Preface
Part I. Bed I Olduvai: A Case Study in Paleoanthropological
Inference
Chapter 1 Introduction ......................................... 3
The Home Base Hypothesis ........................................ 6
The Method of Inquiry ........................................... 9
Chapter 2. The Sites of Bed I Olduvai Gorge .................... 15
Ancient Environments ........................................... 18
The Study Sites ................................................ 23
Part II. Formation of the Olduvai Sites
Chapter 3. Concentrations of Bones and Artifacts ............... 37
Clustering of Bones on Landscapes .............................. 37
Clustering of Artifacts on Landscapes .......................... 46
Duration of Bone Accumulation .................................. 48
Chapter 4. Physical Agents of Concentration .................... 57
The Water Transport Hypothesis ................................. 57
Nonhominid Accumulation: The Case of Fort Ternan ............... 69
Chapter 5. Behavioral Agents of Bone Accumulation .............. 81
Introduction ................................................... 81
Porcupines ..................................................... 81
Leopards ....................................................... 82
Hyenas ......................................................... 82
Tooth Marks and Cut Marks ...................................... 83
Carnivore Activity at Olduvai ................................. 101
The Role of Hominids .......................................... 129
Chapter 6. Conclusions on Olduvai Taphonomy ................... 133
Discerning Hominid from Carnivore Contributions to Sites ...... 136
FLK North-6: Butchery Site? ................................... 147
Part III. Hominid Behavior and Paleoecology
Chapter 7. Paleocommunities and Environments of Olduvai ....... 153
Introduction .................................................. 153
Inferring Paleoecology from Faunal Assemblages ................ 154
Frequencies of Animals in Modern Savannas ..................... 168
Paleoecology of Bed I Olduvai ................................. 178
Further Comparisons to Modern Savannas ........................ 184
Ecological Overlap among Carcass Users ........................ 196
Use of Different Resources .................................... 199
Destruction or Removal of Carcass Parts ....................... 201
Avoiding the Same Sites at the Same Time ...................... 202
Chapter 8. Obtaining Resources and Accumulating Debris ........ 203
Hunting and Scavenging ........................................ 203
Inferences from Bed I Olduvai ................................. 208
Timing of Hominid and Carnivore Access to Carcasses ........... 221
Diet and Eating Meat .......................................... 228
Hunting, Scavenging, and Eating Meat: An Overview ............. 233
Stone Artifacts: Transport and Accumulation ................... 235
Overview ...................................................... 246
Chapter 9. Resource Transport: A Prelude to Home Bases ........ 249
The Home Base Concept ......................................... 249
Critique of the Home Base Interpretation ...................... 253
Alternatives to the Home Base Hypothesis ...................... 258
The Energetic Effort of Site Production ....................... 264
Resource Transport ............................................ 278
Implications of Late Origins of Home Base Behavior ............ 293
Chapter 10. Conclusion ........................................ 297
A Hierarchy of Inferences ..................................... 297
Hominid Behavior and Paleoecology at Olduvai .................. 300
Differences among Researchers ................................. 306
Behavioral Variation in Time and Space ........................ 309
Bibliography .................................................. 313
Appendix A: Site DK ........................................... 333
Appendix B: Site FLKNN-3 ...................................... 351
Appendix C: FLKNN-2 ........................................... 361
Appendix D: Site FLK-22 ....................................... 369
Appendix E: Site FLK North-6 .................................. 381
Index ......................................................... 390
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