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Expanded geographic distribution and dietary strategies of the earliest Oldowan hominins and Paranthropus

Lookup NU author(s): Isabella Caricola

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Abstract

The oldest Oldowan tool sites, from around 2.6 million years ago, have previously been confined to Ethiopia's Afar Triangle. We describe sites at Nyayanga, Kenya, dated to 3.032 to 2.581 million years ago and expand this distribution by over 1300 kilometers. Furthermore, we found two hippopotamid butchery sites associated with mosaic vegetation and a C4 grazer-dominated fauna. Tool flaking proficiency was comparable with that of younger Oldowan assemblages, but pounding activities were more common. Tool use-wear and bone damage indicate plant and animal tissue processing. Paranthropus sp. teeth, the first from southwestern Kenya, possessed carbon isotopic values indicative of a diet rich in C4 foods. We argue that the earliest Oldowan was more widespread than previously known, used to process diverse foods including megafauna, and associated with Paranthropus from its onset.


Publication metadata

Author(s): Plummer TW, Oliver JS, Finestone EM, Ditchfield PW, Bishop LC, Blumenthal SA, Lemorini C, Caricola I, Bailey SE, Herries AIR, Parkinson JA, Whitfield E, Hertel F, Kinyanjui RN, Vincent TH, Li Y, Louys J, Frost SR, Braun DR, Reeves JS, Early EDG, Onyango B, Lamela-Lopez R, Forrest FL, He H, Lane TP, Frouin M, Nomade S, Wilson EP, Bartilol SK, Rotich NK, Potts R

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Science

Year: 2023

Volume: 379

Issue: 6632

Pages: 561-566

Print publication date: 10/02/2023

Online publication date: 09/02/2023

Acceptance date: 04/01/2023

ISSN (print): 0036-8075

ISSN (electronic): 1095-9203

Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science

URL: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo7452

DOI: 10.1126/science.abo7452

PubMed id: 36758076


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