100th century BCE
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
The Olduvai archaeological sequence records successive early stone-tool assemblages and hominid fossils in northern Tanzania. It includes Developed Oldowan and Acheulian industries, with bifaces and cleavers appearing alongside earlier flake-based technologies. Fossils attributed to Australopithecus boisei, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens occur at different stratigraphic levels. The sequence is important for studying technological variability, hominid ecology and the uncertain relationship between biological taxa and cultural traditions.
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The Story
Olduvai Gorge preserves a long sequence of archaeological deposits in which early stone-working traditions can be examined together with hominid fossils. Developed Oldowan assemblages were not the only tools made and discarded there: other deposits contain prominent large bifacial implements, especially hand-axes and cleavers, classified as Acheulian. The assemblages do not show a simple, steadily progressive technological development through time.
Each Olduvai site tends to display its own technical habits and stylistic character, while the refinement of tools fluctuates rather than increasing in a regular sequence. Small numbers of bifaces occur in Developed Oldowan tool-kits, but they are generally rare, smaller and less effectively made. This variability has made the division of the sequence into orderly phases or stages difficult to justify.
Hominid fossils occur throughout the Olduvai sequence. Bed I includes remains generally assigned to Australopithecus boisei and Homo habilis, while Bed II preserves Australopithecus boisei, advanced Homo habilis and larger forms attributed to African varieties of Homo erectus. Identifiable material from Bed IV has been tentatively classified as Homo erectus, and an early Homo sapiens is known from the Ndutu Beds.
Some hominid remains are directly associated with archaeological assemblages, including Australopithecus boisei and Homo habilis with Oldowan and Developed Oldowan materials, and part of a Homo erectus pelvis and femur with an Acheulian industry at WK in Bed IV. These associations do not establish firm links between particular biological entities and specific cultural manifestations. Olduvai therefore remains both a technological sequence and a record of unresolved questions about early hominid behaviour.
100th century BCE
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
The Olduvai archaeological sequence records successive early stone-tool assemblages and hominid fossils in northern Tanzania. It includes Developed Oldowan and Acheulian industries, with bifaces and cleavers appearing alongside earlier flake-based technologies. Fossils attributed to Australopithecus boisei, Homo habilis, Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens occur at different stratigraphic levels. The sequence is important for studying technological variability, hominid ecology and the uncertain relationship between biological taxa and cultural traditions.
Continue exploring
The Story
Olduvai Gorge preserves a long sequence of archaeological deposits in which early stone-working traditions can be examined together with hominid fossils. Developed Oldowan assemblages were not the only tools made and discarded there: other deposits contain prominent large bifacial implements, especially hand-axes and cleavers, classified as Acheulian. The assemblages do not show a simple, steadily progressive technological development through time.
Each Olduvai site tends to display its own technical habits and stylistic character, while the refinement of tools fluctuates rather than increasing in a regular sequence. Small numbers of bifaces occur in Developed Oldowan tool-kits, but they are generally rare, smaller and less effectively made. This variability has made the division of the sequence into orderly phases or stages difficult to justify.
Hominid fossils occur throughout the Olduvai sequence. Bed I includes remains generally assigned to Australopithecus boisei and Homo habilis, while Bed II preserves Australopithecus boisei, advanced Homo habilis and larger forms attributed to African varieties of Homo erectus. Identifiable material from Bed IV has been tentatively classified as Homo erectus, and an early Homo sapiens is known from the Ndutu Beds.
Some hominid remains are directly associated with archaeological assemblages, including Australopithecus boisei and Homo habilis with Oldowan and Developed Oldowan materials, and part of a Homo erectus pelvis and femur with an Acheulian industry at WK in Bed IV. These associations do not establish firm links between particular biological entities and specific cultural manifestations. Olduvai therefore remains both a technological sequence and a record of unresolved questions about early hominid behaviour.