Makuyuni, eine neue altpaläolithische Hominidenfundstelle in Tansania

Abstract

During several phases of transgression and regression Pleistocene Lake Manyara (northern Tanzania) deposited a sequence of deposits which is introduced here as the Makuyuni Formation. The depositional sequence is assigned to the lower Middle Pleistocene. Alongside a rich mammal fauna  locality Makuyuni 4 (MK4) produced numerous Palaeolithic stone tools. The material belongs to two series of finds, one of which derives from surface collection (MK4-S) and the other from a test excavation (MK4-SW1). MK4-S
produced fossil evidence for eight mammal families. Tetth and disarticulated postcranial elements dominate the assemblage. Small mammal taxa are almost entirely absent and large-sized taxa are also under-represented.
MK4 is characteristic of an attritional fossil accumulation. The first hominid fossil (MH 1) recovered from the Lower Makuyuni-Beds is the fragment of a parietal bone. A second hominid fossil, a left upper canine (MH 2) comes from Locality MK2. Both remains are assigned to the genus Homo. The raw materials represented in the artefact assemblages are vein quartzite and basalt. Assemblage MK4- S is identified typologically as Middle Acheulean. The MK4-S hand axes do not yet show the standardised shaping of assemblages from the Masek Beds (Olduvai Sequence) but resemble the older industries of Olduvai Bed IV. They are therefore dated typologically to around 500,000 / 600,000 years old. The rarity of cores and flakes shows that there was no extensive primary production of artefacts at the site. The specific spectrum
of the tools, their position on the shore of a lake and their derivation from distant production localities suggest activities planned some time previously.
The test excavation MK4-SW1 did not produce any characteristic Acheulean hand axes. The assemblage is dominated by small quartz tools, the dimensions of which are determined by the quality of the raw material.
The tool spectrum of MK4-SW1 corresponds to the Oldowan of the Olduvai  Sequence. It is probable that MK4-S and MK4-SW1 represented two chronologically distinct assemblages.