Tracing the spatial imprint of Oldowan technological behaviors: A view from DS (Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)

Abstract

DS (David’s site) is one of the new archaeological sites documented in the same paleolandscape in which FLK 22 was deposited at about 1.85 Ma in Olduvai Gorge. Fieldwork in DS has unearthed the largest vertically-discrete archaeological horizon in the African Pleistocene, where a multi-cluster anthropogenic accumulation of fossil bones and stone tools has been identified. In this work we present the results of the techno-economic study of the lithic assemblage recovered from DS. We also explore the spatial magnitude of the technological behaviors documented at this spot using powerful spatial statistical tools to unravel correlations between the spatial distributional patterns of lithic categories. At DS, lavas and quartzite were involved in different technological processes. Volcanic materials, probably transported to this spot from a close source, were introduced in large numbers, including unmodified materials, and used in percussion activities and in a wide variety of reduction strategies. A number of volcanic products were subject to outward fluxes to other parts of the paleolandscape. In contrast, quartzite rocks were introduced in smaller numbers and might have been subject to a significantly more intense exploitation. The intra-site spatial analysis has shown that specialized areas cannot be identified, unmodified materials are not randomly distributed, percussion and knapping categories do not spatially overlap, while bipolar specimens show some sort of spatial correlation with percussion activities.

The evolution of stone tool technology at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania): Contributions from the Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project

“…However, first generation flakes are more common in volcanic rocks (21.1%) than in quartzite (5.4%). In general lavas are more prone to cortical retention (54.5% of volcanic rocks retain some dorsal cortex versus 18.6% of quartzite), a trait that might support the idea that second and third generation volcanic flakes could have been taken off-site more easily (Diez-Martı ´n et al, 2021). In line with the previous statement, cortical butts are more common in lavas than in quartzite (26 versus 7%).…”

“…This percentage is in contradiction with the data provided by the core sample, where quartzite cores only represent a mean of 24.73% (sd = 6). Overrepresentation of quartzite flakes and deficit of volcanic flakes represents a consistent pattern in Bed I sites (Brantingham, 1998;Kimura, 2002;Leakey, 1975;McNabb, 1998;Potts, 1988) and might be related to: a) a longer life of volcanic cutting edges (Key et al, 2020) and consequently more intense circulation of volcanic flakes across the landscape (Brantingham, 1998;Diez-Martı ´n et al, 2021); b) the specific crystallographic traits of Naibor Soit quartzite (coarse-grained structure and abundant cleavage planes) that accelerate reduction and promote a faster and more intensive reduction of cores (Potts, 1988). Less controlled quartzite response to breakage might account for significant amounts of quartzite waste in the ZP sites, particularly in the case of FLK 22.…”

“…Tous droits re ´serve ´s. very same paleosol, a $20-cm clay stratum deposited at 1.84 Ma within an alluvial-lacustrine paleolandscape Uribelarrea et al, 2014) constitute an exceptional opportunity to broaden our understanding of human adaptations to specific areas of lacustrine paleolandscapes and to explore the different factors (ecological, economic or functional) operating in synchronic technological variability within the Oldowan (Aramendi et al, 2017;Arra ´iz et al, 2017;Diez-Martı ´n et al, 2021;. Mary Leakey's approach to the Oldowan industries of Bed I was typological and described the percentage variation of various types of, preferentially, core forms (such as choppers, polyhedrons, discoids and spheroids) produced mainly on volcanic rocks (basalt and phonolite) and quartzite (Leakey, 1967(Leakey, , 1971(Leakey, , 1975.…”

Aurignacian dynamics in Southeastern Europe based on spatial analysis, sediment geochemistry, raw materials, lithic analysis, and use-wear from Românești-Dumbrăvița

“…Relative spatial distributions and artifact cluster significances were assessed with the relative risk function. Artifact spatial correlations were evaluated with the nearest neighbor equality function 109 , 110 . Analyses were performed using the R spatstat package 111 , 112 .…”

Sourcing Oldowan and Acheulean Stone Tools in Eastern Africa

“…Ma) (Table 1; Figure 4) manufactured >1,400 artefacts from quartzite, basalt, phonolite, gneiss, chert, and hyaline quartz, with igneous rocks contributing more than five times the total weight of quartzite (Diez-Martín et al 2021). The difference in raw material weight, in combination with techno-typological data, indicate that hominins at DS preferentially utilised volcanic rocks for flake production and percussion activities, and these materials were likely provisioned from indeterminate fluvial channels to the south (Diez-Martín et al 2021).…”