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Reference materials on Oldowan sites, arranged approximately by age

Site Name	Region / Country	Site Age
Bouri	Middle Awash region, Ethiopia	~ 2.5 myr
Gona sites	Hadar region, Ethiopia	2.6-2.5 myr
Omo Shungura Formation Member E sites Shungura Fm Member F sites	southern Ethiopia, sediments exposed near Omo River, north of Lake Turkana	E: 2.48-2.34 myr F: 2.34-2.32
West Turkana Lokalalei sites	sediments exposed on west side of Lake Turkana	2.35 myr
Fejej		~2.3 myr
East Turkana Koobi Fora Member sites Okote Member sites	sediments exposed on east side of Lake Turkana	KBS tuff sites: ~1.88 myr Okote tuff sites: 1.6-1.4 myr
Olduvai Gorge Bed I sites DK site FLK-Zinj site	on the edge of the Serengeti plains in northern Tanzania	~ 1.9 - 1.7 myr
Sterkfontein Member 5
Swartkrans

Bouri sites, Middle Awash, Ethiopia

Hominid skull and postcranial remains assigned to a new species, Australopithecus garhi. Nearby, at a different site in correlated sediments from about the same period, animal bones with cutmarks and battering marks were recovered, suggesting stone tool use. The question is, who was the butcher of Bouri? PDF articles are available to read about the details of these sites. Bouri hominid & Bouri butchery evidence. Look at them (great images!).

Gona sites in Hadar region, Ethiopia

local basalt cores & flakes

It turns out that the oldest archaeological sites yet known have been found in the same region where the famous "Lucy" fossils were discovered in the 1970's : the HADAR region of Ethiopia, in the "Afar triangle" of the Rift Valley ...

However, NO ARCHAEOLOGY associated with A. afarensis fossils (most buried in lake margins). (Lucy is ~2.8 mya). In stratigraphic levels above A. afarensis, stone artifacts have been found. First discoveries by French at Kada Gona-- stone tools in secondary context -- e.g. part of conglomerate.

Jack Harris and Sileshi Semaw explored fine grained deposits nearby, and found and excavated artifacts in primary context (stream margin sediments). This project is now run by Sileshi Semaw at West Gona.

These early sites are at least 2.5 mya, and some may be as old as 2.6 mya (above the BKT 2 tuff 2.88mya). Stratigraphy diagram.

Omo Shungura Formation

A deep geological section of interstratified riverine sediments and volcanic ashes, all faulted and tilted by tectonic activity and thus exposed to surface prospecting. A long sequence of fossils identified from sites in these deposits, and a few in situ archaeological sites in fine-grained deposits in Shungura Formation members E and F:

Omo mem. E (3 sites FtJi 2,3,4), (Lake Turkana Basin, Ethiopia)

scatters of shattered quartz lumps and pebbles, found eroding out of sediments from ancient channel margins. Quartz pebbles are not a natural component of these fine grained sediments.

Site FtJi 2 contains 224 artifacts in situ, buried in fine silts from a back swamp or marginal floodbasin sedimentary setting. There were two, low density scatters of small quartz artifacts. These quartz chips were classified (3 flakes, 4 flake fragments, 217 angular fragments), and 7 manuports (unmodified stones) were also found. Each lens of artifacts is about 15 cm thick, and the two lenses are separated vertically by 10-15 cm. No bones were found at the site.

(+ A. aethiopicus in contemporary sediments)

Omo mem. F (5 sites)

quartz chips (streams)

(+ A. aethiopicus in contemporary sediments)

Lokalalei, W. Turkana, (Kenya)

local basalt cores from river gravels & refitting flakes from several sites

• Skill seems limited at some sites (lots of step fractures for stone, partially flaked cores), but very skilled and technologically proficient at others (e.g. refitting flakes at sites: Refer to the assigned article by Helene Roche for more details on these sites.) Roche has suggested these early hominids were carefully selecting the type of raw material and had preferred shapes for the types of cobbles they liked to flake

(+ A. aethiopicus in contemporary sediments)

Fejej

East Turkana, northern Kenya --

Koobi Fora Region

• sites still at intersection of drainages, but also near (new!) lake, in delta areas, or near alluvial fans
• Local raw materials, mostly volcanic
• Skills good -- cores flaked well, but mainly restriced to small, rounded cobbles (compared to Lokalalei sites) Still basic "Oldowan" types (locally called "KBS industry")
• KBS site (FxJj 1)
• HAS site (FxJj 3)

Okote Tuff sites, inland from modern lake in Karari escarpment area of East Turkana

sites found associated with two different types of riverine environment...

• FxJj50 for example, at intersection of small stream & large, meandering river, near gravel bar, and also GaJi5 = cutmarked bone, no tools! also "Karari scrapers" suggest technological innovation
• other sites on western and eastern side (e.g. FxJj 20 along Karari escarpment with burnt patches), associated with braided streams (shallow, temporary, less-well developed forest... more OPEN type of habitat) and also more found in river gravels (secondary contexts)

Artifact assemblage graphs for all East Turkana Sites. Each site has been given a number in the local catalog system: e.g. "FxJj 50" is the 50th site in the regional grid area F/J (and x/j small square within that). This site is listed as site "50" on graphs:

• raw materials in assemblages
• Isaac typology for all artifacts
• Leakey typology for shaped "tools"

Raw materials are perhaps being carried further -- lots of gravels, etc, near basin margins (upstream on small channels), but few down on floodplains of major river -- locality with cutmarks only suggests that stones curated -- not always just discarded on spot.

Stones flaked more systematically -- and new toolforms appear, e.g. "Karari scrapers"

Lots of sites are BIG = huge concentrations of bone/stone. Sites with large assemblages have greater diversity of tool types, etc (see assemblage graphs above)

One of key new technology types which MAY appear during this time is FIRE...

Olduvai Gorge

A number of important sites were excavated by Mary Leakey in Bed I, including the famous FLK-Zinj site, and a slightly older site called DK, with a stone circle. Refer to your readings and CD-ROM for more information about these sites.