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Was FLK North levels 1–2 a classic “living floor” of Oldowan hominins or a taphonomically complex palimpsest dominated by large carnivore feeding behavior?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

H.T. Bunn ,
A.Z.P. Mabulla ,
M. Domínguez-Rodrigo ,
G.M. Ashley ,
R. Barba ,
F. Diez-Martín ,
K. Remer ,
J. Yravedra  and
E. Baquedano
H.T. Bunn*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
A.Z.P. Mabulla
Affiliation:
Archaeology Unit, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35050, Tanzania
M. Domínguez-Rodrigo
Affiliation:
IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), Museo de los Orígenes, Plaza de San Andrés 2, 28005 Madrid, Spain Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain
G.M. Ashley
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Rutgers University, 610 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA
R. Barba
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain
F. Diez-Martín
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Plaza del Campus s/n, 47011, Valladolid, Spain
K. Remer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706, USA
J. Yravedra
Affiliation:
Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain
E. Baquedano
Affiliation:
Museo Arqueológico Regional, Plaza de las Bernardas s/n, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:htbunn@wisc.edu (H.T. Bunn).
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Abstract

From excavation at FLK North levels 1–2 in 1960–1962, Mary Leakey reported approximately 1200 Oldowan artifacts and 3300 large mammal fossils as a hominin “living floor”. Preliminary taphonomic analysis by Bunn seemed supportive, based on the presence of some cut-marked bones, the concentration of several dozen bovid individuals, and the relative abundance of limbs and mandibles over other axial elements. Recent taphonomic analysis of Leakey's entire fossil assemblage by Domínguez-Rodrigo and Barba, however, documents a minor hominin role at the site, contrasted to the dominant role of carnivores. Felids brought prey animals; hyenas scavenged from abandoned felid meals. At different times, hominins butchered several bovids and discarded artifacts at this dynamic location. Since 2006, renewed excavations at FLK North and other sites by the Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project (TOPPP) have expanded artifact and fossil samples and implemented new analytical approaches to clarify taphonomic histories of the Olduvai paleolandscape. At FLK North, > 1000 new large mammal fossils from levels 1 to 2 show minimal butchery evidence amid abundant evidence of carnivore gnawing/fracture, rodent gnawing, and sediment abrasion. To help guide future excavation and analyses, we have developed several alternative working hypotheses of site formation.

Keywords

TaphonomyPalimpsestLiving floorFelidsGnaw marksCut marksAbrasion marks
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 74 , Issue 3 , November 2010 , pp. 355 - 362
Copyright
University of Washington

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