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Fingerprinting of quartzitic outcrops at Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania
Abstract
The African Early Stone Age record, including that of Oldupai Gorge, reveals widespread evidence for hominin exploitation of quartzose lithic raw materials such as quartzite. However, few studies have sought to characterize these rock types grounded on the assumption that they are not amenable for provenance studies. Through the use of macroscopic, petrographic, and EDXRF analysis, we characterize source material from five quartzitic outcrops belonging to the Mozambique Belt adjacent to Oldupai Gorge. Our results show that certain macroscopic varieties strictly occur at some outcrops while petrographic analyses – which will be strengthened by a greater sample size – reveal that accessory minerals may be outcrop-specific. Statistical analyses of the geochemical data through linear correlations, Kruskal-Wallis tests, PCA, and DFA show that there are inter- and intra-outcrop differences, and elemental concentrations specific of certain outcrops. This multi-scalar approach provides a reproducible classificatory framework for additional characterization studies and archaeological testing at Oldupai to shed light on hominin palaeoenvironmental exploitation and palaeoecological behavior.
... La génesis del material puede ser sedimentaria o metamórfica (Skolnick, 1965;Howard, 2005). Los trabajos que se han acercado desde perspectivas geoarqueológicas a esta realidad en contextos arqueológicos han caracterizado "cuarcitas" de origen sedimentario y metamórfico, aunque también rocas ígneas o cuarzos (Santamaría et al., 2010;Blomme et al., 2012;Pitblado et al., 2012;Veldeman et al., 2012;Cnudde et al., 2013;Dalpra y Pitblado, 2016;Roy et al., 2017;Prieto et al., 2019a;2019b;Favreau et al., 2020;Martínez y Valero, 2020;Soto et al., 2020). En la Figura 2 se muestran algunos ejemplos de cuarcitas analizadas en diferentes proyectos en los últimos años (Prieto 2018;Herrero-Alonso et al. 2020b). ...
... Las potencialidades y objetivos de análisis parten de las conclusiones derivadas de los estudios de materias primas aplicados al sílex (y la obsidiana), pero también plantean nuevas líneas de trabajo mediante un enfoque inductivo y que se aplica a un objeto de estudio diferente. De forma similar, el estudio de otras materias primas líticas en diferentes partes del mundo está abriendo nuevas hipótesis con la entender la materialidad arqueológica y que muestran la adquisición de los recursos líticos desde perspectivas similares (e. g., Pitblado et al., 2012;McHenry y de la Torre, 2018;Favreau et al., 2020;Soto et al., 2020;Orange et al., 2021) o netamente diferentes (e.g., Straus et al., 1986;Sternke et al., 2009;Schimdt y Mackay, 2016;Roy et al., 2017;Vaquero y Alonso-Fernández, 2020) a las abiertas por los sílex. Entre otros, la caracterización específica de sus huellas de uso, la selección en contextos agregados de determinadas rocas o tipos específicos, la adaptación técnica a diferentes litologías, la visibilidad arqueológica de determinados comportamientos técnicos en diferentes rocas y minerales o la preparación de rocas mediante tratamiento térmico, entre otros (e.g., Arrizabalaga y Tarriño, 2010;Knutsson, 2014;Knutsson et al., 2016;Pedergnana et al. 2016;Schmidt y Mackay, 2016;Fernández-Eraso et al., 2017;Groucutt et al., 2017;Daffara et al., 2018;McHenry y de la Torre, 2018;Abrunhosa et al., 2019;Kot et al., 2020;de Lombera-Hermida, 2020). ...
... Finalmente, la creación de un equipo o grupo de trabajo transnacional que se agrupe en torno a la cuarcita (entendida en cada zona) marcaría una estrategia clara y agruparía investigadoras de diferentes partes del mundo en torno a esta materia prima. En estos momentos son muchos lugares donde las cuarcitas son relevantes en el registro arqueológico y que están permitiendo y permitirán acercarnos a las ideas, los comportamientos o las modificaciones de una materia prima relevante en la Prehistoria (e.g., Pitblado et al., 2012;Veldeman et al., 2012;Prieto et al., 2019b;Soto et al., 2020;Minet et al., 2021). ...
CAST: La cuarcita es la segunda materia prima lítica en importancia cuantitativa en la Región Cantábrica a lo largo del Paleolítico. A pesar de ello, su estudio desde perspectivas geoarqueológicas no ha sido habitual en los últimos 30 años de investigaciones prehistóricas. Por el contrario, en estas tres décadas, el análisis del sílex en la Península Ibérica y el resto de Europa ha crecido enormemente en términos metodológicos e interpretativos, apoyado por un amplio volumen de datos adquiridos en torno a esta materia prima en yacimientos arqueológicos y potenciales fuentes de esta roca. El trabajo que presentamos tiene por objetivo la reivindicación de la investigación de la segunda materia prima lítica en importancia cuantitativa y cualitativa en la Región Cantábrica: la cuarcita. Para ello, (1) reflexionaremos acerca de la aplicación al objeto de estudio de un discurso basado en la otredad o alteridad, (2) mostraremos una metodología transdisciplinar y multifocal al análisis de la cuarcita, (3) sintetizaremos los trabajos publicados en los últimos años en diversos foros científicos internacionales, primando las conclusiones que en términos metodológicos y también humanos se derivan del análisis de la cuarcita, y, (4) plantearemos nuevos horizontes para avanzar en el conocimiento de esta roca y materia prima y cómo las humanas prehistóricas la adquirían, movilizaban y gestionaban. Para la realización de esta síntesis, plasmaremos las metodologías utilizadas y los resultados obtenidos de los valles del Deva y Cares, en particular en los yacimientos de El Habario, El Arteu y el El Esquilleu (Nivel-XXII).
... One of our goals was to determine the feasibility of sourcing lithic artifacts based on their mineralogy (cf. Soto et al., 2020a). Rock samples were collected in primary and secondary positions from 10 outcrops within the greater Oldupai region. ...
... Most notably, research at Oldupai has been ongoing for over a century (Kent, 1978;Leakey, 1978;Hay, 1990), quartzite artifacts are ubiquitous (Leakey, 1971;Leakey and Roe, 1994), quartzite is of assumed importance based on experimental studies (Diez-Martín et al., 2011;de la Torre et al., 2013;Gurtov and Eren, 2014;Yustos et al., 2015;Byrne et al., 2016), and certain quartzitic outcrops have played a central role in discussions about hominin behavior in the Oldupai paleobasin (Leakey, 1971;Hay, 1976;Tactikos, 2005;Blumenschine et al., 2008). We previously developed a multi-scalar approach to characterize quartzites from different outcrops near Oldupai (Soto et al., 2020a), which integrates macroscopic properties, petrographic features, and chemical compositional data. In this study, we seek to provide detailed petrographic descriptions of lithologies in the Oldupai region and establish the prospects of sourcing stone tools based on petrographic data. ...
... We conducted a macroscopic description of our samples as part of our multi-scalar characterization of raw materials (Soto et al., 2020a). Recorded criteria included morphology, Munsell color, grain size, texture, gloss, transparency, mineral composition, impurities, post-depositional alterations, and foliation. ...
Oldupai Gorge is located within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Tanzania along the western margin of the East African Rift System. Oldupai's sedimentary record contains inter-stratified stone tool industries associated with the Earlier, Middle, and Later Stone Age. While diachronic technological change is perceptible, the totality of locally available rocks remained largely unchanged through time. Here, thin section petrography, Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, and Electron Probe Micro Analysis were employed to characterize source lithologies in the Oldupai region. One of our goals was to determine if outcrops have rock types with unique mineral assemblages amenable for sourcing lithic artifacts. Petrographic analysis of 62 lithologic samples collected in primary and secondary positions reveal discriminatory differences. More precisely, five outcrops have quartzites with unique mineral assemblages, five outcrops have meta-granites with unique mineral assemblages, Engelosin phonolite samples are texturally and mineralogically unique, and magmatic samples recovered in secondary position may be sourced to their volcanic center. Our results demonstrate it is feasible to discriminate source materials using mineralogy, which implies that sourcing lithic artifacts is possible. For proof of concept, we assign the source/s of previously described fuchsitic quartzite artifacts from three archaeological sites at Oldupai to two nearby outcrops. Additional archaeological testing will allow researchers to glean new understandings of hominin behavior and stone procurement in the Oldupai paleobasin.
... archeological assemblages. While not unwarranted, the preconception that homogeneous quartz-rich lithologies are not amenable for sourcing dismisses a valuable proxy to better understand hominin paleoecological behavior (Favreau 2019;Favreau et al. 2019;McHenry and de la Torre 2018;Prieto et al. 2019;Soto et al. 2020;Tactikos 2005;ten Bruggencate et al. 2013). ...
... Seeking to address this bias, we designed a characterization program for multiple raw material sources in the Oldupai region, including quartzite-bearing outcrops, using a combination of macroscopic, petrographic, and geochemical techniques. Previous results have indicated that Naibor Soit quartzites possess unique geochemical and petrographic identifiers thereby opening up possibilities of sourcing artifacts on this raw material (Favreau 2019;Favreau et al. 2019;Soto et al. 2020). ...
... Afterwards, samples were classified into twelve previously defined raw material groups (RMG) based on color, morphology, grain size, texture, transparency, gloss, and mineral composition derived from complementary thin section analysis Soto et al. 2020). ...
Despite the common exploitation of quartzites as raw materials during the African Stone Age, petrographic and geochemical characterization studies have been rarely undertaken. The Naibor Soit outcrop at Oldupai Gorge (Tanzania), considered the main source for quartzite procurement in the area, probably represents the exception to this analytical scarcity. Previous studies have determined variability among quartzites and the existence of singular mineral assemblages and geochemical compositions. In this study, we present the first systematic survey and EDXRF characterization of 86 samples from the two inselbergs that conform Naibor Soit. Samples are classified into nine macroscopic varieties and are mineralogically composed of quartz, muscovite, occasional hematite, rutile, magnetite, anhydrite, and fuchsite. Geochemical analyses, which include previously published data, confirm the existence of inter-/intra-outcrop variability and suggest compositional similarities among some areas of both inselbergs. Our study contributes compositional data and elevated predictive values for future archeological sourcing studies at Oldupai. Our results emphasize the necessity of systematic surveying and sampling to fully understand raw material variability and the factors that may have influenced their selection and exploitation.
... One of our goals was to determine the feasibility of sourcing lithic artifacts based on their mineralogy (cf. Soto et al., 2020a). Rock samples were collected in primary and secondary positions from 10 outcrops within the greater Oldupai region. ...
... Most notably, research at Oldupai has been ongoing for over a century (Kent, 1978;Leakey, 1978;Hay, 1990), quartzite artifacts are ubiquitous (Leakey, 1971;Leakey and Roe, 1994), quartzite is of assumed importance based on experimental studies (Diez-Martín et al., 2011;de la Torre et al., 2013;Gurtov and Eren, 2014;Yustos et al., 2015;Byrne et al., 2016), and certain quartzitic outcrops have played a central role in discussions about hominin behavior in the Oldupai paleobasin (Leakey, 1971;Hay, 1976;Tactikos, 2005;Blumenschine et al., 2008). We previously developed a multi-scalar approach to characterize quartzites from different outcrops near Oldupai (Soto et al., 2020a), which integrates macroscopic properties, petrographic features, and chemical compositional data. In this study, we seek to provide detailed petrographic descriptions of lithologies in the Oldupai region and establish the prospects of sourcing stone tools based on petrographic data. ...
... We conducted a macroscopic description of our samples as part of our multi-scalar characterization of raw materials (Soto et al., 2020a). Recorded criteria included morphology, Munsell color, grain size, texture, gloss, transparency, mineral composition, impurities, post-depositional alterations, and foliation. ...
Oldupai Gorge is located within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in northern Tanzania along the western margin of the East African Rift System. Oldupai’s sedimentary record exhibits a complex sequence of inter-stratified lithic assemblages associated with the Early, Middle, and Later Stone Age. While diachronic technological change is perceptible, the totality of locally available rocks remained largely unchanged through time. Here, thin section petrography, Scanning Electron Microscopy-Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy, and Electron Probe Micro Analysis were employed to characterize source lithologies in the Oldupai region. One of our goals was to determine if outcrops have rock types with unique mineral compositions amenable for sourcing lithic artifacts. Geological samples were collected in primary and secondary positions, from which sixty-two samples were selected for analysis. Comparative analyses show that five outcrops have quartzites with unique mineral compositions, seven meta-granite varieties are unique to five individual outcrops, Engelosin phonolite samples are texturally and mineralogically unique, and magmatic samples recovered in secondary position may be sourced to their volcanic center. Our results demonstrate it is feasible to differentiate between source materials using optical mineralogy which implies that sourcing lithic artifacts based on mineral compositions is possible. This is further substantiated by assigning the source/s for previously described fuchsitic quartzite artifacts from three archaeological sites at Oldupai as this raw material type uniquely occurs at two nearby outcrops. Systematic archaeological testing will allow future researchers to glean new understandings of hominin behavior and resource procurement within the Oldupai paleobasin.
... Chavaillon, 1970;Leakey, 1971). However, far less energy has been devoted to source these and other commonly exploited siliceous raw materials under the assumption that they are unsourceable at any given spatial scale for three principal reasons: (1) elevated silica concentrations can muffle out unique elemental patterns; (2) metamorphic and sedimentary rocks generally display greater elemental variation than volcanic lithologies; and (3) metamorphic and sedimentary outcrops tend to cover larger areas than volcanoes and lava flows (Ebright, 1987;Favreau et al., 2020;Klein and Dutrow, 2008;Soto et al., 2020a). One can also point to the palimpsestic nature of the palaeoanthropological record as a contributing factor to the lack of systematic raw material studies. ...
... To this day, the combination of macroscopic and petrographic techniques has proven useful to delineate similarities and differences among sources in the area (e.g. Favreau et al., 2020;Soto et al., 2020a). Petrography has also allowed researchers to discriminate regional volcanic centres and lava flows in a variety of geological settings, including Oldupai Gorge, to establish the feasibility of lithic sourcing (e.g. ...
Eastern Africa's Plio-Pleistocene palaeoanthropological record has shaped our understanding of human biological and cultural evolution. Over the years, raw material sourcing has emerged as an important research topic in lithic analysis as it can allow for the identification of resource extraction points and transport distances as a means to infer other aspects of hominin behaviour that are of high evolutionary significance. The goal of this article is to review and synthesise the aims, methods, challenges, and knowledge on raw material sourcing from Plio-Pleistocene contexts in Eastern Africa. Beginning with a review of the Oldowan and Acheulean records, four over-arching patterns are identified based on evidence from 130 localities. First, hominin toolmakers regularly exerted selective criteria when choosing raw materials by way of opportunistic and more specialised procurement strategies. Second, the fragmentation of technological activities across the palaeolandscape emerged as a behavioural characteristic among Oldowan toolmakers before the first appearance datum of the Acheulean. Third, hominins across Eastern Africa preferentially utilised igneous rock types followed by metamorphic and sedimentary lithologies mirroring the regional lithostratigraphy. Finally, Acheulean toolmakers largely mimicked their Oldowan counterparts in terms of raw material provisioning until the late Early Pleistocene, when they began to engage in qualitatively different behaviour best evidenced by stone transport over longer distances.
This state of archaeological knowledge serves as the basis to then review the theoretical and methodological underpinnings of raw material sourcing followed by interpretive challenges. On a fundamental level, the identification of raw material sources is contingent on the implementation of a systematic sequence of analysis in which the resulting data abide to the provenance postulate. This serves to preface a devoted section on the array of analytical methods that can be successfully employed by archaeologists to source raw materials. Proven and innovative methods are identified by bringing into dialogue key factors such as accuracy, precision, reproducibility, discriminatory power, sensitivity, destructiveness, throughput, cost, ease, and the question of spatial scale. According to cost-benefit considerations, analytical methods that fall under the umbrella of geochemical fingerprinting are found to generally outperform macroscopic and petrographic techniques. It is also argued that characterising non-obsidian lithologies is best accomplished using more than one analytical method, with the understanding that once positive baseline results are obtained subsequent testing can be narrowed down from a methodological standpoint. Regardless of the characterisation method, it is imperative to implement effective means to analyse the resulting data, which constitutes this article's penultimate section. Ranging from traditional graphical data representations to multivariate statistics and emerging branches of artificial intelligence, there are countless means through which characteristic source signals can be identified regardless of rock type. The final section reviews common interpretive challenges when studying raw material provisioning in deep time. While the concepts of mobility, time-averaging, recycling, source differentiation, and selection criteria each present unique challenges, it is argued that they can be reasonably overcome by way of multidisciplinary evidence. Ultimately, it is found that the future of raw material sourcing from Plio-Pleistocene contexts in Eastern Africa is promising given what is currently known along with the subfield's robust foundations.
... The lithic assemblages registered at Olduvai Gorge show a certain heterogeneity of raw materials related with the variety of lithological resources present in the area. Considering this wide range of raw materials available, studies about their location and, especially, their characterization (macroscopic, petrological and geochemical analysis) have been a topic of interest since the 1950 0 s (Pickering, 1958;Leakey, 1971;Hay, 1976;Mollel, 2007;Mollel et al., 2008Mollel et al., , 2009Mollel and Swisher, 2012;McHenry and de la Torre, 2018;Favreau et al., 2019;Soto et al., 2020). The particular case of Bed II presents a petrological characterization of the Acheulean lithic industry with the main raw materials used being Naibor Soit quartzites (NQ) (ca. ...
... Geological studies about the origin of these raw materials indicate that they came from two main sources: a) the belt of volcanoes that runs east and south of the area, being an important source of multiple VR which were available in secondary contexts near the site (volcanic lavas, phonolites, trachytes, rhyolites, and ignimbrites) (Pickering, 1958;Leakey, 1971;Hay, 1976;Mollel et al., 2007Mollel et al., , 2008Mollel et al., , 2009Mollel et al., , 2011Mollel and Swisher, 2012;McHenry and de la Torre, 2018;Favreau et al., 2019); and b) the Precambrian inselbergs of metamorphic rocks, with a great variety of quartzite and quartz rocks (Pickering, 1958;Leakey, 1971;Stiles et al., 1974;Hay, 1976;Favreau et al., 2019;Soto et al., 2020). According with geochemical analyses made on these raw materials, alongside technological studies (Leakey, 1971(Leakey, , 1994(Leakey, , 1994de la Torre, 2006;de la Torre and Mora, 2018;Díez-Martín et al. 2010Santonja et al. 2014Santonja et al. , 2018Santonja et al. , 2018; Rubio-Jara et al., 2017), it has been possible to determine raw material provisioning strategies. ...
Probably, one of the biggest questions about the Acheulean is focused on the functional aspects of its lithic industry and, more specifically, its link to subsistence activities developed by hominins during the Early Stone Age. Historically, tecno-functional research on ESA techno-complex has focused on the role played by flakes and LCT in the processing of animal carcasses, but less attention has been payed to other possible activities related with subsistence and tool making. Previous traceological studies on African Lower Paleolithic lithic industries have shown the complexity of activities made with the earliest lithic tools, including not only the processing of animal carcasses, but also activities dedicated to processing wood, non-woody plants and underground storage organs (USOs). In this paper we present the use-wear results obtained from the analysis of the Early Acheulean lithic tools with potentially functional edges which are part of the lithic assemblage from the Thiongo Korongo archaeological site (TK) (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania). The three main levels of the archaeological site, TKSF, TKLSC and TKLF, have been used as samples. From 466 lithic artefacts analyzed, 16 pieces present sufficient preservation of use related traces that are able to clearly identify the activities developed when compared with experimental reference collections. As a result, we have identified activities mainly related with the cutting and scraping of wood and non-woody plants, including USOs. In addition, some pieces have also presented traces indicating the processing of animal carcasses. These data provides important information about different activities developed in TK by early hominids, allowing us to make broader inferences about the different subsistence activities carried out during the Acheulean in Eastern Africa.
... Several pieces of research in Europe (e.g., Daffara et al. 2019, Mathias et al. 2020Prieto et al. 2019b), Asia (e.g., Groucutt et al. 2017) and Africa (e.g., McHenry & de la Torre. 2018; Soto et al. 2020) acknowledge the value of the so-call "alternative" raw material than flint during the Palaeolithic. In each of these different areas, the representation and importance of the "alternative raw materials" compared with flint differ from places and periods due to the geology of each area, the dispersion, the accessibility, the natural formats and the quality of their potential raw material, but also due to the different human adaptive or cultural behaviours. ...
... The understanding of these factors can only be approached, first, through the identification on the assemblages of these raw materials and the validation of these rocks as potential artefacts (Knutsson 2014) and, second, through characterisation of these rocks using geoarchaeological protocols. In this way, we can understand the specific economic and social organisation around quartzites and other "alternative" raw materials (Daffara et al. 2019;Groucutt et al. 2017;McHenry & de la Torre 2018;Prieto et al. 2019b;Soto et al. 2020). ...
The increase, in quantitative and qualitative terms, of research attending to the geological nature of rocks found in archaeological contexts is changing our perspectives about social and economic territories articulated by Palaeolithic societies in the Cantabrian Region. Practically the only raw material researched in a solid geoarchaeological approach in this area is flint. This paper addresses how the near absence of in-depth geoarchaeological research into raw materials other than flint is modifying our perception of the procurement and management mechanism of raw material in the Cantabrian Region during the Palaeolithic.
To consider this matter in depth, we present the bibliographic and quantitative analysis of 30 representative archaeological sites from the Cantabrian Region whose assemblages were described lithologically using basic and primary categories. The state of play depicts a geographic distribution of raw material in the Cantabrian Region where quartzite is associated with the western sector and flint with the east. Interconnected with this axis, there is a chronological tendency that promotes standardisation in the use of flint by Palaeolithic societies following a chronological order, from the older to the more recent periods. This information, and its contextualisation with the new perspectives resulting from the application of the geoarchaeological proposal used to understand flint procurement, allows us to understand the general tendencies of raw material distribution of the region. Especially, we can detect how the absence of geoarchaeological methodologies of other raw materials than flint has modified the perception of the economic and social dynamics articulated around raw material by Palaeolithic people. This bias does not only affect the geographical and chronological axes, emphasising information from the regions and periods where flint is represented, but also promotes the over-interpretation of long-distance procurement, therefore, building up narratives exclusively based on human mobility.
This situation has generated an incomplete and unbalanced picture of the procurement and management strategies followed by Palaeolithic societies because quartzite, the second most-often used lithic raw material, and other raw materials have only been studied using geoarchaeological methods within the last few years. This research finally points to the continuation of in-depth research of quartzite and other raw materials as the next steps to re-interpret the current paradigms about procurement and management of raw material by Palaeolithic societies, and, therefore, modify our perspectives of social and economic territories.
... Concentration estimates were normalised according to the USGS RGM-2 reference standard using Min-Max scaling, with each value rescaled to range [0, 1]. The same analytical conditions and data treatment methods were implemented for quartzite geological samples (n = 125) from five outcrops, which constitute the reference collection used for comparative analyses 51,52 . Data exploration and Linear Discriminant Analysis of the normalised chemical data were performed in RStudio using 14 packages 51,52 . ...
... The same analytical conditions and data treatment methods were implemented for quartzite geological samples (n = 125) from five outcrops, which constitute the reference collection used for comparative analyses 51,52 . Data exploration and Linear Discriminant Analysis of the normalised chemical data were performed in RStudio using 14 packages 51,52 . ...
Rapid environmental change is a catalyst for human evolution, driving dietary innovations, habitat diversification, and dispersal. However, there is a dearth of information to assess hominin adaptions to changing physiography during key evolutionary stages such as the early Pleistocene. Here we report a multiproxy dataset from Ewass Oldupa, in the Western Plio-Pleistocene rift basin of Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai), Tanzania, to address this lacuna and offer an ecological perspective on human adaptability two million years ago. Oldupai’s earliest hominins sequentially inhabited the floodplains of sinuous channels, then river-influenced contexts, which now comprises the oldest palaeolake setting documented regionally. Early Oldowan tools reveal a homogenous technology to utilise diverse, rapidly changing environments that ranged from fern meadows to woodland mosaics, naturally burned landscapes, to lakeside woodland/palm groves as well as hyper-xeric steppes. Hominins periodically used emerging landscapes and disturbance biomes multiple times over 235,000 years, thus predating by more than 180,000 years the earliest known hominins and Oldowan industries from the Eastern side of the basin.
... MobiLithics focuses on the analysis of procurement and management strategies of lithic resources as key archaeometric proxies to evaluate human adaptability. The main pillars of the project are the geospatial study on the location, distribution, and abundance of the available lithic resources, and the petrographic, mineralogical, and geochemical analyses of the archaeological lithic assemblages [15], [16]. This will lead to determine the patterns of variability in the palaeoeconomic behaviours across time and territorial boundaries, as tangible adaptive responses on a global scale. ...
MobiLithics is a multiscalar project aimed at characterizing the lithic resources exploitation and territorial adaptive responses among the last Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens to different climatic, cultural, and biological dynamics. The project focuses on the Middle-to-Later Stone Age, in North Africa, and the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic Transition in the Mediterranean basin of the Iberian Peninsula, as key scenarios for the origin and expansion of our species. Results on geospatial modelling, petrographic and geochemical analyses, and multivariate statistics and predictive models determine the variability on resource procurement and territorial structure. These will contribute to the international debate on the adaptability of our species to different palaeoenvironments, sociocultural realities, and changing climatic conditions.
... A palaeoanthropological project that recognises such issues is Stone Tools, Diet, and Sociality (SDS), a palaeoanthropological partnership between environmental specialists, biologists, geologists, social scientists, and palaeoanthropologists from institutions located in numerous countries. SDS's interdisciplinary collaborations are producing myriad new insights that are vital for understanding humanity's emergence (Favreau 2019;Mercader et al., 2018a;Mercader et al., 2018b;Mercader et al., 2019;Soto et al., 2019;Soto et al., 2020a;Soto et al., 2020b;Tucker 2018;Tucker et al., 2020). Furthermore, SDS aspires to curb the history of neocolonial research at Oldupai by collaborating with the local Maasai, and Maasai peoples shared in such desires for collaboration. ...
While palaeoanthropologists have travelled to Tanzania’s renowned human origins site of Oldupai Gorge for over a century, lasting collaboration has yet to be established with the Maasai pastoralists who inhabit the area. This paper uses actor-network-theory and the concept of enactment to compare palaeoanthropological and Maasai livelihoods and to explore why collaboration has been infrequent. Here we show that both groups’ subsistence strategies had to effectively navigate large political-economic contexts. To support their respective livelihoods, scientists and locals expertly acquired resources in non-scientific and non-pastoral worlds. Both Maasai peoples and researchers created and multiplied reality and ontologies by enacting composite – yet conflicting – versions of hybrid drought. The exigencies associated with palaeoanthropological and Maasai subsistence have hindered meaningful collaboration between the groups, despite the fact that members of both dug in the Gorge to address drought. While the legitimisation of scientific ontologies is ultimately well-intentioned, Maasai drought unfortunately remains unaddressed.
... The uniformity of raw materials at Amanzi Springs provides a natural control in comparing knapping skill through time. Yet quartzite lithologies are known to vary considerably across regions and geological formations (Dalpra & Pitblado, 2016;Prieto et al., 2019;Soto et al., 2020). The PFS has undergone significant metamorphosis during the compression and folding events that produced the Cape Fold Belt, followed by erosion during the splitting up of Gondwana land. ...
Tracing the acquisition of knapping skill in the Acheulian technocomplex is complicated by incomplete records of lithic production. Some studies have turned attention to examining knapping errors as a means of identifying signatures of toolmaking expertise in the deep past. Such insights have recently been applied to handaxes from the Area 1 spring eye at Amanzi Springs, which have suggested this locality functioned as a Large Cutting Tool workshop. Here we extend our analysis to handaxes from the Surfaces 2/3 (∼530–480 ka), Surface 1, and Cutting 5 (<480–408 ka) excavation areas within the Area 2 spring eye, which focuses on the development and frequency of step and hinge fractures and the management of cross-sectional shape. We identify differences in both the flaking strategies and the mitigation of knapping errors that demonstrate a gradual adaptation to local quartzite raw material and the acquisition of technological skill through time.
... The primary objectives are to characterize the mineralogical composition of geological samples of rocks and archaeological lithics and to attempt to describe specific mineralogical components that could aid future provenance analysis. Previous investigations demonstrated the feasibility of petrographic analysis to discriminate characteristic mineral components for the sourcing of stone tools (Soto, Gómez de Soler, and Vallverdú 2018;Soto et al. 2020;Favreau et al. 2020;Prieto, Yusta, and Arrizabalaga 2020). Our results contribute to the in-depth study of raw material variability in the IAMC of Kazakhstan and will serve as a referential framework for research on both raw material provenance and on ancient hominin economic strategies. ...
Reconstructing hominin raw material utilization patterns comprises one of the
fundamental objectives of prehistoric archaeology. Lithic raw materials have been
widely used as markers of hominin behaviour and subsequently used to study
procurement strategies, mobility, and even cognitive developments. On this basis, my
PhD project adopted a multi-disciplinary approach to the analysis of lithic raw materials
and their potential relationship with habitual activities of hominins.
In Paper I, the first geoarchaeological field survey to study the lithic raw material
distribution within the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor of Kazakhstan was conducted.
Geological specimens of various lithologies were macroscopically compared to the
archaeological lithic assemblages. The results revealed that raw material utilization
varied between study regions, which are separated by almost 1000 km.
In the framework of an ongoing multi-disciplinary project, I analyzed the collected
samples from geological and archaeological contexts by the application of engineering
tests to address questions surrounding the lithic raw material quality (Paper II). The
selected samples of chert, shale, and porphyry from three different regions of
Kazakhstan were studied by means of objective tests. This is done to study one aspect
of their mechanical properties, the fracture resistance, a value that is closely related to
fracture toughness. The results suggest that materials previously considered of lower
quality (e.g., porphyry) have mechanical properties that can be compared to chert.
Ultimately, I discussed the effect of mechanical properties of porphyry in regard to the
lithic technology illustrating its suitability for the production of sophisticated tools.
Paper III provides the first petrographic characterization of various raw materials
utilized in the Palaeolithic complexes of Kazakhstan and discusses the raw material
procurement strategies based on field survey results and a comprehensive literature
review. The petrographic analysis revealed structural variation within various chert
samples collected in the Qaratau region and lays a foundation for future provenance
studies of these materials. In addition, the field survey results suggest direct selective
procurement strategies at Maibulaq.
Overall, the current PhD dissertation has attempted to reconstruct the technological
choices and procurement strategies of hominins groups based on multi-disciplinary
methodological approaches published in three separate papers.
... La amplia variabilidad textural del cuarzo a veces puede llevar a confusiones en la nomenclatura o, incluso, en la adscripción de los artefactos a un grupo de materia prima. Un ejemplo de ello son las cuarcitas de Naibor Soit utilizadas en los yacimientos de la cuenca de Olduvai e indistintamente calificadas en los trabajos bien como cuarcitas, bien como cuarzos (Díez-Martín et al., 2011;Favreau et al., 2020;Proffitt & de la Torre, 2014;Soto et al., 2020). ...
El enfoque procesual desarrollado durante las últimas décadas en los estudios líticos ha permitido superar el supuesto carácter "arcaico" de los conjuntos en cuarzo. El progresivo abandono de las clasificaciones exclusivamente tipológicas y las innovaciones metodológicas han posibilitado sobrepasar la apariencia informal de los artefactos de cuarzo y la definición de las estrategias tecnológicas que rigen la gestión de este recurso por parte de las sociedades prehistóricas. Aspectos sobre la movilidad de los artefactos en cuarzo, la caracterización mecánica y petrográfica, la variabilidad tecnológica de los conjuntos, la funcionalidad de los artefactos en cuarzo y su significado social y simbólico ofrecen una visión completa sobre las sociedades del pasado.
... The primary objectives are to characterize the mineralogical composition of geological samples of rocks and archaeological lithics and to attempt to describe specific mineralogical components that could aid future provenance analysis. Previous investigations demonstrated the feasibility of petrographic analysis to discriminate characteristic mineral components for the sourcing of stone tools (Soto, Gómez de Soler, and Vallverdú 2018;Favreau et al. 2020;Prieto, Yusta, and Arrizabalaga 2020;Soto et al. 2020). Our results contribute to the indepth study of raw material variability in the IAMC of Kazakhstan and will serve as a referential framework for research on both raw material provenance and on ancient hominin economic strategies. ...
Only a handful of stratified sites are known in loess, spring, and river contexts in the northern piedmonts of the Tian Shan, and the majority are dated to the Upper Palaeolithic. These sites have been studied from a geoarchaeological perspective; however, lithic procurement activities remain unknown. To address this deficiency, we present the results of the extensive field surveys aimed at locating prehistoric raw material sources in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor of Kazakhstan. We also provide a detailed petrographic description of the lithologies exploited during the Palaeolithic of Kazakhstan. Based on the field survey results, combined with petrographic data, we conclude that the direct procurement strategy was the most common at the stratified sites. However, evidence of both direct and embedded procurement is found in the northern piedmonts of the Ili Alatau range at the site of Maibulaq. Additionally, we highlight the variation of chert lithologies within the larger Qaratau region, laying a foundation for future provenance studies.
... The primary objectives are to characterize the mineralogical composition of geological samples of rocks and archaeological lithics and to attempt to describe specific mineralogical components that could aid future provenance analysis. Previous investigations demonstrated the feasibility of petrographic analysis to discriminate characteristic mineral components for the sourcing of stone tools (Soto, Gómez de Soler, and Vallverdú 2018;Favreau et al. 2020;Prieto, Yusta, and Arrizabalaga 2020;Soto et al. 2020). Our results contribute to the indepth study of raw material variability in the IAMC of Kazakhstan and will serve as a referential framework for research on both raw material provenance and on ancient hominin economic strategies. ...
Only a handful of stratified sites are known in loess, spring, and river contexts in the northern piedmonts of the Tian Shan, and the majority are dated to the Upper Palaeolithic. These sites have been studied from a geoarchaeological perspective, however, lithic procurement activities remain unknown. To address this deficiency, we present the results of the extensive field surveys aimed at locating prehistoric raw material sources in the Inner Asian Mountain Corridor of Kazakhstan. We also provide a detailed petrographic description of the lithologies exploited during the Palaeolithic of Kazakhstan. Based on the field survey results, combined with petrographic data, we conclude that the direct procurement strategy was the most common at the stratified sites. However, evidence of both direct and embedded procurement is found in the northern piedmonts of the Ili Alatau range at the site of Maibulaq. Additionally, we highlight the variation of chert lithologies within the larger Qaratau region, laying a foundation for future provenance studies.
... Quartzite, the second most-often utilized raw material in the Cantabrian Paleolithic, has only been systematically analyzed in the last few years (Blomme et al., 2012;Cnudde et al., 2013;Dalpra & Pitblado, 2016;Pedergnana et al., 2017;Prieto, Yusta, & Arrizabalaga, 2019;Prieto et al., 2020;Soto et al., 2020;Veldeman et al., 2012). These studies define and characterize quartzite from geoarchaeological perspectives, including both metamorphic and sedimentary siliceous rocks, thus expanding the range of raw material studied by archaeologists. ...
Raw material characterization in Paleolithic archaeology has widened our knowledge of Middle Paleolithic societies. Procurement of raw material, specifically flint, has allowed the tracing of the mobility of both stones and people, as well as selective processes to obtain specific types or even extraction activities. The analysis of quartzite has also developed in recent years, providing an opportunity to better understand prehistoric societies. This study characterizes the procurement strategies implemented by Middle Paleolithic people in the mountainous region of the Picos de Europa. To this end, we present a comprehensive characterization of potential catchment areas: massive outcrops, conglomerates, and river deposits. The exploitation of quartzite at the sites of El Habario and El Arteu allows us to understand the territorial management of this mountainous area through the combination of selective processes and mobility mechanisms in lower and middle altitudes. These perspectives enable us to view the mountainous region not as a barrier but as an environmental mosaic managed by Middle Paleolithic groups. This study shows strategies that bring together direct and embedded procurement based on both intensive and extensive searches. These discourses are more closely related to the daily life of people than those only considering the mobility of people and objects.
... However, in this part of the lake basin the Naisiusiu metamorphic rock outcrop, only one kilometer to the southwest (Fig. 1B) and streams flowing from it (Fig. 13) would have provided a major supply of raw materials (quartzite, less pegmatite, orthogneiss) more readily for hominin usage (Table 4). This derivation is consistent with the close proximity of the quartzitic source at Naisiusiu Hill (Hay, 1976), the reported occurrence of biotite-bearing quartzites exclusive to Naisiusiu Soto et al., 2020), and the known distance-from-source effects on the raw material composition of Oldowan assemblages from the Olduvai Gorge (Blumenschine et al., , 2009). The few porphyritic trachytic artifacts found in the assemblage are most probably sourced from Ngorongoro-related volcanic effusives (Table 4), such as the 2.2e2.8 ...
Previously, Olduvai Bed I excavations revealed Oldowan assemblages <1.85 Ma, mainly in the eastern gorge. New western gorge excavations locate a much older ~2.0 Ma assemblage between the Coarse Feldspar Crystal Tuff (~2.015 Ma) and Tuff IA (~1.98 Ma) of Lower Bed I, predating the oldest eastern gorge DK assemblage below Tuff IB by ~150 kyr. We characterize this newly discovered fossil and artifact
assemblage, adding information on landscape and hominin resource use during the ~2.3-2.0 Ma period, scarce in Oldowan sites. Assemblage lithics and bones, lithofacies boundaries, and phytolith samples were surveyed and mapped. Sedimentological facies analysis, tephrostratigraphic and sequence stratigraphic principles were applied to reconstruct paleoenvironments and sedimentary processes of sandy claystone (lake), sandstone (fluvial), and sandy diamictite (debris flow) as principal lithofacies. Artifacts,
sized, weighed, categorized, were examined for petrography, retouch, and flake scar size. Taxonomic classifications and taphonomic descriptions of faunal remains were made, and phytoliths were categorized based on reference collections. Lithics are dominantly quartzite, mainly debitage and less frequently simple cores, retouched pieces, and percussors. Well-rounded spheroids and retouched flakes
are rare. Identifiable taxa, Ceratotherium cf. simum (white rhinoceros) and Equus cf. oldowayensis (extinct zebra), accord with nearby open savanna grasslands, inferred from C3 grass, mixed and/or alternating
with C4 grass-dominated phytolith assemblages. Palms, sedges, and dicots were also identified from phytoliths. Diatoms and sponge spicules imply nearby freshwater. The assemblage accumulated at the
toe of a Ngorongoro Volcano-sourced fan-delta apron of stacked debris flows, fluvials, and tuffs, preserving fossil tree stumps and wooded grassland phytoliths farther upfan. It formed after the climax of Ngorongoro volcanic activity during a Paleolake Olduvai lowstand and was then buried and preserved by lacustrine clays, marking the first of two lake transgressions, signifying wetter climates. Orbital precessional lake cycles were superposed upon multimillennial (~4.9 kyr) lake fluctuations.
Flaked stone (lithic) artifacts are a ubiquitous cultural material at Pleistocene sites and first appear in the archaeological record 3.3 million years ago (Ma) in East Africa. The African stone artifact record thus covers the longest time span of human prehistory compared to other regions. Lithic artifacts preserve well, and they are often the only cultural materials remaining at a site. Archaeologists have therefore dedicated considerable effort to describing stone artifacts and to developing theory to interpret them in light of hominin behavioral and biological evolution. In this contribution, we briefly describe the major lithic technologies that appeared in Africa during the Pleistocene. Additionally, this chapter reviews the common analytical approaches that researchers employ when studying lithic assemblages from diverse contexts. We then discuss how archaeologists have used lithic artifacts to interpret other aspects of hominin evolution and the issues that confound these interpretations.
The major raw material documented in the archeological sites of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) is a geological material with crystalline appearance, white or colorless, foliated or seemingly massive only at the outcrop scale, with a very high quartz-rich composition, and apparently of metamorphic origin, named by us in this paper: Crystalline Quartz-rich Raw Material (CQRM). Since the early days of research in Olduvai Gorge, a long-lasting terminological imprecision has allowed defining this material in a confused way as quartz or quartzite. Stubbornness in terminological imprecision reflects the complexity and specificity of CQRM related to a protracted and complex geological history composed by quartz-bearing metamorphic rocks of varied types and origins from recycling and/or tectonic reworking of much older Precambrian orogens and cratons. Currently the term quartzite is preferred by most researchers, despite being materials that have an appearance macro- and microscopic similar to quartz and show a response to fracture mechanics, and cutting-edge functional response is closer to quartz. In our view, it is crucial to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the CQRM from the structural, metamorphic, and petrological perspectives. Bearing this in mind, the main objective of the present study is to build a robust and conclusive petrological background that will enable an accurate identification and classification of this quartz-rich mineral resource. This geological material should be identified as “quartz.” The most diagnostic features supporting this interpretation can be summarized as some of the microstructural relics identified concur undoubtedly with a hydrothermal origin of the quartz and the recognition of special deformational structures at macro and micro scale point to tectono-metamorphic overprint of the hydrothermal quartz under granulite-facies conditions during the Panafrican orogenesis about 640 Ma ago.
The major raw material documented in the archaeological sites of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) is a geological material with crystalline appearance, white or colorless, foliated or seemingly massive only at the outcrop scale, with a very high quartz-rich composition, and apparently bearing a metamorphic origin (CQRM). Since the early days of research in Olduvai Gorge, a long-lasting terminological imprecision has allowed defining this material in a confused way as quartz or quartzite. Stubbornness in terminological imprecision reflects the complexity and specificity of CQRM related to a protracted and complex geological history composed by quartz-bearing metamorphic rocks of varied types and origins from recycling and/or tectonic reworking of much older Precambrian orogens and cratons. Currently the term quartzite is preferred by most researchers, despite being materials that have an appearance macro and microscopic similar to quartz and show a response to fracture mechanics and cutting-edge functional response is closer to quartz. In our view it is crucial to undertake a comprehensive analysis of the CQRM from the structural, metamorphic and petrological perspectives. Bearing this in mind, the main objective of the present study is to build a robust and conclusive background that will enable an accurate identification and classification of this quartz-rich mineral resource. This geological material should be identified as “Quartz” and he most diagnostic features supporting this interpretation can be summarized as: some of the microstructural relics identified concur undoubtedly with a hydrothermal origin, and the recognition of special deformational structures/microstructures point to tectono-metamorphic processes under granulite-facies conditions.
The similarity of quarry stone with rapakivi stone of two buildings was assessed based on a 9-element fingerprint. The aim of the present case study was to assess the similarity between stones in buildings: the Kotka City Hall and the Orthodox Church of Kotka, and rocks in three Finnish quarries: Heponiemi, Jumalniemi and Metsola. Similarity assessment of building stones is necessary for effective and aesthetically-appropriate reconstruction. In the case of old buildings with stones of unknown origin, data on stone source quarries may have been lost over time. The present tool proposes a methodology to determine the most similar-to-the-origin stone and quarry for use in cultural heritage restoration. The tool in this study utilizes in-situ chemical analyses of the rock surface measured using a portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument together with modelling of the stone using multivariate statistical approaches (modified Soft Independent Modelling by Class Analogy, SIMCA) and machine learning (Naive Bayes Classification, NBC) to determine the fingerprint of the stone in the building and assess its similarity to quarry rock data. The proposed methodology for identification of stone origin was utilised in a case study of rapakivi from the Kotka area in Finland.
The Oldowan represents the earliest recurrent evidence of human material culture and one of the longest-lasting forms of technology. Its appearance across the African continent amid the Plio-Pleistocene profound ecological transformations, and posterior dispersal throughout the Old World is at the foundation of hominin technological dependence. However, uncertainties exist concerning the degree to which the Oldowan constitutes an environment-driven behavioral adaptation. Moreover, it is necessary to understand how Oldowan technology varied through time in response to hominin ecological demands. In this study, we present the stone tool assemblage from Ewass Oldupa, a recently discovered archeological site that signals the earliest hominin occupation of Oldupai Gorge (formerly Olduvai) ∼2.03 Ma. At Ewass Oldupa, hominins underwent marked environmental shifts over the course of a ∼200 kyr period. In this article, we deployed an analysis that combines technological and typological descriptions with an innovative quantitative approach, the Volumetric Reconstruction Method. Our results indicate that hominins overcame major ecological challenges while relying on technological strategies that remained essentially unchanged. This highlights the Oldowan efficiency, as its basic set of technological traits was able to sustain hominins throughout multiple environments.
More than 2 million years ago in East Africa, the earliest hominin stone tools evolved amidst changes in resource base, with pounding technology playing a key role in this adaptive process. Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai) is a famed locality that remains paramount for the study of human evolution, also yielding some of the oldest battering tools in the world. However, direct evidence of the resources processed with these technologies is lacking entirely. One way to obtain this evidence is through the analysis of surviving residues. Yet, linking residues with past processing activities is not simple. In the case of plant exploitation, this link can only be established by assessing site-based reference collections inclusive of both anthropogenic and natural residues as a necessary first step and comparative starting point. In this paper, we assess microbotanical remains from rock clasts sourced at the same quarry utilized by Oldowan hominins at Oldupai Gorge. We mapped this signal and analysed it quantitatively to classify its spatial distribution objectively, extracting proxies for taxonomic identification and further comparison with freestanding soils. In addition, we used blanks to manufacture pounding tools for blind, controlled replication of plant processing. We discovered that stone blanks are in fact environmental reservoirs in which plant remains are trapped by lithobionts, preserved as hardened accretions. Tool use, on the other hand, creates residue clusters; however, their spatial distribution can be discriminated from purely natural assemblages by the georeferencing of residues and statistical analysis of resulting patterns. To conclude, we provide a protocol for best practice and a workflow that has the advantage of overcoming environmental noise, reducing the risk of false positive, delivering a firm understanding of residues as polygenic mixtures, a reliable use of controls, and most importantly, a stronger link between microbotanical remains and stone tool use.
MNK Skull is one of the most significant archaeological sites in Olduvai Gorge, particularly due to the previous discovery of human fossils referred to in the paper where the Homo habilis taxon was originally defined. An important archaeological assemblage is contained in the same horizon as the hominin fossils, constituting the last evidence of both Homo habilis remains and handaxe-free tool kits in the Olduvai Gorge sequence. Our excavations at the site are the first to be conducted since the original work in the 1960s, and sought to refine the archaeological context wherein the Homo habilis remains were discovered. Chronostratigraphic results place the MNK Skull sequence in Middle Bed II prior to deposition of Tuff IIB. The assemblage was deposited near the shoreline, as Palaeolake Olduvai withdrew into the basinal depocentre, and fossils and stone tools were subjected to significant post-depositional processes. The assemblage was affected by mudflow deposits that buried and preserved the assemblage but also entrained surficial bone and lithic elements into the flow. Rather than an occupation site as originally interpreted, the assemblage is better understood as a background deposit, possibly accumulated on an unconformity surface over a long period of time. The stone tool assemblage is typical of the Oldowan, with no technological elements announcing the appearance of the Acheulean, which is well attested to across the Olduvai sequence in post-Tuff IIB times. Our results highlight that, with an approximate age of circa 1.67 Ma, MNK Skull stands as a key site to understand the late Oldowan and the disappearance of Homo habilis in East Africa.
Environmental change is key for human evolution, especially at times of anatomical and behavioral change in life histories, such as the origin of meat consumption, economic diversification, and dispersal. However, for the earliest phase of human evolution featuring the technology-dependent hominins that shaped our lineage since 2.6 Ma, the Oldowan, there is a dearth of archaeological evidence directly associated with rich chronostratigraphic and environmental datasets amenable to tracking ecological change and adaptation to new physiographic conditions. One place where this type of information has been recently retrieved is the Western Plio-Pleistocene rift basin of Olduvai Gorge (now Oldupai), Tanzania. We explore habitat range by Oldowan-bearing hominins amidst extremely diverse ecosystems throughout a stratified sequence 235 ka-long, thus predating by >180 ka the earliest landmark fossil hominins and classic Oldowan from the Eastern side of the basin. Our study provides multi-proxy evidence of environmental adaptability, demonstrating colonisation of fresh volcanic landscapes and occupation of fast-changing biomes by 2 Ma.
Quartzite was the second most-often used lithic raw material in Europe in the Palaeolithic. However, this rock has not been characterized fully from the geo-archaeological point of view. This study characterizes, defines and determines types of quartzite in northern Spain through a methodology that integrates petrography, digital image processing and X-ray fluorescence. As a methodological foundation for the characterization of the material, it aims to open the possibility of discovering mechanisms of mobility, selection and management of quartzite by prehistoric societies. The types determined, based on the petrogenesis of the material, enable a better understanding of the archaeological sites of El Arteu and El Habario in the context of northern Spain in the Middle Palaeolithic.
Note: If you are interested in the full article and it is not possible to obtain a copy from the web site of the journal, do not hesitate in contact with me.
This book describes the interrelationship between the spectacular geology of an area of East Africa that includes a branch of the rift valley, as well as giant freestanding ice-capped mountains and extraordinarily toxic, alkaline lakes, and some of the greatest concentrations of wildlife on Earth. It suggests that geological processes that have shaped the iconic landforms, including active volcanoes, may also be responsible for the unusually diverse speciation which characterises the region. Moreover, it is not a coincidence that important palaeoanthropological discoveries have been unearthed in the region. National parks and conservation areas have tremendous potential for geotourism and the book assists both tour guides and visitors in this regard. In addition, the book may provide a better understanding to management of the importance of geology for sustaining wildlife.
This review paper presents a series of time reconstruction maps of the ‘East African Rift System’ (‘EARS’), illustrating the progressive development of fault trends, subsidence, volcanism and topography. These maps build on previous basin specific interpretations and integrate released data from recent petroleum drilling. N–S trending EARS rifting commenced in the petroliferous South Lokichar Basin of northern Kenya in the Late Eocene to Oligocene, though there seem to be few further deep rifts of this age other than those immediately adjoining it. At various times during the Mid-Late Miocene, a series of small rifts and depressions formed between Ethiopia and Malawi, heralding the main regional rift subsidence phase and further rift propagation in the Plio-Pleistocene. A wide variation is thus seen in the ages of initiation of EARS basins, though the majority of fault activity, structural growth, subsidence, and associated uplift of East Africa seem to have occurred in the last 5–9 Ma, and particularly in the last 1–2 Ma. These perceptions are key to our understanding of the influence of the diverse tectonic histories on the petroleum prospectivity of undrilled basins.
Granite plutons that intruded south of lake Victoria and north of the Geita Greenstone Belt have geochemical
characteristics similar to high-K granites. When compared to the late high-K granites from the
Musoma–Mara region, they have lower SiO2 content and higher TiO2, Al2O3, CaO, Na2O, P2O5, MgO and
FeOt. They also show higher values for V, Sr, Zr, Ba and Hf concentrations. All samples display high total REE
abundances (�REE 139–393) and weak to moderate Eu depletion (Eu/Eu*: 0.25–0.77). Their chondritenormalized
pattern indicates that the light REE are moderately fractionated (3.03 < Lan/Smn < 6.24),
whereas the heavy REE are weakly fractionated (1.63 < Gdn/Ybn < 2.80). The granite plutons are generally
undeformed with 207Pb/206Pb ages between 2660 and 2620 Ma, and intruded after the main ductile
deformation that affected the Geita Greenstone Belt. The 176Hf/177Hf ratios for zircons from all samples
are identical within error suggesting evolution from an isotopically uniform reservoir. The εHf values plot
along the CHUR evolution line indicating that the granite represents juvenile crustal melts derived from
greenstone material.
Available zircon ages from the Tanzania Craton suggest that crustal growth occurred in three distinct
periods, 2850–2800 Ma, 2770–2730 Ma and 2700–2620 Ma, with the dominant period of crustal growth
around 2700 Ma. Zircon ages from the Sukumaland and Musoma–Mara Greenstone Belts indicate that
the greenstone sequences formed during the same three periods of crustal growth.
© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The East African Orogen, extending from southern Israel, Sinai and Jordan in the north to Mozambique and
Madagascar in the south, is the world´ s largest Neoproterozoic to Cambrian orogenic complex. It comprises a
collage of individual oceanic domains and continental fragments between the Archean Sahara–Congo–Kalahari
Cratons in the west and Neoproterozoic India in the east. Orogen consolidation was achieved during distinct
phases of orogeny between �850 and 550 Ma. The northern part of the orogen, the Arabian–Nubian Shield,
is predominantly juvenile Neoproterozoic crust that formed in and adjacent to the Mozambique Ocean. The
ocean closed during a protracted period of island-arc and microcontinent accretion between �850 and
620 Ma. To the south of the Arabian Nubian Shield, the Eastern Granulite–Cabo Delgado Nappe Complex of
southern Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique was an extended crust that formed adjacent to theMozambique
Ocean and experienced a �650–620Ma granulite-facies metamorphism. Completion of the nappe assembly
around 620Ma is defined as the East African Orogeny and was related to closure of the Mozambique Ocean.
Oceans persisted after 620 Ma between East Antarctica, India, southern parts of the Congo–Tanzania–Bangweulu
Cratons and the Zimbabwe–Kalahari Craton. They closed during the �600–500Ma Kuungan or Malagasy
Orogeny, a tectonothermal event that affected large portions of southern Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique,
Madagascar and Antarctica. The East African and Kuungan Orogenies were followed by phases of
post-orogenic extension. Early �600–550 Ma extension is recorded in the Arabian–Nubian Shield and the Eastern
Granulite–Cabo Delgado Nappe Complex. Later �550–480 Ma extension affected Mozambique and southern
Madagascar. Both extension phases, although diachronous,are interpreted as the result of lithospheric
delamination. Along the strike of the East African Orogen, different geodynamic settings resulted in the evolution
of distinctly different orogen styles. The Arabian–Nubian Shield is an accretion-type orogen comprising a
stack of thin-skinned nappes resulting from the oblique convergence of bounding plates. The Eastern Granulite–
Cabo Delgado Nappe Complex is interpreted as a hot- to ultra-hot orogen that evolved from a formerly
extended crust. Low viscosity lower crust resisted one-sided subduction, instead a sagduction-type orogen
developed. The regions of Tanzania and Madagascar affected by the Kuungan Orogeny are considered a
Himalayan-type orogen composed of partly doubly thickened crust.
The lack of new gold discoveries in recent times has prompted suggestions that Tanzania is mature or approaching maturity, in terms of gold exploration. New tectonic-metallogenic subdivisions proposed in this study are used to explain gold-endowment, assess gold exploration maturity, and suggest the potential for new discoveries from the following three regions: 1) the Lake Victoria Region, comprising the gold-endowed East Lake Victoria and Lake Nyanza Superterranes of < 2.85 Ga greenschist-amphibolite facies granitoid-greenstone terranes in > 3.11 Ga continental crust. These superterranes are separated by the gold-poor, Mwanza-Lake Eyasi Superterrane, comprising deeply eroded and/or exhumed terranes of gneissic-granulite belts and widespread granitoid plutons; 2) the Central Tanzania Region, comprising the Moyowosi-Manyoni Superterrane, which is largely composed of granitoid and migmatitic-gneissic terranes, and the Dodoma Basement and Dodoma Schist Superterranes, these are underlain by extensive, > 3.2 Ga migmatitic-gneisses and granitoid belts with interspersed, relatively narrow, < 2.85 Ga greenschist-amphibolite facies greenstone and schist belts. The Central Tanzania Region also includes the East Ubendian-Mtera Superterrane, comprising the East Ubendian Terrane of predominantly Paleoproterozoic belts with cryptic Archean age components, and the ~ 2.85-3.0 Ga Isanga-Mtera Terrane of thrust-transported migmatitic ortho- and para-gneisses; and 3) Proterozoic Tanzania Regions, comprising various Archean terranes which were once sutured to the Tanzania Craton prior to later Proterozoic orogenic and tectonic events that separated them from the craton and thermally reworked them. These include the Archean Nyakahura-Burigi Terrane in the Northwestern Tanzania Proterozoic Orogen and the Kilindi-Handeni Superterrane in the Southern East African Orogen of Tanzania.
Wommersom and Tienen quartzite are found as varieties of lithified arenite banks within the Cenozoic Tienen Formation. These macroscopically distinct varieties were utilized as raw material for stone tool production during the Mesolithic period in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt area of northwest Europe. They were distributed over 80,000 km2 between the Paris and North Sea basins for over four millennia. This distribution has been interpreted by archaeologists as a long-distance exchange network. In this work, samples from both outcrops have been examined by different characterization methods with the aim to develop an operator-independent and objective method to determine the origin of a certain artifact.
Petrographical study revealed a distinct difference in grain size of both quartzites. However, considering the results of the petrographical analyses, it is clear that there is a difference between the accessory minerals that are more or less irregularly distributed in the samples. Cathodoluminescence (CL) revealed additionally information on the presence of feldspars and facilitated the recognition of minerals such as apatite, zircons and kyanite. X-ray tomography was used to obtain in a non-destructive way, a structural overview of the samples as well as a detailed 3D grain-size distribution of some accessory minerals. The latter is important given that these nondestructive techniques could be used for sourcing of other geological material as well as archeological artifact.
This work is a first step in the sourcing of different quartzite varieties to their different outcrop locations and their specific facies within the same geological formation. However, when characterizing artefacts for sourcing purposes, it will remain crucial to provide attention towards a possible level of heterogeneity inside these samples. In order to do this correctly, besides a characterization of the artefacts themselves, also a detailed analysis of the entire geological formation is needed.
Tracking raw material back to its extraction source is a crucial step for archaeologists when trying to deduce migration patterns and trade contacts in (pre-)history. Regarding stone artefacts, the main rock types encountered in the archaeological record of Belgium are hypersiliceous rocks. This is a newly introduced category of rock types comprising those rocks made of at least 90% silica. These are strongly silicified quartz sands or sedimentary quartzites, siliceous rocks of chemical and biochemical origin (e.g. flint), very pure metamorphic quartzites and siliceous volcanic rocks (e.g. obsidian). To be able to distinguish between different extraction sources, ongoing research was started to locate possible extraction sources of hypersiliceous rocks and to characterize rocks collected from these sources. Characterization of these hypersiliceous rocks is executed with the aid of optical polarizing microscopy, optical cold cathodoluminescence and scanning-electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive x-ray spectrometry and with back-scatter electron imaging. In this paper, we focus on various sedimentary quartzites of Paleogene stratigraphical level.
We apply a resource selection model to evaluate the importance of factors influencing raw material provisioning at a Middle Palaeolithic site, La Combette, located on the edge of the territory from which its raw materials came. The model was previously applied to another Middle Palaeolithic site, the Bau de l'Aubesier, which is more centrally located in the same region. La Combette is smaller and in easier terrain, and was used for short-term occupations such as hunting camps, so provisioning would therefore be expected to be strongly influenced by the quality of the raw material, and by the distance to the sources. In addition, the sourcing data for La Combette are less detailed than those available for the Bau, so this tests our model in a less-than-ideal case. The results show that our approach does work under these conditions. At La Combette, variables describing the terrain (distance
from the source, extent of the source area, difficulty of the terrain, etc.) are more important than those describing the raw material (quality and size of nodules available). Even in relatively easy terrain, distance is more important than quality when using a site on the periphery.
The lithic assemblages at the Oldowan-Acheulean transition in Bed II of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, represent a wide variety of raw materials reflecting both the diversity of volcanic, metamorphic, and sedimentary source materials available in the Olduvai basin and surroundings and the preferences of the tool-makers. A geochemical and petrographic systematic analysis of lava-derived archaeological stone tools, combined with textural and mineralogical characterization of quartzite, chert, and other metamorphic and sedimentary raw materials from two Middle and Upper Bed II sites, has enabled us to produce a comprehensive dataset and characterization of the rocks employed by Olduvai hominins, which is used here to establish a referential framework for future studies on Early Stone Age raw material provenancing. The use of rounded blanks for most lava-derived artifacts demonstrates that hominins were accessing lava in local stream channels. Most quartzite artifacts appear to derive from angular blocks, likely acquired at the source (predominantly Naibor Soit hill), though some do appear to be manufactured from stream-transported quartzite blanks. Raw material composition of the EF-HR assemblage indicates that Acheulean hominins selected high-quality lavas for the production of Large Cutting Tools. On the other hand, the HWK EE lithic assemblage suggests that raw material selectivity was not entirely based on rock texture, and other factors, such as blank shape and availability of natural angles suitable for flaking, played a major role in Oldowan reduction sequences.
Here is a new, second edition of a classical textbook in sedimentology, petrology, and petrography of sand and sandstones. It has been extensively revised and updated, including: new techniques and their utility; new literature; new illustrations; new, explicitly stated problems for the student; and a wider scope.
Archaeologists lack a protocol for systematically attributing quartzite artifacts to particular geologic sources of the material. This paper, in an effort to begin to remedy that situation, reports the preliminary results of a petrographic study of quartzite samples from the Upper Gunnison Basin (UGB), Colorado. In that region, the overwhelming predominance of quartzite (often > 90 per cent) at most archaeological sites has hampered efforts to ascertain with any certainty the mobility strategies of Paleoamerican (and later) residents. In this study, qualitative and quantitative characterization of texture and grain composition of 50 UGB quartzite specimens led to the identification of six statistically distinct groups of samples. The groups are not arbitrary divisions of the data set; rather, they are meaningful from geologic, geospatial, chronological, and human-behavioral perspectives.
This book provides comprehensive introductory text for the wide-ranging field of petrology. The section on igneous rocks is divided into 10 chapters covering: introduction to igneous environments; igneous minerals and textures; chemistry and classification of igneous rocks; crystallization of magmas; origin of magmas by melting on the mantle and crust; evolution of magmas - fractional crystallization and contamination; petrology of the mantle; igneous rocks of the oceanic lithosphere; igneous rocks of convergent margins; igneous rocks of continental lithosphere. The section on sedimentary rocks is comprised of 7 chapters covering: the occurrence of sedimentary rocks; weathering and soils; conglomerates and sandstones; diagenesis of sandstones; mudrocks; limestones and dolostones; other types of sedimentary rocks. The final section, on metamorphic rocks, contain 7 chapters covering; metamorphism and metamorphic rocks; isograds, metamorphic facies and P/T evolution; assemblages, reactions, and equilibrium; controls on metamorphic reactions; metamorphism of mafic and ultramafic rocks; metamorphism of aluminous clastic rocks; and metamorphism of calcareous rocks. Appendices cover CIPW norm calculations and methods of P/T determination.
Stone tool analysis relies on a strong background in analytical and methodological techniques. However, lithic technological analysis has not been well integrated with a theoretically-informed approach to understanding how humans procured, made, and used stone tools. Evolutionary theory has great potential to fill this gap. This collection of essays brings together several different evolutionary perspectives to demonstrate how lithic technological systems are a byproduct of human behavior. The essays cover a range of topics, including human behavioral ecology, cultural transmission, phylogenetic analysis, risk management, macroevolution, dual inheritance theory, cladistics, central place foraging, costly signaling, selection, drift, and various applications of evolutionary ecology.
The eastern rift of Africa is a zone of normal faults separating the Horn of Africa from the remainder of the continent. The zone is typically troughlike, 40 to 65 km wide, and traverses two broad, elongated domal uplifts in Ethiopia and Kenya.
The foundation rocks of the region are metasediments and intrusives of the late Precambrian orogenic belt, which has a meridional trend. The Paleozoic was dominantly an era of denudation in eastern Africa, but late Paleozoic continental sediments (Karroo System) are locally preserved. Mesozoic marine sediments represent an epicontinental marine transgression and regression. Severe coastal warping occurred along the Indian Ocean margin, and in the early Tertiary such warping initiated the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, and Afar depressions.
Uplift of the Ethiopian and Kenyan domes has been synchronous in three major pulses of late Eocene, mid-Miocene, and Plio-Pleistocene age. Volcanism of intermediate and silicic type shows some relation to uplift in time and space and to the onset of graben faulting, but major flood basalt extrusions in the early Tertiary in Ethiopia were related to massive crustal warping along the future rift margins. The volcanism associated with the eastern rift is overwhelmingly alkaline, and at some volcanoes a strongly alkaline fractionation series is distinguished from a more mildly alkaline series. The flood phonolites, trachytes, rhyolites, and ignimbrites of Kenya, and the pantelleritic ignimbrites of Ethiopia, could have resulted from anatexis of a mantle-derived accreted layer at the base of the crust.
The eastern rift began as a chain of marginally warped depressions which were accentuated as domal uplift proceeded, until, in mid-Miocene to early Pliocene times, faulting produced asymmetrical grabens. The final uplift phase in the early Pleistocene was accompanied by major graben faulting, and subsequent faulting has intensely fractured the floor of the rift along an axial zone marked by caldera volcanoes. The evolution and nature of the faulting, the evidence from the distribution and ages of volcanoes, and seismic and gravity data all indicate that the eastern rift lies along a zone of progressive crustal thinning with local crustal disruption.
The eastern rift can be considered as a plate boundary which meets the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden spreading axes at the Afar triple junction. Plate analysis suggests that the eastern rift marks a line of very slow crustal spreading, which helps account for many of the peculiar or unique features of this continental rift.
Between 1999 and 2000 a large experimental knapping programme was carried out at the early hominin site of Sterkfontein, South Africa. Its purpose was to assess aspects of the technology of lithic production found in the Oldowan and Acheulean deposits at the site. The data was used to inform technological analysis of the Sterkfontein stone tool assemblages. In the light of more recent research on raw material selection and transport at East African Oldowan sites, we report on the conclusions drawn from the analysis of the experimental cores to assess their contribution to understanding the influence of raw materials on knapping in the Oldowan and Acheulean at Sterkfontein. Hominins practised raw material selectivity and adapted their knapping strategies to fit clast shape and lithology. The experimental programme offered the opportunity to analyse some of the variables commonly involved in reconstructing lithic behaviour from artefacts and found, as with other studies reported elsewhere, that linear relationships based on one, or a few supposedly diagnostic variables do not stand up to scrutiny.
The Hata Member of the Bouri Formation is defined for Pliocene sedimentary outcrops in the Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia. The Hata Member is dated to 2.5 million years ago and has produced a new species of Australopithecus and hominid postcranial remains not currently assigned to species. Spatially associated zooarchaeological remains show that hominids acquired meat and marrow by 2.5 million years ago and that they are the near contemporary of Oldowan artifacts at nearby Gona. The combined evidence suggests that behavioral changes associated with lithic technology and enhanced carnivory may have been coincident with the emergence of the Homo clade fromAustralopithecus afarensis in eastern Africa.
Evidence of contact between cultural groups is of great importance to the study of prehistory. Although the development of absolute dating methods has decreased our dependence on the discovery of such contacts for chronology, they are essential material when the origin and spread of culture is being studied. In the past, cultural contacts have generally been demonstrated by typological similarities of artifacts, but unfortunately many typological comparisons are open to discussion, and it can be exceedingly difficult to be certain of direct contact by this means alone.
The importance in this respect of the study of raw materials used in places far from their place of origin and presumably deliberately imported has long been realized. Recently more attention has been paid to the careful characterization of such materials; the detection, that is, of properties of the specimen under study which are characteristic of material from particular sources. By this means it is often possible to assign a source to a given specimen. The petrological identification of British neolithic stone axes is perhaps the most comprehensive archaeological characterization study yet undertaken. Demonstrations of trading links made by such methods, if based on a sure identification and a comprehensive survey of possible sources, are not open to the criticism and doubt which may be directed at typological similarities. The variety of techniques now available for the analysis and identification of materials makes this field a promising one for the archaeologist.
Paleoarchaic (11.5-8.0 ka) occupants of the Great Basin encountered numerous lithic sources as they moved across foraging territories. Source provenance and lithic technologic analyses applied to the tools manufactured from these source materials elucidate several aspects of mobility, including the geographic scale of material conveyance and extent and possible routes of population movement. This research indicates that central Great Basin groups traversed large subsistence territories, extending more than 400 km from north to south, with mobility tactics probably keyed to the distribution of resource-rich wetlands. Changes in source representation parallel warming and drying trends, suggesting that Paleoarchaic foraging ranges shifted as wetlands diminished after about 9.5-8.5 ka. /// Los habitantes paleoarcaicos (11.500-8.000 a.p.) de la Gran Cuenca de los Estados Unidos encontraron numerosas fuentes líticas durante el recorrido de sus territorios de recolección. Los análisis tecnológicos y de proveniencia indican el uso de estas fuentes y además permiten elucidar algunos aspectos de mobilidad, incluyendo la escala geográfica del transporte de material y el alcance de las posibles rutas de movimiento de población. Esta investigación indica que los grupos de la Gran Cuenca central explotaron vastos territorios, de más de 400 km. de norte a sur, con tácticas de mobilidad enfocadas en la distribución de pantanos ricos en recursos. Cambios en el uso de ciertos materiales líticos coinciden con el desarrollo de un clima cálido y árido, sugiriendo que, a partir de 9.500-8.500 a.p., los habitantes paleoarcaicos modificaron sus territorios de recolección debido a la desecación de los pantanos.
At TK, 113 m2 were excavated in 2010–2012 in the two areas immediately adjacent to the trenches dug by M. Leakey in 1963. Extensive lithic and faunal assemblages were retrieved from several levels of the archaeological site. TK is located at the exposed top of Olduvai's Bed II, recently dated to 1.353 ± 0.035 Ma. From a geo-archaeological perspective, the stratigraphic studies have provided a redefinition of the processes involved in the site's formation.
This paper offers a geological interpretation that revises and amends previous ones. The new interpretation focuses particularly on the technological and paleoeconomic study of a new lithic assemblage recovered from the lower occupation level (TKLF). This assemblage comprises 5805 objects in total, including 3812 items of shatter. We analyse here the chaînes opératoires represented in this level, as well as the processes implied by the raw materials, management, maintenance and abandonment of the lithic assemblage.
The character of the site, as well as the activities carried out in it, have been greatly influenced by the proximity of the sources of the raw material primarily used, which could have been extracted from an inselberg of a particular type of quartzite located within a few hundred meters of the site. Two different chaînes opératoires can be identified in TKLF: one based on obtaining flakes from varied blanks, particularly volcanic rocks and the distinctive quartzite, and the second on the manufacture of large and highly standardized bifaces that were produced, used and abandoned in the site.
This book presents a series of recent enquiries into the technological and adaptive significance of Oldowan stone tools
We report the results of LA-ICP-MS analysis of 402 quartzite samples representing 48 collection loci in the Upper Gunnison Basin (UGB), Colorado and determine the extent to which the sources can be geochemically discriminated from one another using this non-destructive technique. The ability to differentiate among the sources would open the door to provenance studies of the quartzite chipped-stone tools and debitage that constitute 95% or more of most of the 3000-plus prehistoric site assemblages documented in the UGB. Our samples represent prehistorically quarried and non-quarried quartzite sources, including outcrop (primary) and gravel (secondary) deposits. The results reveal spatial and chronological trends in quartzite elemental composition that can be exploited for provenance determinations of quartzite artifacts from UGB sites, albeit using an assemblage-based sourcing strategy that differs from the familiar approach of “matching” obsidian artifacts to their statistically likeliest geological source. We offer a preliminary version of a sourcing protocol for UGB quartzite.
A review of past terminology and previous petrological studies suggests that quartzite should be classified descriptively as both a sedimentary and a metamorphic rock. Quartzite is identified in the field as a quartz-rich rock (exclusive of chert and vein quartz) that is exceptionally hard and, when broken by a rock hammer, fractures irregularly through both grains and cement (where present) to form an irregular or conchoidal fracture surface. Quartzite is differentiated from quartzose sandstone (arenite), which is softer and fractures around individual grains, and from chert and vein quartz by a bright vitreous luster. Quartzite is classified further on the basis of microscopic features into orthoquartzite and metaquartzite by the presence of clastic and metamorphic microtextures, respectively. Low-grade, medium-grade, and high-grade subtypes of metaquartzite are differentiated by mortar, foam, and porphyroblastic microtextures, respectively. Composition is not used as a criterion for classification; hence, quartzite may contain a significant proportion (>10%) of nonquartz minerals. As defined here, quartzite is readily identified by megascopic features in outcrop, and subtypes of quartzite can be distinguished microscopically, even when the geologic context of the sample is unknown.