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New excavations at the FLK Zinjanthropus site and its surrounding landscape and their behavioral implications |
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| Authors: | M Domínguez-Rodrigo HT Bunn AZP Mabulla GM Ashley F Diez-Martin D Barboni ME Prendergast J Yravedra R Barba A Snchez E Baquedano TR Pickering |
| Institution: | a IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), Museo de los Orígenes, Plaza de San Andrés 2, 28005 Madrid, Spain;b Department of Prehistory, Complutense University, Prof. Aranguren s/n, 28040 Madrid, Spain;c Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706, USA;d Archaeology Unit, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, P.O. Box 35050, Tanzania;e Department of Geological Sciences, Rutgers University, 610 Taylor Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA;f Department of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Plaza del Campus s/n, 47011 Valladolid, Spain;g CEREGE (UMR6635 CNRS/Université Aix-Marseille), BP80, F-13545 Aix-en-Provence cedex 4, France;h Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA;i Catalonian Institute of Paleontology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Cerdanyola, Spain;j Museo Arqueológico Regional, Plaza de las Bernardas s/n, 28801 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain;k Institute for Human Evolution, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa |
| Abstract: | Renewed excavations at FLK Zinj and its surrounding landscape have yielded valuable information regarding its paleoecological situation and the prehistoric behavioral function of the site. The density of materials at the main cluster of the site excavated by Leakey contrasts with the bone and lithic scatters surrounding the site. The location of FLK Zinj, situated a few hundred meters away from a freshwater spring, would have enabled hominins access to water, plants and game. The appeal of the spot for hominins (also explained by the presence of a wooded habitat) is confirmed by inferences of its redundant use prior and during the formation of the FLK Zinj paleosol, as witnessed by materials accumulated both under and on the waxy clay deposit that constitutes the FLK Zinj stratum. The single-cluster nature of the site indicates central-place behavior and evidence is provided that hominins occupied the site at a time of very low predation hazards in the area. |
| Keywords: | Olduvai Gorge Landscape archaeology Palaeoecology Site formation Taphonomy |
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