2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia

Semaw, Sileshi; Rogers, Michael J.; Quade, Jay; Renne, Paul R.; Butler, Robert F.; Domı́nguez-Rodrigo, Manuel; Stout, Dietrich; Hart, W; Pickering, Travis Rayne; Simpson, Scott W.

doi:10.1016/s0047-2484(03)00093-9

Cited by 387 publications

(201 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

192

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Evidence for dietary change in this species can be seen in the reduced masticatory functional complex (e.g., posterior tooth size); dental reduction in H. habilis reversed successive increases in cheek tooth size among the australopithecines (McHenry and Coffing, 2000). Technological advancements, such as the development of Oldowan Industry tools, would likely have allowed easier processing of vertebrate carcasses and increased access to meat, as well as energy and nutrient rich marrow and brains (Semaw et al, 2003;Plummer, 2004).…”

Section: Diet Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Energetics of Encephalization in Early Hominids

Snodgrass

Leonard

Robertson

2009

The Evolution of Hominin Diets

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bioenergetics, the study of the use and transfer of energy, can provide important insights into the ecology and evolution of early hominids. Despite a relatively large brain with high metabolic demands, contemporary humans and other primates have resting metabolic rates (RMRs) that are similar to those of other mammals. As a result, a comparatively large proportion of their resting energy budget is spent on brain metabolism among humans (~20-25%) and other primates (~8-10%) compared to other mammals (~3-5%). To understand this shift in energy budget, Aiello and Wheeler's Expensive Tissue Hypothesis (ETH) posits a metabolic trade-off-a reduction in gut size with brain size increase-to explain this phenomenon. Here, we explore the interrelationships between brain size, body size, diet, and body composition using comparative data for humans, non-human primates, and other mammals. Among living primates, the relative proportion of energy allocated to brain metabolism is positively correlated with dietary quality. Contemporary humans fall at the positive end of this relationship, having both a high quality diet and a large brain. Thus, high costs associated with the large human brain are supported, in part, by energy-rich diets. Although contemporary humans display relatively small guts, primates as a group have gut sizes that are similar to non-primate mammals. In contrast, humans and other primates have significantly less skeletal muscle for their size compared to other mammals. These comparative analyses suggest that alterations in diet quality and body composition were necessary conditions for overcoming the constraints on encephalization. Fossil evidence indicates that brain expansion with the emergence of Homo erectus at about 1.8 million years ago was likely associated with important changes in diet, body composition, and body size.

show abstract

Section: Diet Qualitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Energetics of Encephalization in Early Hominids

Snodgrass

Leonard

Robertson

2009

The Evolution of Hominin Diets

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The earliest stone tool artifacts are from the 2.6 Ma site of Gona in the Afar region of Ethiopia (Semaw et al, 2003). Butchered ungulate bones have also been recovered from other 2.5•2.6 Ma sites at Gona (Domínguez-Rodrigo et al, 2005) and the nearby 2.5 Ma site of Bouri (de Heinzelin et al, 1999).…”

Section: Early Hominin Carnivory: the Hard Evidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Taphonomic analysis of skeletal remains from chimpanzee hunts at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda

Pobiner

DeSilva

Sanders

et al. 2007

Journal of Human Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Indeed, from the onset of the Oldowan at least 2.6 Mya (Semaw, 2000;Semaw et al, 2003) it is thought to have played a vital role in selecting for key anatomical traits that facilitate the secure, forceful, and yet dexterous manipulation of stone tools, hammer stones and stone cores (Marzke, 1997;Hamrick et al, 1998;Marzke et al, 1998;Key and Lycett, 2011;Rolian et al, 2011;Williams et al, 2012Williams et al, , 2014Key and Dunmore, 2015).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating interrelationships between Lower Palaeolithic stone tool effectiveness and tool user biometric variation: implications for technological and evolutionary changes

Key

Lycett

2016

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

with cutting efficiency using both flakes and handaxes over extended periods of use and in multiple types of cutting task. Results indicate that (1) both handaxe and flake cutting efficiency is significantly related with biometric variation of individual tool-users, (2) relationships between biometric parameters and efficiency are consistent across extended durations but vary dependent upon task-type conditions, (3) manipulative strength is the most significant biometric trait in terms of predicting flake efficiency, while (4) hand size is the strongest predictor of handaxe cutting efficiency. These results demonstrate the long-term impact that stone tool use likely had on the evolution of hominin biometric variation during the Lower Palaeolithic, while also highlighting the variable influence of different tool use contexts.Most notably, results indicate that the onset of the Acheulean may have been dependent, a priori, upon hand dimensions that are close to the modern human range, and that prior to the appearance of this anatomy, handaxe use would have been an impractical (i.e. inefficient) tool use behaviour compared to the use of flakes.

show abstract

2.6-Million-year-old stone tools and associated bones from OGS-6 and OGS-7, Gona, Afar, Ethiopia

Cited by 387 publications

References 17 publications

The Energetics of Encephalization in Early Hominids

The Energetics of Encephalization in Early Hominids

Taphonomic analysis of skeletal remains from chimpanzee hunts at Ngogo, Kibale National Park, Uganda

Investigating interrelationships between Lower Palaeolithic stone tool effectiveness and tool user biometric variation: implications for technological and evolutionary changes

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About