Olduvai's oldest Oldowan

Harald Stollhofen; Ian G Stanistreet; Nicholas Toth; Kathy D Schick; Agata Rodríguez-Cintas; Rosa M Albert; Paul Farrugia; Jackson K Njau; Michael C Pante; Edward W Herrmann; Lana Ruck; Marion K Bamford; Robert J Blumenschine; Fidelis T Masao

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102910

Olduvai's oldest Oldowan

J Hum Evol. 2021 Jan:150:102910. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102910. Epub 2020 Nov 30.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ GeoZentrum Nordbayern, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität (FAU) Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 5, 91054 Erlangen, Germany. Electronic address: harald.stollhofen@fau.de.
² Department of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Brownlow Street, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK; The Stone Age Institute, 1392 W. Dittemore Rd., Gosport, IN, 47433, USA.
³ The Stone Age Institute, 1392 W. Dittemore Rd., Gosport, IN, 47433, USA; Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA; Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405-1405, USA.
⁴ ERAAUB, Department of History and Archaeology, Universitat de Barcelona, c/ Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain.
⁵ ERAAUB, Department of History and Archaeology, Universitat de Barcelona, c/ Montalegre 6-8, 08001 Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Pg. Lluis Companys 23, 08010, Barcelona, Spain; Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, P Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa.
⁶ Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405-1405, USA.
⁷ The Stone Age Institute, 1392 W. Dittemore Rd., Gosport, IN, 47433, USA; Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Indiana University, 1001 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN, 47405-1405, USA.
⁸ Department of Anthropology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 80523, USA.
⁹ Department of Anthropology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA.
¹⁰ Evolutionary Studies Institute and School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, P Bag 3, WITS, 2050, South Africa.
¹¹ Paleontological Scientific Trust (PAST), P.O. Box 52379, Saxonwold, 2132, Johannesburg, South Africa.
¹² Archaeology Unit, Department of History, University of Dar Es Salaam, P.O. Box 35051, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

PMID: 33271475
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2020.102910

Abstract

Previously, Olduvai Bed I excavations revealed Oldowan assemblages <1.85 Ma, mainly in the eastern gorge. New western gorge excavations locate a much older ∼2.0 Ma assemblage between the Coarse Feldspar Crystal Tuff (∼2.015 Ma) and Tuff IA (∼1.98 Ma) of Lower Bed I, predating the oldest eastern gorge DK assemblage below Tuff IB by ∼150 kyr. We characterize this newly discovered fossil and artifact assemblage, adding information on landscape and hominin resource use during the ∼2.3-2.0 Ma period, scarce in Oldowan sites. Assemblage lithics and bones, lithofacies boundaries, and phytolith samples were surveyed and mapped. Sedimentological facies analysis, tephrostratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic principles were applied to reconstruct paleoenvironments and sedimentary processes of sandy claystone (lake), sandstone (fluvial), and sandy diamictite (debris flow) as principal lithofacies. Artifacts, sized, weighed, categorized, were examined for petrography, retouch, and flake scar size. Taxonomic classifications and taphonomic descriptions of faunal remains were made, and phytoliths were categorized based on reference collections. Lithics are dominantly quartzite, mainly debitage and less frequently simple cores, retouched pieces, and percussors. Well-rounded spheroids and retouched flakes are rare. Identifiable taxa, Ceratotherium cf. simum (white rhinoceros) and Equus cf. oldowayensis (extinct zebra), accord with nearby open savanna grasslands, inferred from C₃ grass, mixed and/or alternating with C₄ grass-dominated phytolith assemblages. Palms, sedges, and dicots were also identified from phytoliths. Diatoms and sponge spicules imply nearby freshwater. The assemblage accumulated at the toe of a Ngorongoro Volcano-sourced fan-delta apron of stacked debris flows, fluvials, and tuffs, preserving fossil tree stumps and wooded grassland phytoliths farther upfan. It formed after the climax of Ngorongoro volcanic activity during a Paleolake Olduvai lowstand and was then buried and preserved by lacustrine clays, marking the first of two lake transgressions, signifying wetter climates. Orbital precessional lake cycles were superposed upon multimillennial (∼4.9 kyr) lake fluctuations.

Keywords: Hominin land use; Lower Bed I; Ngorongoro; Olduvai Gorge; Paleoecology; Paleovegetation.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Animals
Archaeology
Cultural Evolution*
Environment*
Hominidae*
Paleontology
Tanzania
Technology*