Effects of distance from stone source on landscape-scale variation in Oldowan artifact assemblages in the Paleo-Olduvai Basin, Tanzania

Blumenschine, Robert J.; Masao, Fidelis T.; Tactikos, Joanne C.; Ebert, James I.

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2007.02.009

Cited by 101 publications

(106 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Hominin stone tool distance-decay patterns have been explained as outcomes of the curation of raw material [26], natural topographic barriers [25], the mitigation of risk related to the need to possess sharp cutting edges [26], or planning for future needs [20]. Stone tool deposition might have, furthermore, been influenced by the ranging pattern of carnivores and ecological factors such as water sources and clusters of shelter trees.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees

et al. 2016

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Stone tool transport leaves long-lasting behavioural evidence in the landscape. However, it remains unknown how large-scale patterns of stone distribution emerge through undirected, short-term transport behaviours. One of the longest studied groups of stone-tool-using primates are the chimpanzees of the Taï National Park in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Using hammerstones left behind at chimpanzee Panda nut-cracking sites, we tested for a distance-decay effect, in which the weight of material decreases with increasing distance from raw material sources. We found that this effect exists over a range of more than 2 km, despite the fact that observed, shortterm tool transport does not appear to involve deliberate movements away from raw material sources. Tools from the millennia-old Noulo site in the Taï forest fit the same pattern. The fact that chimpanzees show both complex short-term behavioural planning, and yet produce a landscape-wide pattern over the long term, raises the question of whether similar processes operate within other stone-tool-using primates, including hominins. Where hominin landscapes have discrete material sources, a distance-decay effect, and increasing use of stone materials away from sources, the Taï chimpanzees provide a relevant analogy for understanding the formation of those landscapes.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This effect has been postulated to occur for two main reasons: (i) heavier stones are energetically more expensive to carry longer distances and (ii) stones further from sources have typically been used for longer and are more completely broken down (either deliberately flaked or accidentally fractured) as a result [25].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees

et al. 2016

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“…We believe the hominins at the site were carefully selecting raw material in terms of its nascent properties as they perceived them -in particular the presence of flat faces from which to initiate flaking. This type of raw material selection has been noted at otherOldowan sites as well (Blumenschine et al, 2008; Braun et al, 2008a; GoldmanNeuman and Hovers, 2008;Harmand, 2008). The presence of casual cores (cores with one or two flakes detached, Kuman and Field, 2009) …”

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confidence: 61%

Experimental stone tool replication at the Early Stone Age site of Sterkfontein, Gauteng, South Africa

McNabb

Kuman

2015

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

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Abstract.Between 1999 and 2000 a large experimental knapping programme was carried out at the early hominin site of Sterkfontein, South Africa. Its purpose was to assess aspects of the technology of lithic production found in the Oldowan and Acheulean deposits at the site. The data was used to inform technological analysis of the Sterkfontein stone tool assemblages. In the light of more recent research on raw material selection and transport at East African Oldowan sites, we report on the conclusions drawn from the analysis of the experimental cores to assess their contribution to understanding the influence of raw materials on knapping in the Oldowan and Acheulean at Sterkfontein. Hominins practised raw material selectivity and adapted their knapping strategies to fit clast shape and lithology. The experimental programme offered the opportunity to analyse some of the variables commonly involved in reconstructing lithic behaviour from artefacts and found, as with other studies reported elsewhere, that linear relationships based on one, or a few supposedly diagnostic variables do not stand up to scrutiny. Sterkfontein is one of a series of sites from the Cradle of Humankind WorldHeritage Site in Gauteng, South Africa (Kuman, 2007). Currently it is one of the best dated Oldowan and Early Acheulean localities in South Africa (Clarke, 2006;Granger et al., 2015;Herries and Shaw, 2011;Kuman and Clarke, 2000), and has the largest Oldowan assemblage yet recovered from this region (Kuman and Clarke, 2000;Kuman and Field, 2009). The Oldowan was excavated from Member 5 east breccia (Oldowan infill). The Acheulean was excavated from two locations, the Member 5 east Acheulean, overlying the Oldowan infill, and Member 5 west breccia. The Oldowan has been recently redated to 2.18 mya and the Acheulean is currently dated to 1.7-1.4 mya (Granger et al., 2015;Kuman, 2007). Detailed stratigraphies and descriptions of the lithic assemblages are provided elsewhere (Field, 1999;Kuman, 2007;Kuman and Clarke, 2000;Kuman and Field, 2009;Kuman et al., 2005;Stratford et al., 2012). The experimental knapping programme and its research aims. 4Between 1999 and 2000 a large knapping programme was instigated in order to explore aspects of the relationship between the raw materials used at the site and the knapping techniques involved in producing Oldowan and Acheulean cores and flakes. These data contributed to technological analysis and description of the Sterkfontein assemblages published elsewhere (Kuman and Field, 2009;Kuman et al., 2005).More recently, the notion of the Oldowan as having been an industry that heavily exploited mostly local raw material resources has been significantly challenged by increasing evidence for the careful selection and transport of specific raw materials over considerable distances (Harmand 2008), as well as a greater selection of specific local raw materials closer to sites. These behaviours have a considerable time depth -from as early as 2.34 mya at Lokalalei, West Turkana, Kenya, and only slightly later e...

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“…Este hecho fue provocando períodos de contracción y de expansión donde se fueron alternando diferentes fases de inundación en una amplia planicie lacustre (intermittently dry lake y lake margin) (Hay, 1976: 51;Peters y Blumenschine, 1995;Blumenschine et al, 2008;Egeland, 2008: 15). Los episodios fluctuantes en el nivel del agua y en la salinidad apuntan a una dinámica lacustre determinada por fenómenos recurrentes y alternaUso y explotación de los recursos acuáticos por el hombre pre-moderno: el caso de África Revista Atlántica-Mediterránea de Prehistoria y Arqueología Social 18, pp.…”

Section: Lecho Iunclassified

Uso Y Explotaciãn De Los Recursos Acuãticos Por El Hombre Pre-Moderno: El Caso De Ãfrica

Martín

2016

Rev. atl.-mediterr. prehist. arqueol. soc.

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Resumen. En el presente trabajo se plantea la posibilidad de uso y explotación de recursos acuáticos de malacofauna e ictiofauna por el hombre pre anatómicamente moderno en África. Para ello se presentan pruebas tafonómicas de ictiofauna y también se realiza un análisis de los sistemas dinámicos y condicionantes paleoecológicos lacustres de Olduvai y fluviolacustres de la Formación Koobi Fora, como hábitats propicios para el consumo de alimentos de origen acuático. Asimismo, se exponen los posibles modelos de captación como el forrajeo oportunista tipo "R" y "T" y el forrajeo ribereño. Estrategias que pudieron ser empleadas para la captura de ictiofauna, perteneciente a las familias Clariidae y Cichlidae, como alimentos de alta calidad que tuvieron que ser esenciales para el mantenimiento y el crecimiento del cerebro de los primeros homínidos.Palabras Clave: Adaptaciones acuáticas, pruebas tafonómicas, condicionantes paleoecológicos, modelos de captación, nutrición y evolución.Abstract. The present work considers the possibility of the use and exploitation of aquatic resources of malacofauna and icthyofauna by premodern hominids in Africa. We analyse the dynamic and determining lake paleocological systems of the Olduvai Gorge and Koobi Fora Ridge, as favourable habitats for the consumption of aquatic food products, and we give taphonomic evidence of icthyofauna. We also show possible models of capture such as opportunistic foraging types "R" and "T" and riverside foraging. These are strategies which might have been used for capturing icthyofauna of the Claridae and Cichlidae families; such high quality food must have been essential for brain maintenance and development in the first hominids.Keywords: Aquatic adaptations; taphonomic evidence; determining paleoecologycal systems; models for capturing; nutrition and evolution Sumario. 1. Introducción. 2. Material y métodos. 3. África: ¿cuna de las adaptaciones acuáticas? 3.1. Senga 5A. 3.2. Garganta de Olduvai: yacimientos y taxones representados. 3.2.1. Planteamientos tafonómicos de la ictiofauna lacustre de Lecho I y II. 3.2.2. Paleoecología lacustre. 3.2.3. Condicionantes ecológicos y sistemas de captación. 3.3. Formación Koobi Fora: FwJj20. 3.3.1. Caracterización de sistema dinámico fluviolacustre. 4. Discusión: un proceso que solamente se ha iniciado. 5. Conclusiones. 6. Bibliografía IntroducciónConsidero necesario indicar que un sector importante de la comunidad científica defiende que el fenómeno de las adaptaciones acuáticas y el uso y explotación de los recursos marinos se encuentra estrechamente relacionado con el hombre anatómicamente moderno y con el surgimiento del comportamiento moderno (e.g. McBrearty y Brooks, 2000: 453 y 491; Marean et al., 2007: 905 y 907; Cuadrado-Martín, 2016: 198). Este planteamiento deriva del paradigma de la "revolución cultural", el cual ha imposibilitado cualquier interpretación evolucionista (Cuadrado-Martín, 2016: 200) dentro de un escenario gradualista o saltacionista (véase d´Errico y Stringer, 2011). Pero actualment...

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Effects of distance from stone source on landscape-scale variation in Oldowan artifact assemblages in the Paleo-Olduvai Basin, Tanzania

Cited by 101 publications

References 37 publications

Distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees

Distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees

Experimental stone tool replication at the Early Stone Age site of Sterkfontein, Gauteng, South Africa

Uso Y Explotaciãn De Los Recursos Acuãticos Por El Hombre Pre-Moderno: El Caso De Ãfrica

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Effects of distance from stone source on landscape-scale variation in Oldowan artifact assemblages in the Paleo-Olduvai Basin, Tanzania

Cited by 101 publications

References 37 publications

Distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees

Distance-decay effect in stone tool transport by wild chimpanzees

Experimental stone tool replication at the Early Stone Age site of Sterkfontein, Gauteng, South Africa

Uso Y Explotaciãn De Los Recursos Acuãticos Por El Hombre Pre-Moderno: El Caso De Ãfrica

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Uso Y Explotaciãn De Los Recursos Acuãticos Por El Hombre Pre-Moderno: El Caso De Ãfrica