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Olduvai's oldest Oldowan.

Harald Stollhofen1, Ian G Stanistreet2, Nicholas Toth3

  • 1GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.

Journal of Human Evolution
|December 3, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

A new Oldowan artifact and fossil assemblage, ~2.0 million years old, was discovered in Olduvai Gorge's western gorge. This predates previously known sites, offering insights into early hominin behavior and paleoenvironments.

Keywords:
Hominin land useLower Bed INgorongoroOlduvai GorgePaleoecologyPaleovegetation

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Area of Science:

  • Paleoanthropology and Archaeology
  • Early Hominin Behavior and Technology
  • Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction

Background:

  • Oldowan stone tool assemblages previously found in Olduvai Gorge's eastern Bed I date to less than 1.85 million years ago.
  • The ~2.3-2.0 million years period is sparsely documented for Oldowan sites, limiting understanding of hominin activities and landscapes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize a newly discovered ~2.0 million-year-old fossil and artifact assemblage from Olduvai Gorge's western gorge.
  • To provide insights into early hominin resource use and paleoenvironments during the ~2.3-2.0 million years period.

Main Methods:

  • Excavation and detailed mapping of lithics, faunal remains, lithofacies boundaries, and phytolith samples.
  • Sedimentological facies analysis, tephrostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphy to reconstruct paleoenvironments.
  • Detailed analysis of artifacts (lithics) and faunal remains (taxonomy, taphonomy), including phytolith analysis for vegetation reconstruction.

Main Results:

  • A ~2.0 million-year-old assemblage was located in the western gorge, predating the oldest eastern gorge assemblage by ~150,000 years.
  • Lithics are predominantly quartzite (debitage, cores, retouched pieces); fauna includes white rhinoceros and extinct zebra, indicating open savanna grasslands.
  • Phytoliths suggest a mixed C3/C4 grass environment with palms and sedges; diatoms and sponge spicules indicate freshwater presence.
  • The assemblage accumulated on a fan-delta apron, preserving evidence of wooded grasslands and formed during a Paleolake Olduvai lowstand.

Conclusions:

  • The discovery pushes back the known age of Oldowan assemblages in Olduvai Gorge, significantly extending the record.
  • The findings provide crucial data on early hominin landscape use and resource exploitation in a savanna environment.
  • The paleoenvironmental reconstruction reveals a dynamic landscape with fluctuating lake levels, influenced by volcanic activity and orbital cycles.