Reinvestigating Early Human Behavior at Olduvai Gorge

摘要

Olduvai Gorge, located in the Rift Valley of northern Tanzania, plays a central role in our understanding of the physical and behavioral evolution of early hominins. It has done so since the landmark work begun there by the Leakeys in the 1930s, and their work has been the subject of repeated reanalysis because of Mary Leakey's careful documentation, publication, and curation of fossils and artifacts from controlled excavations throughout the 1960s. The present volume, written by Domínguez-Rodrigo,Barba, and Egeland, focuses upon sites FLK Zinj, FLK 10-13 and -15, FLK N1-6, FLK NN2-3, and DK. All of these are from Bed I, the lowermost sedimentary stratum exposed at Olduvai Gorge, dated by a variety of radiometric methods to approximately 1.85–1.75 million years ago. Using both detailed zooarchaeological methods in the analysis of macromammalian (predominately bovid) remains and novel taphonomic frameworks for their interpretation, the current investigations explore whether early hominins at Olduvai Gorge were active hunters and the extent to which archaeologically recovered ‘sites' reflect ‘central places' or ‘home bases' that were the focal points for food-sharing and other social activities.