Rhonda L. Quinn

3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya

Human evolutionary scholars have long supposed that the earliest stone tools were made by the genus Homo and that this technological development was directly linked to climate change and the spread of savannah grasslands. New fieldwork in West Turkana, Kenya, has identified evidence of much earlier hominin technological behaviour. We report the discovery of Lomekwi 3, a 3.3-million-year-old archaeological site where in situ stone artefacts occur in spatiotemporal association with Pliocene hominin fossils in a wooded palaeoenvironment. The Lomekwi 3 knappers, with a developing understanding of stone’s fracture properties, combined core reduction with battering activities. Given the implications of the Lomekwi 3 assemblage for models aiming to converge environmental change, hominin evolution and technological origins, we propose for it the name ‘Lomekwian’, which predates the Oldowan by 700,000 years and marks a new beginning to the known archaeological record.

An earlier origin for the Acheulian

The Acheulian is one of the first defined prehistoric techno-complexes and is characterized by shaped bifacial stone tools. It probably originated in Africa, spreading to Europe and Asia perhaps as early as ∼1 million years (Myr) ago. The origin of the Acheulian is thought to have closely coincided with major changes in human brain evolution, allowing for further technological developments. Nonetheless, the emergence of the Acheulian remains unclear because well-dated sites older than 1.4 Myr ago are scarce. Here we report on the lithic assemblage and geological context for the Kokiselei 4 archaeological site from the Nachukui formation (West Turkana, Kenya) that bears characteristic early Acheulian tools and pushes the first appearance datum for this stone-age technology back to 1.76 Myr ago. Moreover, 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 the Acheulian was either imported from another location yet to be identified or originated from Oldowan hominins at this vicinity. In either case, the Acheulian did not accompany the first human dispersal from Africa despite being available at the time. This may indicate that multiple groups of hominins distinguished by separate stone-tool-making behaviours and dispersal strategies coexisted in Africa at 1.76 Myr ago.

Pedogenic carbonate stable isotopic evidence for wooded habitat preference of early Pleistocene tool makers in the Turkana Basin.

The origin and evolution of early Pleistocene hominin lithic technologies in Africa occurred within the context of savanna grassland ecosystems. The Nachukui Formation of the Turkana Basin in northern Kenya, containing Oldowan and Acheulean tool assemblages and fossil evidence for early members of Homo and Paranthropus, provides an extensive spatial and temporal paleosol record of early Pleistocene savanna flora. Here we present new carbon isotopic (δ(13)CVPDB) values of pedogenic carbonates (68 nodules, 193 analyses) from the Nachukui Formation in order to characterize past vegetation structure and change through time. We compared three members (Kalochoro, Kaitio, and Natoo) at five locations spanning 2.4-1.4Ma and sampled in proximity to hominin archaeological and paleontological sites. Our results indicate diverse habitats showing a mosaic pattern of vegetation cover at each location yet demonstrate grassland expansion through time influenced by paleogeography. Kalochoro floodplains occurred adjacent to large river systems, and paleosols show evidence of C3 woodlands averaging 46-50% woody cover. Kaitio habitats were located along smaller rivers and lake margins. Paleosols yielded evidence for reduced portions of woody vegetation averaging 34-37% woody cover. Natoo environments had the highest percentage of grasslands averaging 21% woody cover near a diminishing Lake Turkana precursor. We also compared paleosol δ(13)CVPDB values of lithic archaeological sites with paleosol δ(13)CVPDB values of all environments available to hominins at 2.4-1.4Ma in the Nachukui and Koobi Fora Formations. Grassy environments became more widespread during this interval; woody canopy cover mean percentages steadily decreased by 12%. However, significantly more wooded savanna habitats were present in the vicinity of lithic archaeological sites and did not mirror the basin-wide trend of grassland spread. Hominin lithic archaeological sites consistently demonstrated woody cover circa 40% throughout our study interval and were 4-12% more woody than coeval basin environs. We propose that Turkana Basin early tool makers may have preferred a more wooded portion of the savanna ecosystem to reduce heat stress and to gain differential access to potable water, raw materials, animal carcasses, and edible plants.

Small-Bodied Humans from Palau, Micronesia

Newly discovered fossil assemblages of small bodied Homo sapiens from Palau, Micronesia possess characters thought to be taxonomically primitive for the genus Homo. Background Recent surface collection and test excavation in limestone caves in the rock islands of Palau, Micronesia, has produced a sizeable sample of human skeletal remains dating roughly between 940-2890 cal ybp. Principle Findings Preliminary analysis indicates that this material is important for two reasons. First, individuals from the older time horizons are small in body size even relative to “pygmoid” populations from Southeast Asia and Indonesia, and thus may represent a marked case of human insular dwarfism. Second, while possessing a number of derived features that align them with Homo sapiens, the human remains from Palau also exhibit several skeletal traits that are considered to be primitive for the genus Homo. Significance These features may be previously unrecognized developmental correlates of small body size and, if so, they may have important implications for interpreting the taxonomic affinities of fossil specimens of Homo.

Stratigraphy, correlation, and age estimates for fossils from Area 123, Koobi Fora

Geological data from the Bura Hasuma region at Koobi Fora provide important constraints for estimating the ages of hominin fossils recovered there, including the cranium KNM-ER 1813. Strata of the upper Burgi, KBS, and Okote members in this part of Koobi Fora reflect three depositional regimes driven by changing paleogeography through time. The upper Burgi and lowermost KBS sequence in the southern Bura Hasuma region accumulated in a lacustrine to delta front setting, with highly localized depositional patterns, limiting the lateral extent of lithostratigraphic markers. Farther north, uppermost upper Burgi through KBS member strata document a fluctuating lake margin, with complex facies patterns. This interval is marked by laterally extensive lithostratigraphic markers, including molluscan packstones, beach sandstones, and stromatolite beds. The uppermost KBS and Okote members show a transition to dominantly fluvial character, with localized and discontinuous accumulation. An age model for the richly fossiliferous Area 123 sequence demonstrates the complexity of terrestrial accumulation patterns. Early lacustrine and delta front accumulation is marked by fairly continuous sedimentation, and high accumulation rates (up to ca. 91 cm/k.yr.). The fluctuating lake margin interval reflects lower sedimentation rates coupled with intervals of exposure, decreasing accumulation significantly (to ca. 13 cm/k.yr.). The capping fluvial interval is marked by significant erosion surfaces, breaks which may drop the overall accumulation rate even lower (ca. 0.3 cm/k.yr.). The data provided here establish a geological framework at odds with a recent proposal of ages considerably younger (by ca. 250 k.yr.) for many of the fossils from Area 123 and elsewhere. Tests of age models demonstrate that the younger ages are not possible. While minor refinements to age estimates for fossils are indicated by improved chronostratigraphic control, in the case of KNM-ER 1813, an age of younger than 1.78 Ma is precluded on magnetostratigraphic grounds.

Waitui Kei Vanua: Interpreting Sea- and Land-Based Foodways in Fiji

We outline a method that both incorporates quantitative and qualitative elements and positions ethnoarchaeological analogy at the center of analysis and interpretation. Exploring ethnographic analogs provides models that assist in the articulation of disparate data, such as paleoethnobotanical and zooarchaeological remains, and frameworks for interpretation of stable isotopic results. Our approach is meaning-focused, with the goal of understanding the social life of people in the past through their foodways. This method is illustrated with data from Jones’ ethnoarchaeological research in Fiji’s Lau Island Group and Quinn’s laboratory-based stable isotope analysis of human bone. We argue that food and customs associated with eating are mechanisms for the definition and maintenance of meaningful social structures and cultural identities that are accessible to archaeologists through interdisciplinary approaches. In this case study, we reconstruct a holistic view of subsistence and foodways using zooarchaeological and stable isotopic data, interpreted through a framework of ethnoarchaeological analogs.

Influence of Plio-Pleistocene basin hydrology on the Turkana hominin enamel carbonate δ18O values

Stable oxygen isotopes of hominin enamel carbonate (δ(18)OEC) provide a window into aspects of past drinking behavior and diet, body size, breastfeeding and weaning, mobility, and paleoclimate. It is tempting to compare all hominins across time and space in order to gauge species-level adaptations to changing environments and niche separation between those living sympatrically. Basinal, sub-basinal, and micro-environmental differences, however, may exert an influence on variation in enamel carbonate isotopic values that must be reconciled before hominin species across Africa can be meaningfully compared. Plio-Pleistocene Turkana hominin δ(18)OEC values show a considerable spread, potentially revealing many intrinsic and extrinsic contributing factors operating on different scales. In this study, I examine Turkana hominin δ(18)OEC values relative to identity (taxon, tooth type and number, body size of taxon), dietary (δ(13)C value, Turkana coeval and modern mammalian δ(18)OEC values), and contextual (time, depositional environment) information of each specimen and collection locality and discuss various potential influences. Turkana hominin δ(18)OEC values may primarily reflect differences in imbibed water sources (lake vs. river) as a function of evolving basin hydrology.

Deconstructing the Savanna Hypothesis

Human Origins and Environmental Backgrounds is a compendium text for any advanced student of human origins and evolution. Bipedalism is the common thread, and the volume is a current, thorough, and diverse treatise on the origins and expressions of this key hominin adaptation. At the end of every chapter, the bibliographies are comprehensive, and thus, each is one of the main contributions of the book. I envision a beginning graduate student benefiting from the wide array of topics covered, and delving further into the cited literature. The book is dedicated to Hidemi Ishida, and the first paper celebrates his 40 years of study and research on primate anatomy and evolution. The remaining papers are partitioned into three distinct, but interrelated sections: fossil hominoids and paleoenvironments, functional morphology, and theoretical approaches. The first section reviews aspects of Miocene–Pleistocene hominoid morphology and contexts of fossil locations. Tuttle, in the first paper, aptly synthesizes seven decades of research from widespread sources. The second section includes experimental studies of living mammals, from rats to chimps. The last section endeavors to bridge the fossil record and functional aspects of hominins within a paleoenvironmental framework, which is presented as the aim of the book as evident by the title. Undoubtedly, there are many pathways between hominin morphologies and the environments in which they arose and evolved. Unraveling these pathways requires several levels of analysis beginning with the rock record. Sawada et al. provide the underlying structure to Miocene hominoid environments, succinctly integrating stratigraphy, facies interpretations, and new dates. Nakaya and Tsujikawa flesh out this geological framework with faunal community compositions. Gommery and Blue et al. provide an even higher level of environmental inference with their respective approaches on locomotor repertoires of Miocene and Pliocene primates. This first section demonstrates the seemingly disparate lines of evidence necessary to begin to understand the complexities of reconstructing past ecosystems and, in my opinion, would have benefited from additional papers. Do not judge this book solely by its title as there are insightful and detailed studies of positional behavior garnered from primate and other mammalian experimental studies in the second section. I particularly enjoyed Jouffroy andMedina’s comparative approach to the size and arrangement of gluteus maximus and its involvement in human cross-cultural foraging activities. The inclusion of functional morphoJ Mammal Evol (2009) 16:75–76 DOI 10.1007/s10914-008-9095-5