Oldowan Raw Material Procurement and Use: Evidence From the Koobi Fora Formation*

Braun, David R.; Harris, J. W.; Maina, David

doi:10.1111/j.1475-4754.2008.00393.x

Cited by 51 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Unretouched stone flakes made from basalt and ignimbrite (raw materials utilized by the hominins that produced the archaeological assemblages from the Koobi Fora Formation [53], [54]) were used for skinning and defleshing each carcass. These flakes were selected based on their similarity in size and shape to those recovered from the early Pleistocene archaeological assemblage of FwJj 20 [8].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Signature of Aquatic Resource Use within Pleistocene Hominin Dietary Adaptations

Archer

Braun

2013

PLoS ONE

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There is general agreement that the diet of early hominins underwent dramatic changes shortly after the appearance of stone tools in the archaeological record. It is often assumed that this change is associated with dietary expansion to incorporate large mammal resources. Although other aspects of the hominin diet, such as aquatic or vegetal resources, are assumed to be a part of hominin subsistence, identifying evidence of these adaptations has proved difficult. Here we present a series of analyses that provide methodological support for the inclusion of aquatic resources in hominin dietary reconstructions. We suggest that bone surface modifications in aquatic species are morphologically distinguishable from bone surface modifications on terrestrial taxa. We relate these findings to differences that we document in the surface mechanical properties of the two types of bone, as reflected by significant differences in bone surface microhardness values between aquatic and terrestrial species. We hypothesize that the characteristics of bone surface modifications on aquatic taxa inhibit the ability of zooarchaeologists to consistently diagnose them correctly. Contingently, this difficulty influences correspondence levels between zooarchaeologists, and may therefore result in misinterpretation of the taphonomic history of early Pleistocene aquatic faunal assemblages. A blind test using aquatic specimens and a select group of 9 experienced zooarchaeologists as participants was designed to test this hypothesis. Investigation of 4 different possible explanations for blind test results suggest the dominant factors explaining patterning relate to (1) the specific methodologies employed to diagnose modifications on aquatic specimens and (2) the relative experience of participants with modifications on aquatic bone surfaces. Consequently we argue that an important component of early hominin diets may have hitherto been overlooked as a result of (a) the paucity of referential frameworks within which to identify such a component and (b) the inability of applied identification methodologies to consistently do so.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the Signature of Aquatic Resource Use within Pleistocene Hominin Dietary Adaptations

Archer

Braun

2013

PLoS ONE

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“…Increased loading magnitude and frequency in mobile human foragers led to relatively robust trabecular bone structure comparable to that seen in other primate species (52). With the emergence of Homo erectus ∼1.8 million y ago, paleontological and archaeological evidence indicate a major shift in hominin evolution characterized by increases in brain and body size (53), improved locomotor efficiency (54), larger home ranges, and increased mobility (55). This long evolutionary history of high levels of terrestrial mobility in the genus Homo, together with the evidence of selection for endurance running (56,57), strongly suggests that the human locomotor skeleton evolved in a mechanical and physiological context that involved persistent and frequent loading throughout life.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gracility of the modernHomo sapiensskeleton is the result of decreased biomechanical loading

Ryan

Shaw

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

162

195

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The postcranial skeleton of modern Homo sapiens is relatively gracile compared with other hominoids and earlier hominins. This gracility predisposes contemporary humans to osteoporosis and increased fracture risk. Explanations for this gracility include reduced levels of physical activity, the dissipation of load through enlarged joint surfaces, and selection for systemic physiological characteristics that differentiate modern humans from other primates. This study considered the skeletal remains of four behaviorally diverse recent human populations and a large sample of extant primates to assess variation in trabecular bone structure in the human hip joint. Proximal femur trabecular bone structure was quantified from microCT data for 229 individuals from 31 extant primate taxa and 59 individuals from four distinct archaeological human populations representing sedentary agriculturalists and mobile foragers. Analyses of mass-corrected trabecular bone variables reveal that the forager populations had significantly higher bone volume fraction, thicker trabeculae, and consequently lower relative bone surface area compared with the two agriculturalist groups. There were no significant differences between the agriculturalist and forager populations for trabecular spacing, number, or degree of anisotropy. These results reveal a correspondence between human behavior and bone structure in the proximal femur, indicating that more highly mobile human populations have trabecular bone structure similar to what would be expected for wild nonhuman primates of the same body mass. These results strongly emphasize the importance of physical activity and exercise for bone health and the attenuation of age-related bone loss. trabecular bone | gracilization | human evolution | biomechanics | mobility C ompared with other hominoids and extinct hominin species, more recent humans possess relatively gracile postcranial skeletons (1-9). One of the consequences of this gracility in contemporary humans is an increased fracture risk associated with age-related bone loss and osteoporosis [hip fractures alone are projected to reach 6.26 million per year globally by 2050 (10)] (11-15). The etiology of this relative gracility remains uncertain, and this uncertainty hinders the development of strategies for mitigating fracture risk and morbidity. The progressive gracilization of the Homo postcranial skeleton was originally detected in cortical bone structure (1, 2), but has now been demonstrated in the trabecular bone microstructure of joints (12,14,(16)(17)(18)(19), where osteoporotic fracture risk is highest (20). Most notably, in an analysis of thoracic vertebral bodies, Cotter et al. (12) found that young adult humans have significantly lower trabecular bone volume fraction (BV/TV) and thinner vertebral shells than similarly sized apes. Griffin et al. (16) also found significantly lower BV/TV in the human first and second metatarsal heads compared with hominoid primates. The results of these studies are corroborated by work on the hominoid...

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“…2,65 This pattern of transport has suggested to many archeologists that the Oldowan knappers had a sophisticated lithic procurement system. 70,71,82 However, this need not be the most parsimonious explanation. The hominins could simply have picked up knapped cores from one spot and moved them to another or, more likely, knapped a core at its source to test its potential and reduce its weight.…”

Section: Transportmentioning

confidence: 96%

“An ape's view of the Oldowan” revisited

Wynn

Hernández‐Aguilar²,

Marchant³

et al. 2011

Evolutionary Anthropology

159

105

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In 1989, Wynn and McGrew published an explicit comparison between Oldowan technology and what was then known of chimpanzee technology. They compared the range and variety of tools, adaptive role of tools, carrying distances, spatial cognition, manufacturing procedures, and modes of learning. They concluded that everything archeologists had reconstructed about the behavior of Oldowan hominins could be accommodated within the ape adaptive grade; that is, a paraphyletic group united by overall similarities in anatomy and, in this case, behavior. The only Oldowan activities that were almost unknown for modern apes were the long-distance transport of objects and direct competition with carnivores, which was implied by meat acquisition activities. "In its general features Oldowan culture was ape, not human. Nowhere in this picture need we posit elements such as language, extensive sharing, division of labor, or pair-bonded families, all of which are part of the baggage carried by the term human."

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Oldowan Raw Material Procurement and Use: Evidence From the Koobi Fora Formation*

Cited by 51 publications

References 36 publications

Investigating the Signature of Aquatic Resource Use within Pleistocene Hominin Dietary Adaptations

Investigating the Signature of Aquatic Resource Use within Pleistocene Hominin Dietary Adaptations

Gracility of the modernHomo sapiensskeleton is the result of decreased biomechanical loading

“An ape's view of the Oldowan” revisited

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