Lahar inundated, modified, and preserved 1.88 Ma early hominin (OH24 and OH56) Olduvai DK site

Journal of Human Evolution
Ian G StanistreetMarion K Bamford

Abstract

Archaeological excavations at the DK site in the eastern Olduvai Basin, Tanzania, age-bracketed between ∼1.88 Ma (Bed I Basalt) and ∼1.85 Ma (Tuff IB), record the oldest lahar inundation, modification, and preservation of a hominin "occupation" site yet identified. Our landscape approach reconstructs environments and processes at high resolution to explain the distribution and final preservation of archaeological materials at the DK site, where an early hominin (likely Homo habilis) assemblage of stone tools and bones, found close to hominin specimens OH24 and OH56, developed on an uneven heterogeneous surface that was rapidly inundated by a lahar and buried to a depth of 0.4-1.2 m (originally ∼1.0-2.4 m pre-compaction). The incoming intermediate to high viscosity mudflow selectively modified the original accumulation of "occupation debris," so that it is no longer confined to the original surface. A dispersive debris "halo" was identified within the lahar deposit: debris is densest immediately above the site, but tails off until not present >150 m laterally. Voorhies indices and metrics derived from limb bones are used to define this dispersive halo spatially and might indicate a possible second assemblage to the east that is ...Continue Reading

Citations

Jan 9, 2021·Nature Communications·Julio MercaderMichael Petraglia
Aug 7, 2017·Journal of Human Evolution·Ignacio de la TorreHarald Stollhofen
Dec 4, 2020·Journal of Human Evolution·Harald StollhofenFidelis T Masao

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