, during which standardized shaped tools and relatively complex flake production strategies occurred. Presently, flake-core assemblages lacking configured tools are referred to as ‘Oldowan’ or ‘Mode 1’ and those with handaxes and/or cleavers are named ‘Acheulian’ or ‘Mode 2’. The model described here does not propose to replace existing terminology, but presents an alternative approach to the ways in which we perceive of technological change and explores why analogous techno-typological changes occurred diachronically in different areas of the globe where contact between populations was unlikely. The Diversity phase, characterized by technotypological expansion in stone toolkit components, translates improved hominin capacities to access resources, compete with other carnivores and widen their range of activities. This process intensified exchange between an increasingly complex lifestyles and growing cognitive capacities, leading to Multiplicity; the final phase of this conceptual model for understanding change in early human technologies.
2018, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology
This study presents a taphonomic examination of the ca. 1.84 million year old (Ma) bovid fauna from FLK Level 22 (FLK Zinj), Bed I, Olduvai Gorge using a new GIS spatial analysis approach. The FLK Zinj site contains some of the best preserved evidence for meat eating by hominins and has been used extensively in reconstructions of early hominin behavior. However, despite numerous interpretations of site function, there is currently no consensus regarding how hominins acquired carcasses at FLK Zinj. Some interpretations argue that Early Stone Age hominins had early access to fleshed carcasses through hunting or active scavenging, while others argue hominins had late access to largely defleshed carcasses through passive scavenging. In this study, GIS was used to record bone preservation in the FLK Zinj assemblage as well as in several modern, experimentally-modified bone assemblages, which are used for comparison. The placement of hominin-and carnivore-produced modifications was documented on bones from these assemblages, and the GIS Spatial Analyst was used to identify patterning in tooth mark clusters as well as patterning in cut mark locations. This analysis suggests hominins had early access to fleshed carcasses at FLK Zinj, particularly of smaller prey, which they may have acquired through hunting. Damage patterns on larger carcasses are more difficult to interpret, but are consistent with early access through hunting or aggressive scavenging. A reanalysis of carnivore tooth mark frequencies on the FLK Zinj bovid fauna also supports an early access scenario.
2012, Debates in the Archaeology of Human Origins
2008, Journal of …
The archaeological record of Oldowan hominins represents a diverse behavioral system. It has been suggested that exploitation of lithic resources by Oldowan hominins was simplistic and represented mostly use of local sources of stone. Here we investigate the raw material selection and transport behaviors of Oldowan hominins reflected in the stone artifact assemblages from the Kanjera South Formation, South Rachuonyo
2015, Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports
A reassessment of many of the archaeological assemblages older than two million years has resulted in a general consensus that the earliest Oldowan artifacts were made by skilled toolmakers who had a clear understanding of the fracturing mechanics of different toolstone materials. This has led several researchers to propose a simpler lithic reduction stage that occurred prior to 2.6 Ma. Three lithic reduction techniques that are within the behavioral repertoire of our closest living relatives in the genus Pan are proposed as potential intermediate stages between the percussion behaviors of the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans and the skilled knapping of the Oldowan toolmakers. These include direct and indirect projectile percussion and bipolar flaking techniques. Measures of productivity, expediency, and efficiency were obtained and compared between these three reduction techniques and novice freehand knapping in order to better understand some of the factors that influenced how early hominins with little to no understanding of lithic fracturing mechanics achieved sharp flake tools. The provisional results of this proof-of-concept experiment indicate that, of these four conditions, dropping or throwing a large hammer stone on a brittle core is the most efficient way to exploit a core, while bipolar flaking is the most expedient method; however, novice freehand knapping creates the most productive flakes with large, sharp cutting edges. Thus, the transition to knapping in the late Pliocene may have been due to a shifting emphasis on productive toolmaking over expediency or efficiency.
2009, Annual Review of Anthropology
tThe spatial relationships of the Early Oldowan toolmakers with their environment havebeen so far addressed through raw material procurement analyses and the characterizationof hominid habitat. This paper proposes to integrate these two approaches into a broaderspatial analysis encompassing archaeological and environmental data (palaeontological,geological and isotopic data) from Member F and lower Member G of the Shungura Forma-tion (Lower Omo Valley, Ethiopia). Heterogeneity in data resolution induces a multiscaleapproach with three levels of analysis. The level of occurrence complex allows focusingon the characterization of archaeological occurrences and on their environmental settings.The level of “study area” allows working on hominid habitats and on their raw materialprocurement behaviours. Finally, at the Shungura Formation scale, we can address tempo-ral issues related to the evolution of spatial behaviours between Member F and the lowerpart of Member G, ca. 2.3 to 2 million years (Ma).
2012, Current Anthropology
2011, Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews
2014, Quaternary International
"When is the baseline for Anthropocene? The first indications of human impact on earth closely relate to early human behavior and use of resources." "First agricultural societies modified the landscape with the aim of generating their own resources to satisfy the needs of an increasing population. This new system was the result of years of learning and continuous interaction with landscape. Hunter-gatherer societies had shown a vast knowledge of their surrounding environment, which allowed them to exploit and optimize the available resources. But, had these societies the capacity to modify the landscape in such a way that can be traced up until today? How far back in time can we go to find the first evidence of human impact on earth? In this paper, we will try to analyze early human behavior and the possible impact of their activities on the landscape. We will use the paleoanthropological site of Olduvai Gorge (northern Tanzania) as a case study to suggest that the baseline for Anthropocene, taking the term as human impact on earth through cognitive-behavioral strategies, can be moved back to the time when early hominins visited Olduvai. Olduvai Gorge is perfectly suited for this study since the latest scientific research and publications have yielded a detailed knowledge of the vegetation, the landscape, and of the wildlife that lived in the area."
We report the results of an analysis of raw material selection patterns in the assemblages from two Late Pliocene in situ archaeological localities in the Makaamitalu Basin (Hadar, Ethiopia). While the same local conglomerate was used as a raw material source for both archaeological occurrences, different selection criteria are identified. At A.L. 894, selection for quality is subtle and the clearest selection is against non-homogeneous raw materials. In the A.L. 666 assemblage, higher-quality raw materials were selected and some rare raw materials reached the locality from unknown sources. A comparison between the Makaamitalu and other Oldowan assemblages reveals an overall shift toward higher complexity of both selectivity and transport behaviors from ca. 2.0 Ma onward, contrasting a typo-technological conservatism that pertains until w1.6 Ma. It is hypothesized that an increase in complexity of behaviors related to raw material selection and acquisition involved changes in the intensity and fidelity of technological knowledge transmission.
2019, Quaternary International
The invention and proliferation of stone tool technology in the Early Stone Age (ESA) marks a watershed in human evolution. Patterns of lithic procurement, manufacture, use, and discard have much to tell us about ESA hominin cognition and land use. However, these issues cannot be fully explored outside the context of the physical attributes and spatio-temporal availability of the lithic raw materials themselves. The Olduvai Basin of northern Tanzania, which is home to both a wide variety of potential toolstones and a rich collection of ESA archaeological sites, provides an excellent opportunity to investigate the relationship between lithic technology and raw material characteristics. Here, we examine two attributes of the basin's igneous and metamorphic rocks: spatial location and fracture predictability. A total of 244 geological specimens were analyzed with non-destructive portable XRF (pXRF) to determine the geochemical distinctiveness of five primary and secondary sources, while 110 geological specimens were subjected to Schmidt rebound hardness tests to measure fracture predictability. Element concentrations derived via pXRF show significant differences between sources, and multivariate predictive models classify geological specimens with 75-80% accuracy. The predictive models identify Naibor Soit as the most likely source for a small sample of three lithic artifacts from Bed II, which supports the idea that this inselberg served as a source of toolstone during the early Pleistocene. Clear patterns in fracture predictability exist within and between both sources and rock types. Fine-grained volcanics show high rebound values (associated with high fracture predictability), while finer-grained metamorphics and coarse-grained gneisses show intermediate and low rebound values, respectively. Artifact data from Bed I and II suggest that fracture predictability played a role in raw material selection at some sites, but other attributes like durability , expediency, and nodule size and shape were more significant.
The earliest evidence of hominin presence outside of Africa is scarce. Although it is clear that hominins reached Eurasia at the beginning of the Early Pleistocene, equipped with an Oldowan-like tool-kit, the Eurasian Early Pleistocene archaeological record is actually limited to a few occurrences, many of which are not in primary archaeological context. Consequently, much of the paleoecological and behavioral aspects of the earliest occupation of Eurasia remain poorly understood. Here we report on the renewed excavations at the Early Pleistocene core-and-flake site of Bizat Ruhama, Israel, located on the southern coastal plain of the southern Levant. The site yielded several lithic and faunal assemblages in primary anthropogenic context and is dated to the Matuyama paleomagnetic chron (1.96–0.78 Ma), based on paleomagnetic and faunal evidence. The results of the current study at Bizat Ruhama reveal a spatially extensive single-horizon open-air occurrence with indications for fast burial and good preservation of the original site features. The Bizat Ruhama industry shows no Acheulian affinities and exhibits technological simplicity. However, it demonstrates the hominin ability to adapt to unfavorable raw material conditions. Technological simplicity and absence of bifacial and discoidal knapping suggest that the site represents Mode 1 dispersal out of Africa. The faunal assemblage of the site was accumulated primarily by anthropogenic agents, preserving signs of hominin butchery. Geological and faunal evidence indicate open homogeneous semi-arid environment with no evidence for river or lake in the immediate surroundings, thereby broadening our knowledge of the range of habitats exploited by early hominins and their adaptive skills. Altogether, the results point to short-term hominin occupation and suggest that animal carcasses were processed in place, along with knapping activities.
2011, Journal of Human Evolution
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences
2010, Journal of Human Evolution
Inter-site technological variation in the archaeological record is one of the richest potential sources of information about Plio-Pleistocene hominid behavior and evolution. However, appropriate methods for describing and comparing Oldowan assemblages have yet to be agreed upon, and interpretation of the early record remains highly controversial. Particularly salient is disagreement over whether the Oldowan is a single technological phenomenon or is more accurately divided into multiple regional and/or chronological traditions, perhaps including a less developed Pre-Oldowan phase in the late Pliocene. Some of this disagreement reflects theoretical and methodological differences between research traditions and some is more directly evidential. Here we present a framework for describing and interpreting Oldowan variation and apply it to three Pliocene assemblages (EG-10, EG-12, and OGS-7) from Gona, all dated to c. 2.6 million years (Ma). Results indicate proficient knapping and a full range of Oldowan reduction strategies in these earliest known occurrences, consistent with the idea of an Oldowan “technological stasis” from 2.6–1.6 Ma. Patterns of variation in raw material selection and predominant reduction strategy at each site clearly indicate the importance of cultural transmission in the Oldowan, but confounding ecological and economic variation continue to render interpretation in terms of multiple tool making traditions or species inappropriate. We propose that cultural transmission and ecological adaptation should be recognized as complementary, rather than mutually exclusive, mechanisms in future attempts to explain Oldowan technological variation.
Taphonomic analysis carried out at BK4b has provided compelling evidence for megafaunal acquisition and consumption , and the amount of meat that hominins consumed is far greater than documented at any other early Pleistocene site. The aim of the present work is to characterize the lithic assemblage associated with such a special subsistence context. The results presented here show that the bulk of the technological process was largely devoted to producing in-site small quartz flakes motivated by an imperative demand for durable cutting edges. Conversely, the operational sequence aimed at producing LCTs played a secondary role and is represented by different and isolated fractions. The quality of the cutting edges of quartz flakes may explain the preferential use of quartz at BK4b for flake production. These techno-economic strategies are likely connected with the exploitation and consumption of carcasses (butchering technology), but other subsistence activities were carried out besides butchery. In sum, we can conclude that the higher demand of cutting edges that presumably required a recurrent megafaunal exploitation at BK4b was largely satisfied by the production of small flakes rather than LCTs.
1999, Journal of Human Evolution
2010, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology
2009, Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology
2019, China and East Africa, Ancient ties, contemporary flows
2002, Journal of Human Evolution
2009, Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Oldowan
2019, Current Anthropology
From its initial appearance at ~1.7 Ma, the Acheulean was prevalent through a vast chronological span of hominin behavioural evolution that lasted nearly 1.5 million years. The origins and production patterns of large bifacial cutting tools ('LCTs') e the marker of the Acheulean techno-complex e and the systematic changes in this behaviour through time are gaining increasing interest in paleoan-thropology. Here we provide a synthesis of early Acheulean LCT variation in a landscape context by analysing assemblages from four different quasi-contemporaneous (~1.4 Ma) sites from the Koobi Fora Formation. We characterize this variation using both 3D geometric morphometric and descriptive approaches. The expansive lateral exposures of fluvial and lacustrine sediments, as well as the associated tephrostratigraphy of the Koobi Fora Formation provide the landscape context that enables these comparative analyses. Our study demonstrates that when multiple contemporaneous early Acheulean localities are analysed together, a broader picture of LCT variability is elucidated. Four sites at Koobi Fora appear to represent a single system of lithic economy, characterized by a discrete tra-jectory of changes in LCT size and shape. These sites have ranges of LCT forms which appear to represent different but overlapping stages on a single reduction trajectory. Certain sites exhibit the full reduction trajectory while others exhibit only fragments of this trajectory. Other inter-site lithic proxies further complement these patterns in LCT variability. We explore patterns of site function, mobility and hominin landscape use, all of which may be suggestive of a depth of planning in early Acheulean hominins wherein technological activities were undertaken in substantial anticipation of future needs.
2017, University of Leicester
Owing to previous limitations of available data I believe all representations of the Movius Line (even the 'updated' ones) to be an ineffective tool in the present time. To be an accurate representation of hominin technology distribution maps need to be created in which the finds are generally contemporary to one another, and the hominins involved will have existed and potentially interacted at roughly the same time. As a template for this I have recreated the map only for the Early Pleistocene, drawing distinction for that time period and putting its hominin occupation and spread of lithic technology in proper perspective utilizing the latest available site evidence, dating, and other interdisciplinary factors such as climate, environment, and habitat, as well as faunal and predation evidence. Then I analyzed the based on previous chapters, to assess migration patterns and geographical distribution along with evidence of lithic materials used at these sites and hominin finds relevant to those sites. In this study I find that the new map template is a viable way to assess hominin and technology distribution for particular time periods that may hopefully be duplicated by others.