New Oldowan locality Sare-Abururu (ca. 1.7 Ma) provides evidence of diverse hominin behaviors on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya

Emma M Finestone; Thomas W Plummer; Thomas H Vincent; Scott A Blumenthal; Peter W Ditchfield; Laura C Bishop; James S Oliver; Andy I R Herries; Christopher Vere Palfery; Timothy P Lane; Elizabeth McGuire; Jonathan S Reeves; Angel Rodés; Elizabeth Whitfield; David R Braun; Simion K Bartilol; Nelson Kiprono Rotich; Jennifer A Parkinson; Cristina Lemorini; Isabella Caricola; Rahab N Kinyanjui; Richard Potts

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103498

New Oldowan locality Sare-Abururu (ca. 1.7 Ma) provides evidence of diverse hominin behaviors on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya

J Hum Evol. 2024 May:190:103498. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103498. Epub 2024 Apr 5.

Authors

Emma M Finestone¹, Thomas W Plummer², Thomas H Vincent³, Scott A Blumenthal⁴, Peter W Ditchfield⁵, Laura C Bishop³, James S Oliver⁶, Andy I R Herries⁷, Christopher Vere Palfery⁸, Timothy P Lane⁹, Elizabeth McGuire¹⁰, Jonathan S Reeves¹¹, Angel Rodés¹², Elizabeth Whitfield³, David R Braun¹¹, Simion K Bartilol¹³, Nelson Kiprono Rotich¹⁴, Jennifer A Parkinson¹⁵, Cristina Lemorini¹⁶, Isabella Caricola¹⁷, Rahab N Kinyanjui¹⁸, Richard Potts¹⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anthropology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval Dr, Cleveland, OH, 44113, United States; Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany. Electronic address: efinestone@cmnh.org.
² Department of Anthropology, Queens College, 314 Powdermaker Hall 65-30 Kissena Boulevard Flushing, Flushing, NY, 11367, United States; The CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY, 10016, United States; Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States.
³ Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom.
⁴ Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1585 East 13th Avenue, Eugene, OR, 97403, United States; Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, 2020 - 2207 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada.
⁵ School of Archaeology, University of Oxford, 1 S Parks Rd, Oxford, OX1 3TG, United Kingdom.
⁶ Anthropology Section, Illinois State Museum, 502 S Spring St, Springfield, IL, 62706, United States.
⁷ The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Victoria, 3086, Australia; Paleo-Research Institute, University of Johannesburg, 42 Bunting Rd, Cottesloe, Johannesburg, 2092, South Africa.
⁸ The Australian Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Department Archaeology and History, La Trobe University, Melbourne Victoria, 3086, Australia.
⁹ Geography and Environmental Science Research Group, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom Street, Liverpool, L3 3AF, United Kingdom.
¹⁰ Department of Anthropology, University of Oregon, 1585 East 13th Avenue, Eugene, OR, 97403, United States.
¹¹ Technological Origins Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Deutscher Pl. 6, 04103, Leipzig, Germany; Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, George Washington University, 800 22nd Street NW, Washington, DC, 20052, United States.
¹² Departamento de Xeografía, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Praza da Universidade,1, 15703 Santiago de Compostela, Spain; Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre, University of Glasgow, Rankine Ave, Scottish Enterprise Technology Park, East Kilbride G75 0QF, United Kingdom.
¹³ Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹⁴ Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya; Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, Dorodna 16, 03-195, Warsaw, Poland.
¹⁵ Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Anthropology, University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park Way, San Diego, CA, 92110, United States.
¹⁶ LTFAPA Laboratory, Department of Science of Antiquities, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
¹⁷ LTFAPA Laboratory, Department of Science of Antiquities, Sapienza University of Rome, Piazzale Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy; Zinman Institute of Archaeology, Haifa University, 199 Aba Hushi Avenue, Mount Carmel, Haifa, 3498838, Israel.
¹⁸ Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for Geoanthropology, Kahlaische Str. 10, 07745, Jena, Germany; Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Kipande Rd, Nairobi, Kenya.
¹⁹ Human Origins Program, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, P.O. Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20560, United States; Department of Earth Sciences, National Museums of Kenya, Kipande Rd, Nairobi, Kenya.

PMID: 38581918
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103498

Abstract

The Homa Peninsula, in southwestern Kenya, continues to yield insights into Oldowan hominin landscape behaviors. The Late Pliocene locality of Nyayanga (∼3-2.6 Ma) preserves some of the oldest Oldowan tools. At the Early Pleistocene locality of Kanjera South (∼2 Ma) toolmakers procured a diversity of raw materials from over 10 km away and strategically reduced them in a grassland-dominated ecosystem. Here, we report findings from Sare-Abururu, a younger (∼1.7 Ma) Oldowan locality approximately 12 km southeast of Kanjera South and 18 km east of Nyayanga. Sare-Abururu has yielded 1754 artifacts in relatively undisturbed low-energy silts and sands. Stable isotopic analysis of pedogenic carbonates suggests that hominin activities were carried out in a grassland-dominated setting with similar vegetation structure as documented at Kanjera South. The composition of a nearby paleo-conglomerate indicates that high-quality stone raw materials were locally abundant. Toolmakers at Sare-Abururu produced angular fragments from quartz pebbles, representing a considerable contrast to the strategies used to reduce high quality raw materials at Kanjera South. Although lithic reduction at Sare-Abururu was technologically simple, toolmakers proficiently produced cutting edges, made few mistakes and exhibited a mastery of platform management, demonstrating that expedient technical strategies do not necessarily indicate a lack of skill or suitable raw materials. Lithic procurement and reduction patterns on the Homa Peninsula appear to reflect variation in local resource contexts rather than large-scale evolutionary changes in mobility, energy budget, or toolmaker cognition.

Keywords: Hominin paleoecology; Isotopic analysis; Kenya; Lithic technology; Pleistocene; Stone tools.

Publication types

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

MeSH terms

Animals
Archaeology
Biological Evolution
Carbonates
Ecosystem
Fossils
Hominidae*
Kenya

Substances

Carbonates