%0 Journal Article
%A Finestone, Emma M.
%A Plummer, Thomas W.
%A Vincent, Thomas H.
%A Blumenthal, Scott A.
%A Ditchfield, Peter W.
%A Bishop, Laura C.
%A Oliver, James S.
%A Herries, Andy I.R.
%A Palfery, Christopher Vere
%A Lane, Timothy P.
%A McGuire, Elizabeth
%A Reeves, Jonathan S.
%A Rodés, Angel
%A Whitfield, Elizabeth
%A Braun, David R.
%A Bartilol, Simion K.
%A Rotich, Nelson Kiprono
%A Parkinson, Jennifer A.
%A Lemorini, Cristina
%A Caricola, Isabella
%A Kinyanjui, Rahab N.
%A Potts, Richard
%+ Lise Meitner Group Technological Primates, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
Lise Meitner Group Technological Primates, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society
%T New Oldowan locality Sare-Abururu (ca. 1.7 Ma) provides evidence of diverse hominin behaviors on the Homa Peninsula, Kenya (advance online) : 
%G eng
%U https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000F-292A-5
%R 10.1016/j.jhevol.2024.103498
%7 2024-04-05
%D 2024
%* Review method: peer-reviewed
%X Stone tools, Kenya, Hominin paleoecology, Isotopic analysis, Lithic technology, Pleistocene
%K The Homa Peninsula, in southwestern Kenya, continues to yield insights into Oldowan hominin landscape behaviors. The Late Pliocene locality of Nyayanga (∼3–2.6 Ma) preserves some of the oldest Oldowan tools. At the Early Pleistocene locality of Kanjera South (∼2 Ma) toolmakers procured a diversity of raw materials from over 10 km away and strategically reduced them in a grassland-dominated ecosystem. Here, we report findings from Sare-Abururu, a younger (∼1.7 Ma) Oldowan locality approximately 12 km southeast of Kanjera South and 18 km east of Nyayanga. Sare-Abururu has yielded 1754 artifacts in relatively undisturbed low-energy silts and sands. Stable isotopic analysis of pedogenic carbonates suggests that hominin activities were carried out in a grassland-dominated setting with similar vegetation structure as documented at Kanjera South. The composition of a nearby paleo-conglomerate indicates that high-quality stone raw materials were locally abundant. Toolmakers at Sare-Abururu produced angular fragments from quartz pebbles, representing a considerable contrast to the strategies used to reduce high quality raw materials at Kanjera South. Although lithic reduction at Sare-Abururu was technologically simple, toolmakers proficiently produced cutting edges, made few mistakes and exhibited a mastery of platform management, demonstrating that expedient technical strategies do not necessarily indicate a lack of skill or suitable raw materials. Lithic procurement and reduction patterns on the Homa Peninsula appear to reflect variation in local resource contexts rather than large-scale evolutionary changes in mobility, energy budget, or toolmaker cognition.
%J Journal of Human Evolution
%V 190
%] 103498
%I Academic Press
%C London
%@ 0047-2484