The Origin of The Acheulean: The 1.7 Million-Year-Old Site of FLK West, Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania)
Fernando Diez-Martín,P. Sanchez Yustos,David Uribelarrea,Enrique Baquedano,Darren F. Mark,Audax Mabulla,Cristina Fraile,Javier Duque,Inmaculada Aznar Díaz,Alfredo Pérez-González,José Yravedra,Charles P. Egeland,Elia Organista,Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo +13 more
TLDR
A detailed technological study is provided and evidence of the use of these tools on the butchery and consumption of fauna, probably by early Homo erectus sensu lato is provided, showing that complex cognition was present from the earliest stages of the Acheulean.Abstract:
The appearance of the Acheulean is one of the hallmarks of human evolution. It represents the emergence of a complex behavior, expressed in the recurrent manufacture of large-sized tools, with standardized forms, implying more advance forethought and planning by hominins than those required by the precedent Oldowan technology. The earliest known evidence of this technology dates back to c. 1.7 Ma. and is limited to two sites (Kokiselei [Kenya] and Konso [Ethiopia]), both of which lack functionally-associated fauna. The functionality of these earliest Acheulean assemblages remains unknown. Here we present the discovery of another early Acheulean site also dating to c. 1.7 Ma from Olduvai Gorge. This site provides evidence of the earliest steps in developing the Acheulean technology and is the oldest Acheulean site in which stone tools occur spatially and functionally associated with the exploitation of fauna. Simple and elaborate large-cutting tools (LCT) and bifacial handaxes co-exist at FLK West, showing that complex cognition was present from the earliest stages of the Acheulean. Here we provide a detailed technological study and evidence of the use of these tools on the butchery and consumption of fauna, probably by early Homo erectus sensu lato.read more
Citations
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Olorgesailie: Archaeological Studies of a Middle Pleistocene Lake Basin in Kenya
J. E. G. Sutton,Glynn L. Isaac +1 more
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The origins of the Acheulean: past and present perspectives on a major transition in human evolution.
TL;DR: The emergence of the Acheulean from the earlier Oldowan constitutes a major transition in human evolution, the theme of this special issue.
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The handaxe reconsidered
Thomas Wynn,John Gowlett +1 more
TL;DR: It is proposed that two nongenetic processes are sufficient to explain the handaxe phenomenon: a set of ergonomic design principles linked to the production of sturdy, hand‐held cutting tools in the context of a knapped‐stone technology that lacked hafting.
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FLK West (Lower Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania): a new early Acheulean site with evidence for human exploitation of fauna
José Yravedra,Fernando Diez-Martín,Charles P. Egeland,Miguel Ángel Maté-González,Miguel Ángel Maté-González,Juan Francisco Palomeque-González,Mari Carmen Arriaza,Julia Aramendi,Elena García Vargas,Verónica Estaca-Gómez,Policarpo Sánchez,Cristina Fraile,Javier Duque,Sara de Francisco Rodríguez,Diego González-Aguilera,David Uribelarrea,Aundax Mabulla,Enrique Baquedano,Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo +18 more
TL;DR: A detailed taphonomic study of the faunal assemblage from FLK West (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania), a site with an Acheulean component that dates to 1.7 Ma, is presented in this paper.
References
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Paleolithic Technology and Human Evolution
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Journal ArticleDOI
An earlier origin for the Acheulian
Christopher J. Lepre,Hélène Roche,Dennis V. Kent,Dennis V. Kent,Sonia Harmand,Rhonda L. Quinn,Rhonda L. Quinn,Jean-Philippe Brugal,Pierre-Jean Texier,Arnaud Lenoble,Craig S. Feibel +10 more
TL;DR: Co-occurrence of Oldowan and Acheulian artefacts at the Kokiselei site complex indicates that the two technologies are not mutually exclusive time-successive components of an evolving cultural lineage, and suggests that multiple groups of hominins distinguished by separate stone-tool-making behaviours and dispersal strategies coexisted in Africa at 1.76 Myr ago.
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