Ichnological and archaeological evidence from Gombore II OAM, Melka Kunture, Ethiopia: An integrated approach to reconstruct local environments and biological presences between 1.2 and 0.85 Ma

Abstract

New ichnological data are available at the prehistoric site of Melka Kunture, Upper Awash Valley in Ethiopia. Excavation of new test pits enabled us to explore the volcanic and fluvio-lacustrine sequence at the Gombore II Open Air Museum archaeological site (ca. 0.85 Ma). This has allowed a detailed reconstruction of the palaeoenvironment and of the fauna present in the time interval between 1.2 and 0.85 Ma. Various-sized mammals, birds, molluscs as well as hominins left tracks throughout the sequence, and document a varied fauna and associated behaviours. Most of the hominin tracks were made by young individuals on the basis of size and are some of the earlier child tracks to be reported. The mollusc traces document the presence and orientation of water streams which, according to the associated vertebrate traces, were visited by hominins, mammals and birds. Most of these traces were found within levels traditionally considered barren for archaeology, yet they all document life activity and are always in situ. This confirms the potential of the ichnological research as an important complementary tool for archaeological investigations.

Une vue d’ensemble sur Melka Kunture, grand complexe de sites pléistocènes dans la vallée supérieure de l’Awash (Éthiopie)

“…Des empreintes d'hippopotames ont e ´te ´e ´galement trouve ´es dans un sondage adjacent a `Gombore II OAM. Elles ont un a ˆge proche de 1 000 000 d'anne ´es (Altamura et al, 2020). Dans un autre niveau de ce me ˆme sondage sont documente ´es celles laisse ´es en se de ´plac ¸ant par des bivalves d'eau douce.…”

“…Les empreintes laisse ´es par des hominine ´s, qui s'e ´tagent entre 1 200 000 et 700 000 ans, ont e ´te de ´couvertes lors des fouilles re ´centes dans un sondage a `co ˆte ´de Gombore II OAM et a `Gombore II-2. (Altamura et al, 2020) ; dans le second, un groupe d'hominine ´s de composition varie ´e, avec adultes et jeunes probablement des deux sexes, de ´pec ¸aient des carcasses d'hippopotames. De tout petits enfants assistaient en se trouvant a cote ´, certains a `peine capables de marcher (Altamura et al, 2018) (Fig.…”

Technological innovation in the recovery and analysis of 3D forensic footwear evidence: Structure from motion (SfM) photogrammetry

“…However in the study of vertebrate ichnology, including human tracks, SfM recovery is now considered to be standard and is routinely used by almost all practitioners [e.g., 33,[42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49]. In fact, a paper on a set of fossilised tracks would not be accepted for publication without some form of 3D analysis whether by optical laser scanning or SfM photogrammetry, it is the accepted norm [35].…”

Integration of biplanar X-ray, three-dimensional animation and particle simulation reveals details of human ‘track ontogeny’

“…In addition to tracks being able to augment analyses of skeletal fossils in critical ways, fossil hominin track sites have been discovered at a high rate in recent years. The known record of hominin track sites that predate modern humans has experienced notable growth [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. In some cases, the sample sizes of hominin tracks now exceed by more than an order of magnitude the sample of hominin foot skeletal fossils from the same time periods [12].…”