TY - JOUR
T1 - New site at Olduvai Gorge (AGS, Bed I, 1.84 Mya) widens the range of locations where hominins engaged in butchery
AU - Stancampiano, Lavinia M.
AU - Sistiaga, Ainara
AU - del Val, David Uribelarrea
AU - Aramendi, Julia
AU - Baquedano, Enrique
AU - Mabulla, Audax
AU - Domínguez-Rodrigo, Manuel
AU - Magill, Clayton R.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the COSTECH, Tanzania Antiquities Department, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority for field permits and support. This research study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Sciences and Technology (HAR2017-82463-C4-2-P). We thank The Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA) and The Olduvai Paleoanthropological and Paleoecological Project (TOPPP) for field support and organization. Research at the University of Copenhagen was supported by a Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020- 101032316) to A.S.. L.S. would like to thank Heriot-Watt University for funding her postgraduate education program and fieldwork.
Funding Information:
We thank the COSTECH, Tanzania Antiquities Department, and the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority for field permits and support. This research study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Sciences and Technology (HAR2017-82463-C4-2-P). We thank The Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA) and The Olduvai Paleoanthropological and Paleoecological Project (TOPPP) for field support and organization. Research at the University of Copenhagen was supported by a Marie Skłodowska Curie Individual Fellowship (H2020-MSCA-IF-2020- 101032316) to A.S. L.S. would like to thank Heriot-Watt University for funding her postgraduate education program and fieldwork.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/6/13
Y1 - 2022/6/13
N2 - Outstanding questions about human evolution include systematic connections between critical landscape resources—such as water and food—and how these shaped the competitive and biodiverse environment(s) that our ancestors inhabited. Here, we report fossil n-alkyl lipid biomarkers and their associated δ13C values across a newly discovered Olduvai Gorge site (AGS) dated to 1.84 million years ago, enabling a multiproxy analysis of the distributions of critical local landscape resources across an explicit locus of hominin activity. Our results reveal that AGS was a seasonally waterlogged, largely unvegetated lakeside site situated near an ephemeral freshwater river surrounded by arid-adapted C4 grasses. The sparse vegetation at AGS contrasts with reconstructed (micro)habitats at the other anthropogenic sites at Olduvai Gorge, suggesting that central-provisioning places depended more heavily on water access than vegetation viz. woody plants as is often observed for modern hunter-gatherers. As hominins at AGS performed similar butchering activities as at other Bed I sites, our results suggest they did not need the shelter of trees and thus occupied a competitive position within the predatory guild.
AB - Outstanding questions about human evolution include systematic connections between critical landscape resources—such as water and food—and how these shaped the competitive and biodiverse environment(s) that our ancestors inhabited. Here, we report fossil n-alkyl lipid biomarkers and their associated δ13C values across a newly discovered Olduvai Gorge site (AGS) dated to 1.84 million years ago, enabling a multiproxy analysis of the distributions of critical local landscape resources across an explicit locus of hominin activity. Our results reveal that AGS was a seasonally waterlogged, largely unvegetated lakeside site situated near an ephemeral freshwater river surrounded by arid-adapted C4 grasses. The sparse vegetation at AGS contrasts with reconstructed (micro)habitats at the other anthropogenic sites at Olduvai Gorge, suggesting that central-provisioning places depended more heavily on water access than vegetation viz. woody plants as is often observed for modern hunter-gatherers. As hominins at AGS performed similar butchering activities as at other Bed I sites, our results suggest they did not need the shelter of trees and thus occupied a competitive position within the predatory guild.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131897094&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-022-14031-1
DO - 10.1038/s41598-022-14031-1
M3 - Article
C2 - 35697774
AN - SCOPUS:85131897094
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 12
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
M1 - 9794
ER -
