TY - JOUR
T1 - Expanded geographic distribution and dietary strategies of the earliest Oldowan hominins and Paranthropus
AU - Plummer, Thomas W.
AU - Oliver, James S.
AU - Finestone, Emma M.
AU - Ditchfield, Peter W.
AU - Bishop, Laura C.
AU - Blumenthal, Scott A.
AU - Lemorini, Cristina
AU - Caricola, Isabella
AU - Bailey, Shara E.
AU - Herries, Andy I.R.
AU - Parkinson, Jennifer A.
AU - Whitfield, Elizabeth
AU - Hertel, Fritz
AU - Kinyanjui, Rahab N.
AU - Vincent, Thomas H.
AU - Li, Youjuan
AU - Louys, Julien
AU - Frost, Stephen R.
AU - Braun, David R.
AU - Reeves, Jonathan S.
AU - Early, Emily D.G.
AU - Onyango, Blasto
AU - Lamela-Lopez, Raquel
AU - Forrest, Frances L.
AU - He, Huaiyu
AU - Lane, Timothy P.
AU - Frouin, Marine
AU - Nomade, Sébastien
AU - Wilson, Evan P.
AU - Bartilol, Simion K.
AU - Rotich, Nelson Kiprono
AU - Potts, Richard
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding from the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation (award 35805), the National Science Foundation (award 1327047), the Wenner-Gren Foundation (award 9428), and the Professional Staff Congress City University of New York Research Award Program (award 60589-00 48) to T.P., and funding from the William H. Donner Foundation and the Peter Buck Fund for Human Origins Research to R.P., is gratefully acknowledged.
Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2023 the authors, some rights reserved.
PY - 2023/2/10
Y1 - 2023/2/10
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.abo7452
DO - 10.1126/science.abo7452
M3 - Article
C2 - 36758076
AN - SCOPUS:85147786684
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 379
SP - 561
EP - 566
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6632
ER -