Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-fbnjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T01:47:47.424Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Paleoenvironmental and paleoecological reconstruction of a freshwater oasis in savannah grassland at FLK North, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Gail M. Ashley ,
Doris Barboni ,
Manuel Dominguez-Rodrigo ,
Henry T. Bunn ,
Audax Z.P. Mabulla ,
Fernando Diez-Martin ,
Rebeca Barba  and
Enrique Baquedano
Gail M. Ashley*
Affiliation:
Dept. of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8066, USA
Doris Barboni
Affiliation:
CEREGE (UMR6635 CNRS/Université Aix-Marseille), BP80, F-13545 Aix-en-Provence cedex 4, France
Manuel Dominguez-Rodrigo
Affiliation:
Dept. of Prehistory, Complutense University of Madrid Ciudad Universitaria s/n 28040 Madrid, Spain IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), Museo de los Orígenes, Plaza de San Andrés 2, 28005 Madrid, Spain
Henry T. Bunn
Affiliation:
Dept. of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA
Audax Z.P. Mabulla
Affiliation:
Archaeology Unit, P.O. Box 35050, University of Dar es Salaam, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Fernando Diez-Martin
Affiliation:
Dept. of Prehistory and Archaeology, University of Valladolid, Plaza del Campus s/n 47011 Valladolid, Spain
Rebeca Barba
Affiliation:
Dept. of Prehistory, Complutense University of Madrid Ciudad Universitaria s/n 28040 Madrid, Spain
Enrique Baquedano
Affiliation:
Museo Arqueológico Regional de Madrid, Plaza de las Bernardas, Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain IDEA (Instituto de Evolución en África), Museo de los Orígenes, Plaza de San Andrés 2, 28005 Madrid, Spain
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: +1 732 445 3374. E-mail address:[email protected] (G.M. Ashley).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The records of early hominins are commonly localized both temporally and spatially even in archaeologically rich basins like Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. The FLK North site was discovered in 1960, but the reason for the exact location of this dense concentration of fossils and stone tools on a lake-margin flat has not been explained. We present new geological and geochemical information from six excavations in upper Bed I, which revealed up to 1.4-m-thick carbonate deposits, attesting to the presence of freshwater springs in the area surrounding FLK North. The δ18O signatures of the tufa are typical for meteoric water that has evolved during evaporation. Tuff IF that caps the sequence was deposited on uneven topography with the highest area a low-relief ridge between two faults at the archaeological site and lowest areas being sites of groundwater discharge. The model proposed here is that rainfall on adjacent highlands was transported to the basin where faults acted as conduits for water. Similar hydrogeological settings at modern lakes Manyara and Eyasi, currently support lush groundwater forest and woodland despite arid climate. FLK North may have been an “oasis” offering freshwater and shelter for consuming meat by both carnivores and hominins.

Keywords

SpringsPhytolithsHomininsPaleoenvironmentGroundwater forestEast AfricaStable isotopes
Type
Special Issue Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 74 , Issue 3 , November 2010 , pp. 333 - 343
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andrews, P. Small mammal faunal diversity at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Cluton-Brock, J., and Grigson, C. Animals in Archaeology. 1. Hunters and Their Prey. (1983). 77–85.Google Scholar
Andrews, P.J., and Humphrey, L. African Miocene environments and transition to early Hominines. Bromage, T.G., and Schrenk, F. African Biogeography, Climate Change, and Human Evolution. (1999). Oxford University Press, New York. 282–303.Google Scholar
Ashley, G.M. Geologists probe hominid environments. GSA Today 10, (2000). 24–29.Google Scholar
Ashley, G.M. Orbital rhythms, monsoons, and playa lake response, Olduvai Basin, equatorial East Africa (~ 1.85–1.75). Geology 35, (2007). 1091–1094.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashley, G.M., and Driese, S.G. Paleopedology and paleohydrology of a volcaniclastic paleosol interval: implications for early Pleistocene stratigraphy and paleoclimate record, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Journal of Sedimentary Research 70, (2000). 1065–1080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashley, G.M., and Hay, R.L. Sedimentation patterns in a Plio-Pleistocene volcaniclastic rift-margin basin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Renaut, R.W., and Ashley, G.M. Sedimentation in Continental Rifts: SEPM Special Publication: Tulsa. (2002). SEPM, OK. 107–122.Google Scholar
Ashley, G.M., and Liutkus, C.M. Tracks, trails and trampling by large vertebrates in a rift valley paleo-wetland, lowermost Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Ichnos 9, (2002). 23–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashley, G.M., Tactikos, J.C., and Owen, R.B. Hominin use of springs and wetlands: paleoclimate and archaeological records from Olduvai Gorge (1.79–174 Ma). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 272, (2008). 1–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bamford, M.K. Early Pleistocene fossil wood from Olduvai Gorge. Tanzania Quaternary International 129, (2005). 15–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bamford, M.K., Stanistreet, I.G., Stollhofen, H., and Albert, R.M. Late Pliocene grassland from Olduvai Gorge. Tanzania: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 257, (2008). 280–293.Google Scholar
Barboni, D., Ashley, G.M., Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Bunn, H.T., Mabulla, A.Z.P., Baquedano, E., (2010). Phytoliths infer locally dense and heterogeneous paleovegetation at FLK North and surrounding localities during upper Bed I time, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania.: Quaternary Research, p. (submitted).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumenschine, R.J. Early hominid scavaging opportunities. Implications of Carcass Availability in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Ecosystems: B.A.R. International Series vol. 383, (1986). Oxford, Google Scholar
Blumenschine, R.J. A landscape taphonomic model of the scale of prehistoric scavenging opportunities. Journal of Human Evolution 18, (1989). 345–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumenschine, R.J., and Masao, F.T. Living sites at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania? Preliminary landscape archaeology results in the basal Bed II lake-margin zone. Journal of Human Evolution 21, (1991). 451–462.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blumenschine, R.J., Peters, C.R., Masao, F.T., Clarke, R.J., Deino, A.L., Hay, R.L., Swisher, C.C., Stanistreet, I.G., Ashley, G.M., McHenry, L.J., Sikes, N.E., van der Merwe, N.J., Tactikos, J.C., Cushing, A.E., Deocampo, D.M., Njau, J.K., and Ebert, J.I. Lake Pliocene Homo and hominid land use from western Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Science 299, (2003). 1217–1221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonnefille, R. Palynological Research at Olduvai Gorge. (1984). National Geographic Society Research Reports, National Geographic Society. p. 227–243.Google Scholar
Bowen, G.J. The Online Isotopes in Precipitation Calculator. (2010). Google Scholar
Bunn, H.T. Patterns on skeletal representation and hominid subsistence activities at Olduvai Gorge. Tanzania, and Koobi Fora, Kenya: Journal of Human Evolution 15, (1986). 673–690.Google Scholar
Bunn, H.T., and Kroll, E.M. Systematic butchery by Plio-Pleistocene hominids at Olduvai Gorge. Tanzania: Current Anthropology 27, (1986). 431–452.Google Scholar
Bunn, H.T., Mabulla, A.Z.P., Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Ashley, G.M., Barba, R., Diez-Martin, F., Remer, K., Yravedra, J., and Baquedano, E. Was FLK North levels 1–2 a classic “living floor” of Oldowan hominins or a taphonomically complex palimpsest dominated by large carnivore feeding behavior?. Quaternary Research 74, (2010). 355–362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coplen, T.B., Kendall, C., and Hopple, J. Comparison of stable isotope refernce samples. Nature 302, (1983). CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deino, A.L., Kingston, J.D., Glen, J.M., Edgar, R.K., and Hill, A. Precessional forcing of lacustrine sedimentation in the late Cenozoic Chemeron Basin, Central Kenya Rift, and calibration of the Gauss/Matuyama boundary. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 247, (2006). 41–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
deMenocal, P. Plio-Pleistocene African climate. Science 270, (1995). 53–59.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Deocampo, D.M. Hydrogeochemistry in the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania, and implications for land use in a World Heritage Site. Applied Geochemistry 19, (2004). 755–767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deocampo, D.M. The geochemistry of continental carbonates. Alonso-Zara, A.M., and Tanner, L.H. Carbonates in Continental Settings: Geochemistry, Diagensis and Applications: Developments in Sedimentology. (2010). Elsevier, The Netherlands. 1–59.Google Scholar
Deocampo, D.M., and Ashley, G.M. Siliceous islands in a carbonate sea: modern and Pleistocene spring-fed wetlands in Ngorongoro Crater and Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania. Journal of Sedimentary Research 69, (1999). 974–979.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deocampo, D.M., Blumenschine, R.J., and Ashley, G.M. Wetland diagenesis and traces of early hominids, Olduvai Gorge. Quaternary Research 57, (2002). 271–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deocampo, D.M., Cuadros, J., Wing-Dudek, T., Olives, J., and Amouric, M. Saline lake diagenesis as revealed by coupled mineralogy and geochemistry of multiple ultrafine clay phases: Pliocene Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. American Journal of Science 309, (2009). 834–868.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M. A landscape study of bone conservation in the Galana and Kulalu (Kenya) ecosystem. Origini 20, (1996). 17–38.Google Scholar
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M. A study of carnivore competition in riparian and open habitats of modern savannas and its implications for hominid behavioral modelling. Journal of Human Evolution 40, (2001). CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., and Barba, R. A palimpsest at FLK North 1–2: independent carnivore- and hominid-made bone accumulations. Dominguez-Rodrigo, M., Barba, R., and Egeland, C.P. Deconstructing Olduvai: A Taphonomic Study of the Bed I Sites. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology (2007). Springer, Dordrecht. 127–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dominguez-Rodrigo, M., Barba, R., and Egelund, C.P. Deconstructing Olduvai. A Taphonomic Study of the Bed I Sites. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series: AA Dordrecht (2007). Springer, The Netherlands. 337 (+ xvi) Google Scholar
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Barba, R., and Egelund, C.P. Deconstructing Olduvai. A Taphonomic Study of the Bed I Sites. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series: AA Dordrecht (2007). Springer, The Netherlands. (xxx p.) CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Domínguez-Rodrigo, M., Mabulla, A.Z.P., Bunn, H.T., Diez-Martin, F., Baquedano, E., Barboni, D., Barba, R., Domínguez-Solera, S., Sanchez, P., Ashley, G.M., Yravedra, J., (2010). Disentangling hominin and carnivore activities near a spring at FLK North (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania).: Quaternary Research (submitted).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duffy, C.J., and Al-Hassan, S. Groundwater circulation in a closed desert basin Topographic scaling and climate forcing. Water Resources Research 24, (1988). 1675–1688.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feibel, C.S. Debating the environmental factors in hominid evolution. GSA Today 7, (1997). 1–7.Google Scholar
Fernandez-Jalvo, Y., Denys, C., Andrews, P., Williams, T., Dauphin, Y., and Humphreys, L. Taponomy and palaeoecology of Olduvai Bed-I (Pleistocene, Tanzania). Journal of Human Evolution 34, (1998). 137–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gawthorpe, R.L., and Leeder, M.R. Tectono-sedimentary evolution of active extensional basins:. Basin Research 12, (2000). 195–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenway, P.J., and Vesey-Fitzgerald, D.F. The vegetation of the Lake Manyara National Park. Journal of Ecology 57, (1969). 127–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gromme, C.S., and Hay, R.L. Geomagnetic polarity epochs: age and duration of the Olduvai normal polarity event. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 10, (1971). 179–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hay, R.L. Geology of the Olduvai Gorge Berkeley. (1976). University of California Press, (203 p)Google Scholar
Hay, R.L., and Kyser, T.K. Chemical sedimentology and paleoenvironmental history of Lake Olduvai, a Pleistocene lake in northern Tanzania. Geological Society of America Bulletin 113, (2001). 1505–1521.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hover, V.C., and Ashley, G.M. Geochemical signatures of paleodepositional and diagenetic environments: a STEM/AEM study of authigenic clay minerals from an arid rift basin, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Clays and Clay Minerals 51, (2003). 231–251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughen, K.A., Eglinton, T.I., Xu, L., and Makou, M. Abrupt tropical vegetation response to rapid climate changes. Science 304, (2004). 155–159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kappelman, J. Plio-Pleistocene marine–continental correlation using habitat indicators from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Quaternary Research 25, (1986). 141–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutzbach, , and Street-Perrott, F.A. Milankovitch forcing of fluctuations in the level of tropical lakes from 18 to 0 kyr B.P. Nature 317, (1985). 130–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kutzbach, J.E., and Street-Perrott, F.A. Milankovitch forcing of fluctuations in the level of tropical lakes from 18 to 0 kyr B.P. Nature 317, (1985). 130–134.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leakey, M.D. Olduvai Gorge: Excavations in Beds I and II; 1960–1963: Cambridge. (1971). UK, Cambridge University Press. 309 pGoogle Scholar
Levin, N.E., Zipser, E.J., and Cerling, T.E. Isotopic composition of waters from Ethiopia and Kenya: insights into moisture sources for eastern Africa. Journal of Geophysical Research 114, (2009). CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liutkus, C.M., and Ashley, G.M. Facies model of a semiarid freshwater wetland, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Journal of Sedimentary Research 73, (2003). 691–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Liutkus, C.M., Wright, J.D., Ashley, G.M., and Sikes, N.E. Paleoenvironmental interpretation of lake-margin deposits using δ13C and δ18O results from Early Pleistocene carbonate rhizoliths, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Geology 33, (2005). 377–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loth, P.E., and Prins, H.H.T. Spatial patterns of the landscape and vegetation of Lake Manyara National Park. ITC Journal (1986). 115–130.Google Scholar
Maslin, M., and Christensen, B. Tectonics, orbital forcing, global climate change, and human evolution in Africa: introduction to the African paleoclimate special volume:. Journal of Human Evolution 53, (2007). 443–464.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McHenry, L.J. Characterization and Corrrelation of Altered Plio-Pleistocene Tephra using a “Multiple Technique” Approach: Case Study at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. (2004). Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ. 382 pGoogle Scholar
McHenry, L.J. Phenocryst composition as a tool for correlating fresh and altered tephra, Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Stratigraphy 2, (2005). 101–115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meijerink, A.M.J., and Van Wijngaarden, W. Contribution to the Groundwater Hydrology of the Amboselie Ecosystem, Kenya. Gilbert, J., Mathiet, J., and Fournier, F. Groundwater/Surface Water Ecotones; Biological and Hydrological Interactions and Management Options. (1997). Cambridge University Press, Campbridge. 111–118.Google Scholar
Mollel, G.F. Petrochemistry and Geochronology of Ngorongoro Volcanic Highland Complex (NVHC) and its Relationship to Laetoli and Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. (2007). Rutgers University, New Brunswick NJ. 233 pGoogle Scholar
Nicholson, S. A review of climate dynamics and climate variability in eastern Africa. Johnson, T.C., and Odada, E.O. The Limnology, Climatology and Paleoclimatology of the East African Lakes. (1996). Gordon and Breach Publishers, Amsterdam. 25–56.Google Scholar
Nicholson, S. The nature of rainfall variability over Africa on time scales of decades to millenia. Global and Planetary Change 26, (2000). 137–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Neil, J.R., Clayton, R.N., and Mayeda, T.K. Oxygen isotope fractionation in divalent metal carbonates. The Journal of Chemical Physics 51, (1969). 5547–5558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plummer, T.W., and Bishop, L.C. Hominid paleoecology at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania as indicated by antelope remains. Journal of Human Evolution 27, (1994). 47–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravelo, C., Andreasen, D., Lyle, M., Lyle, A.O., and Wara, M.W. Regional climate shifts caused by gradual global cooling in the Pliocene epoch. Nature 429, (2004). 263–267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Retallack, G.J. Soils of the past. An Introduction to Paleopedology. (2001). Blackwell Science, Oxford. (404 p.)Google Scholar
Rosen, M.R. Paleoclimate and Basin Evolution of Playa Systems: GSA Special Paper 289, (1994). Geological Society of America, Boulder. (117 p.)Google Scholar
Rossignol-Strick, M. African monsoons, an immediate climatic response to orbital insolation. Nature 303, (1983). 46–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F. Earth's climate. Past and Future. (2000). W.H.Freeman & Co Ltd, New York. (465 p.)Google Scholar
Runge, F. The opal phytolith inventory of soils in central Africa — quantities, shapes, classification, and spectra. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology 107, (1999). 23–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sepulchre, P., Ramstein, G., Fluteau, F., and Schuster, M. Tectonic uplift and eastern Africa aridification. Science 313, (2006). 1419–1423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sikes, N.E., and Ashley, G.M. Stable isotopic signatures of pedogenic carbonates as indicators of paleoecology in the Plio-Pleistocene (upper Bed I) western margin of Olduvai Basin, Tanzania. Journal of Human Evolution 53/5, (2007). 574–594.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Street, F.A., and Grove, A.T. Global maps of lake level fluctuations since 30,000 BP. Quaternary Research 12, (1979). 83–118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Strömberg, C.A.E. The Origin and Spread of Grass-dominated Ecosystems During the Tertiary of North America and How it Relates to the Evolution of Hypsodonty in Equids. (2003). University of California, Berkeley. (779 p.)Google Scholar
Trauth, M.H., Maslin, M.A., Deino, A.L., Strecker, M.R., Bergner, A.G.N., and Duhnforth, M. High- and low-latitude forcing of Plio-Pleistocene East Africa climate and human evolution. Journal of Human Evolution 53, (2007). 475–486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wang, Y., Notaro, M., Liu, Z., Gallimore, R., Levis, S., and Kutzbach, J.E. Detecting vegetation–precipitation feedbacks in mid-Holocene North Africa from two climate models. Climate of the Past 4, (2008). 59–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar