Are all Oldowan Sites Palimpsests? If so, what can they tell us about Hominid Carnivory?

Abstract

The present work analyses the main Plio Pleistocene Oldowan sites from a taphonomic point of view. It is concluded that some sites present unrelated depositional histories between stone tools and bones, and that the preservation of faunal remains at other sites is insufficient to establish a functional link between both types of materials. It is argued that only one bone-plus-artifact site (FLK Zinj, Olduvai) can be claimed to be almost exclusively anthropogenic during the first million year of archeological record. Through the exceptional preservation of this site, it can further be argued that the carcass acquirement strategies used by hominids did not involve passive scavenging from carnivores but primary access to fleshed carcasses.