Systematic sampling of quartzites in sourcing analysis: intra-outcrop variability at Naibor Soit, Tanzania (part I)

Soto, María; Favreau, Julien; Campeau, Kathryn; Carter, Tristan; Durkin, Paul R.; Hubbard, Stephen M.; Nair, Rajeev; Bushozi, Pastory; Mercader, Julio

doi:10.1007/s12520-020-01054-w

Cited by 12 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Concentration estimates were normalised according to the USGS RGM-2 reference standard using Min-Max scaling, with each value rescaled to range [0, 1]. The same analytical conditions and data treatment methods were implemented for quartzite geological samples (n = 125) from five outcrops, which constitute the reference collection used for comparative analyses 51,52 . Data exploration and Linear Discriminant Analysis of the normalised chemical data were performed in RStudio using 14 packages 51,52 .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earliest Olduvai hominins exploited unstable environments ~ 2 million years ago

et al. 2021

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Rapid environmental change is a catalyst for human evolution, driving dietary innovations, habitat diversification, and dispersal. However, there is a dearth of information to assess hominin adaptions to changing physiography during key evolutionary stages such as the early Pleistocene. Here we report a multiproxy dataset from Ewass Oldupa, in the Western Plio-Pleistocene rift basin of Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai), Tanzania, to address this lacuna and offer an ecological perspective on human adaptability two million years ago. Oldupai’s earliest hominins sequentially inhabited the floodplains of sinuous channels, then river-influenced contexts, which now comprises the oldest palaeolake setting documented regionally. Early Oldowan tools reveal a homogenous technology to utilise diverse, rapidly changing environments that ranged from fern meadows to woodland mosaics, naturally burned landscapes, to lakeside woodland/palm groves as well as hyper-xeric steppes. Hominins periodically used emerging landscapes and disturbance biomes multiple times over 235,000 years, thus predating by more than 180,000 years the earliest known hominins and Oldowan industries from the Eastern side of the basin.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Earliest Olduvai hominins exploited unstable environments ~ 2 million years ago

et al. 2021

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“…Q-Q plots and two multivariate normality tests (Henze-Zirkler = 1.932, p = <0.001; Royston = 1108.815, p = <0.001) indicate that the chemical concentrations are non-normally distributed. Cross-validation was also performed to assess the initial hit ratio and account for unequal group sizes, which may induce over-fitting 50 , as the number of predictor variables exceeded the number of observations in all but two of the sites (Naibor Soit Ndogo and Naibor Soit Kubwa Extended Data Fig. | Phytolith Analysis. A The comparative baseline to estimate grass to woody dicot ratio is from short woodland mosaics in Acacia-Commiphora biomes whereby the maximum ratio is 1.00 and average 0.30 44 .…”

Section: Pollen and Microcharcoalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hominin Ecology of the Early Oldowan 2 Ma

Mercader

Akuku

Boivin

et al. 2020

Preprint

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Environmental change is key for human evolution, especially at times of anatomical and behavioral change in life histories, such as the origin of meat consumption, economic diversification, and dispersal. However, for the earliest phase of human evolution featuring the technology-dependent hominins that shaped our lineage since 2.6 Ma, the Oldowan, there is a dearth of archaeological evidence directly associated with rich chronostratigraphic and environmental datasets amenable to tracking ecological change and adaptation to new physiographic conditions. One place where this type of information has been recently retrieved is the Western Plio-Pleistocene rift basin of Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai), Tanzania. We explore habitat range by Oldowan-bearing hominins amidst extremely diverse ecosystems throughout a stratified sequence 235 ka-long, thus predating by >180 ka the earliest landmark fossil hominins and classic Oldowan from the Eastern side of the basin. Our study provides multi-proxy evidence of environmental adaptability, demonstrating colonisation of fresh volcanic landscapes and occupation of fast-changing biomes by 2 Ma.

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“…A palaeoanthropological project that recognises such issues is Stone Tools, Diet, and Sociality (SDS), a palaeoanthropological partnership between environmental specialists, biologists, geologists, social scientists, and palaeoanthropologists from institutions located in numerous countries. SDS's interdisciplinary collaborations are producing myriad new insights that are vital for understanding humanity's emergence (Favreau 2019;Mercader et al, 2018a;Mercader et al, 2018b;Mercader et al, 2019;Soto et al, 2019;Soto et al, 2020a;Soto et al, 2020b;Tucker 2018;Tucker et al, 2020). Furthermore, SDS aspires to curb the history of neocolonial research at Oldupai by collaborating with the local Maasai, and Maasai peoples shared in such desires for collaboration.…”

Section: The World Bank and The International Monetarymentioning

confidence: 99%

Enacting Maasai and Palaeoanthropological Versions of Drought in Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania

Lee

Koromo²,

Mercader

et al. 2020

S&TS

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While palaeoanthropologists have travelled to Tanzania’s renowned human origins site of Oldupai Gorge for over a century, lasting collaboration has yet to be established with the Maasai pastoralists who inhabit the area. This paper uses actor-network-theory and the concept of enactment to compare palaeoanthropological and Maasai livelihoods and to explore why collaboration has been infrequent. Here we show that both groups’ subsistence strategies had to effectively navigate large political-economic contexts. To support their respective livelihoods, scientists and locals expertly acquired resources in non-scientific and non-pastoral worlds. Both Maasai peoples and researchers created and multiplied reality and ontologies by enacting composite – yet conflicting – versions of hybrid drought. The exigencies associated with palaeoanthropological and Maasai subsistence have hindered meaningful collaboration between the groups, despite the fact that members of both dug in the Gorge to address drought. While the legitimisation of scientific ontologies is ultimately well-intentioned, Maasai drought unfortunately remains unaddressed.

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Systematic sampling of quartzites in sourcing analysis: intra-outcrop variability at Naibor Soit, Tanzania (part I)

Cited by 12 publications

References 37 publications

Earliest Olduvai hominins exploited unstable environments ~ 2 million years ago

Earliest Olduvai hominins exploited unstable environments ~ 2 million years ago

Hominin Ecology of the Early Oldowan 2 Ma

Enacting Maasai and Palaeoanthropological Versions of Drought in Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania

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