Previous research suggests that the complex symbolic, technological, and socioeconomic behaviors that typify had roots in the middle Pleistocene<200,000 years ago, but data bearing on human behavioral origins are limited. We present a series of excavated Middle Stone Age sites from the Olorgesailie basin, southern Kenya, dating from ≥295,000 to ~320,000 years ago by argon-40/argon-39 and uranium-series methods. Hominins at these sites made prepared cores and points, exploited iron-rich rocks to obtain red pigment, and procured stone tool materials from ≥25- to 50-kilometer distances. Associated fauna suggests a broad resource strategy that included large and small prey. These practices imply notable changes in how individuals and groups related to the landscape and to one another and provide documentation relevant to human social and cognitive evolution.
Carbon and oxygen isotope values of bovid tooth enamel and pedogenic carbonates were used to reconstruct the paleoenvironments associated with Middle Pleistocene archaeological and paleontological sites from the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya. Fossil teeth and pedogenic carbonates were collected from lacustrine and fluvial facies (K3 and K3') of the Kapthurin Formation (~543-509 ka). Twenty teeth from six bovid tribes and twenty four pedogenic carbonates were sequentially sampled for stable oxygen and carbon analysis. The primary aims of this work are to reconstruct the vegetative habitats of bovids and environmental landscapes from the Kapthurin Formation, assessing the presence of C 3 , C 4 , or mixed vegetation and foragers. We also assess general paleoclimate factors, such as overall aridity, seasonal shifts in water availability, and broad habitat reconstructions. Carbon isotope values suggest a wide range of foraging strategies available to bovids, and are characterized by both C 3 dominated and C 4 dominated diets, with little evidence for mixed feeders, while pedogenic carbonates suggest the landscape combined a mix of C 3 and C 4 vegetation sources, structurally similar to wooded grasslands. Paleoclimatic conditions, based on the reconstructed mean annual water deficit from δ 18 O enamel values suggest a hyper mesic environment, most comparable to the modern Ituri rainforest, indicating a much wetter climate than the modern Lake Baringo Basin. This environment coincides with an intensified Middle Pleistocene African monsoonal system at onset of Marine Isotope Stage 13 (~533 ka). The Middle Pleistocene Lake Baringo regional habitat appears to have been one dominated by woodland areas, perennially active streams, marsh and sumpland environments, and a surrounding grassland ecosystem. This lush basin would have provided hominins with a diverse and productive ecosystem. Perhaps not surprisingly, archaeological sites are found in all habitats, including wet, forested, and grassland environments.
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