Olorgesailie

Hand axes

The artefacts were first discovered by the British geologist John Walter Gregory in 1919,[3][4] but it was not until 1943 that excavation began in earnest under the direction of Mary and Louis Leakey, with the assistance of paroled Italian prisoners of war.[5] Work continued there until 1947. Glynn Isaac took up the excavation in the 1960s[6] for his dissertation. In the 1980s, research was continued by Richard Potts of the Smithsonian Institution in conjunction with the National Museums of Kenya.

Animal fossils from Olorgesailie

Human tools are the most prominent of all historic items in the area. The abundant hand axes are characteristic of the Acheulean period, made by hominins between about 600,000 and 900,000 years ago[7]along what was then the shore of a now dried-up lake. Fossils of various animals have also been found, including those of extinct species of hippo, elephant, zebra, giraffe, and baboon, likely to have been butchered with the aid of the hand axes.[1][3]

In June 2003, a team led by Potts discovered a frontal bone in situ.[8] Other parts of the small skull (designated KNM-OL 45500) were found in following months. The frontal bone is 900,000 to 970,000 years old and probably belonged to Homo erectus, thereby making it the first human fossil found on the site.[9] The fossil remains were in the same stratigraphic level as two hand axes and several flakes, near dense deposits of hand axes.[1]

In 2018, evidence dating to about 320,000 years ago was found at Olorgesailie of the early emergence of complex and modern behaviors, possibly associated with early Homo sapiens, including: the trade and long-distance transportation of resources (such as obsidian), the use of pigments, and the possible making of projectile points. The emergence of these behaviors, it is observed by the authors of three 2018 studies on the site, approximately corresponds to the earliest known Homo sapiens fossil remains from Africa (such as at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco and Florisbad, South Africa) dated to about the same period, and it is suggested that complex behaviors began in Africa around the time of the emergence of Homo sapiens.[10][11][12]

Preservation of the Aechulean hand axe culture was made possible by heavy falls of alkaline ash from volcanoes near the site; volcanoes that were active at the time. Mount Suswa and Mount Longonot are volcanoes and their vents are likely to have contributed to the ash that accumulated in the Olorgesailie basin. Subsequent sedimentation covering the site has preserved the fossils and created a stratigraphy which helps age determination.[2] Existing temporary lakes and swamps give evidence of a humid climate during the middle Pleistocene. Sediments left by the lake cover an area of 50 square miles (about 130 square km).[2] Of the artefacts, 99% were made from locally derived lavas, particularly trachyte, although small amounts of quartzite and obsidian have been found, indicating a transport over 16 to 40 km.[13]

• Isaac, Glynn Llywelyn; Isaac, Barbara (1977). Olorgesailie: Archeological Studies of a Middle Pleistocene Lake Basin in Kenya. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-38483-2.