From 100th century BCE
East Africa
Olorgesailie is a Middle Pleistocene archaeological site complex in a small sedimentary basin of Kenya’s Gregory Rift Valley, about 65 kilometres from Nairobi. Populations repeatedly used the basin while 60–70 metres of sediments accumulated, probably over roughly 100,000 years. Its sixteen significant artifact assemblages vary greatly in tool composition and morphology without displaying clear sequential change. The site became important for debates over whether archaeological diversity reflects multiple cultural systems or activity differentiation within one system.
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The Story
Olorgesailie occupies a small sedimentary basin on the floor of the Gregory Rift Valley, approximately 65 kilometres from Nairobi. Archaeological work began with M. D. and L. S. B. Leakey and was later extended by Isaac and other researchers. The basin preserves evidence of repeated human use during the accumulation of a substantial sedimentary sequence.
Around 60 to 70 metres of fine-grained sediment accumulated, perhaps over approximately 100,000 years, and potassium–argon dates indicate an age of about 0.5 million years for the deposits. Sixteen significant artifact assemblages have been recovered. They differ in the proportions of shaped tools and in the morphological norms of tools belonging to the same categories at different sites.
Most differences do not form a pattern of clear sequential change through time. The Olorgesailie data therefore challenged conventional culture-historical and evolutionary explanations based on orderly development. They directed attention toward the question of whether technological diversity represents several cultural systems or whether a single system can produce variation through differentiated activities and other causes.
The site complex also provides evidence relevant to food refuse and land-use patterns. Its broader significance lies in combining a long record of repeated occupation with considerable variability among assemblages. Rather than reducing that variability to a linear sequence, the evidence encourages interpretations attentive to landscape use and activity organization.
From 100th century BCE
East Africa
Olorgesailie is a Middle Pleistocene archaeological site complex in a small sedimentary basin of Kenya’s Gregory Rift Valley, about 65 kilometres from Nairobi. Populations repeatedly used the basin while 60–70 metres of sediments accumulated, probably over roughly 100,000 years. Its sixteen significant artifact assemblages vary greatly in tool composition and morphology without displaying clear sequential change. The site became important for debates over whether archaeological diversity reflects multiple cultural systems or activity differentiation within one system.
Continue exploring
The Story
Olorgesailie occupies a small sedimentary basin on the floor of the Gregory Rift Valley, approximately 65 kilometres from Nairobi. Archaeological work began with M. D. and L. S. B. Leakey and was later extended by Isaac and other researchers. The basin preserves evidence of repeated human use during the accumulation of a substantial sedimentary sequence.
Around 60 to 70 metres of fine-grained sediment accumulated, perhaps over approximately 100,000 years, and potassium–argon dates indicate an age of about 0.5 million years for the deposits. Sixteen significant artifact assemblages have been recovered. They differ in the proportions of shaped tools and in the morphological norms of tools belonging to the same categories at different sites.
Most differences do not form a pattern of clear sequential change through time. The Olorgesailie data therefore challenged conventional culture-historical and evolutionary explanations based on orderly development. They directed attention toward the question of whether technological diversity represents several cultural systems or whether a single system can produce variation through differentiated activities and other causes.
The site complex also provides evidence relevant to food refuse and land-use patterns. Its broader significance lies in combining a long record of repeated occupation with considerable variability among assemblages. Rather than reducing that variability to a linear sequence, the evidence encourages interpretations attentive to landscape use and activity organization.
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