Oldest evidence of toolmaking hominins in a grassland-dominated ecosystem

PLoS ONE

Volumn 4, Issue 9, 2009, Pages

  Plummer, Thomas W ^a   Ditchfield, Peter W ^b   Bishop, Laura C ^c   Kingston, John D ^d   Ferraro, Joseph V ^e   Braun, David R ^f   Hertel, Fritz ^g   Potts, Richard ^h,i  

^a CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

^c LIVERPOOL JOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

^d EMORY UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^e BAYLOR UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^f UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN   (South Africa)

^g CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^h DEPARTMENT OF PALEOBIOLOGY   (United States)

ⁱ INSTITUTE OF PRIMATE RESEARCH   (Kenya)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CARBONIC ACID; CARBON;

ADAPTATION; ARCHEOLOGY; ARTICLE; ECOSYSTEM; ENAMEL; FOSSIL HOMININ; GRASSLAND; MOLECULAR EVOLUTION; PEDOGENESIS (SOIL); PLEISTOCENE; PLIOCENE; SPECIES HABITAT; UNGULATE; ANIMAL; CLIMATE; EVOLUTION; FOSSIL; GENETICS; GEOGRAPHY; HOMINID; HUMAN; PALEONTOLOGY; POACEAE;

AUSTRALOPITHECUS; UNGULATA;

ANIMALS; BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION; CARBON; CLIMATE; ECOSYSTEM; FOSSILS; GEOGRAPHY; HOMINIDAE; HUMANS; PALEONTOLOGY; POACEAE;

EID: 70449566779     PISSN: None     EISSN: 19326203     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0007199     Document Type: Article

References (61)

1. Plummer TW (2004) Flaked stones and old bones: biological and cultural evolution at the dawn of technology. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 47: 118-164.
2. deMenocal PB (2004) African climate change and faunal evolution during the Pliocene-Pleistocene. Earth Planetary Sci Lett 220: 3-24.
3. Potts R (1998) Environmental hypotheses of hominin evolution. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 41: 93-136.
4. Feakins SJ, deMenocal PB, Eglinton TI (2005) Biomarker records of late Neogene changes in northeast African vegetation. Geol 33: 977-980.
5. Kingston JD (2007) Early human evolutionary paleoecology. Yrbk Phys Anthropol 50: 20-58.
6. Potts R (2007) Environmental hypotheses of Pliocene human evolution. In: Bobe R, Alemseged Z, Behrensmeyer AK, eds. Hominin environments in the East African Pliocene: an assessment of the faunal evidence. Dordrecht: Springer. pp 25-50.
7. Wynn JG (2004) Influence of Plio-Pleistocene aridification on human evolution: evidence from paleosols of the Turkana Basin, Kenya. Amer J Phys Anthropol 123: 106-118.
8. Vrba ES (1995) On the connections between paleoclimate and evolution. In: Vrba ES, Denton GH, Partridge TC, Buckle LH, eds. Paleoclimate and evolution with emphasis on human origins. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp 24-45.
9. Bobe R, Behrensmeyer AK (2004) The expansion of grassland ecosystems in Africa in relation to mammalian evolution and the origin of the genus Homo. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 207: 399-420.
10. Turner A, Wood B (1993) Comparative palaeontological context for the evolution of the early hominid masticatory system. J Hum Evol 24: 301-318.
11. Plummer TW, Bishop LC, Ditchfield P, Hicks J (1999) Research on late Pliocene Oldowan sites at Kanjera South, Kenya. J Hum Evol 36: 151-170.
12. Behrensmeyer AK, Potts R, Plummer T, Tauxe L, Opdyke N, et al. (1995) The Pleistocene locality of Kanjera, Western Kenya: stratigraphy, chronology and paleoenvironments. J Hum Evol 29: 247-274.
13. Ferraro JV (2007) Broken bones and shattered stones: on the foraging ecology of Oldowan hominins. PhD dissertation. University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California.
14. Estes RD (1991) The Behavior Guide to African Mammals. Berkeley: University of California Press. 660 p.
15. Kingdon J (1997) The Kingdon Field Guide to African Mammals. San Diego: Academic Press.
16. Shipman P, Harris JM (1998) Habitat preference and paleoecology of Australopithecus boisei in eastern Africa. In: Grine F, ed. The evolutionary history of the "robust" Australopithecines. New York: Aldine de Gruyter. pp 343-380.
17. Bernor RL, Armour-Chelu M (1999) Toward an evolutionary history of African hipparionine horses. In: Bromage TG, Schrenk F, eds. African biogeography, climate change and human evolution. New York: Oxford University Press. pp 189-215.
18. Bishop LC (1999) Suid paleoecology and habitat preference at African Pliocene and Pleistocene hominid localities. In: Bromage TG, Schrenk F, eds. African biogeography, climate change and human evolution. New York: Oxford University Press. pp 216-225.
19. Cerling TE, Harris JM, Passey BH (2003) Diets of East African Bovidae based on stable isotope analysis. J Mammal 84: 456-470.
20. Harris JM, Cerling TE (2002) Dietary adaptations of extant and Neogene African suids. J Zool London 256: 45-54.
21. Cerling TE, Harris JM, MacFadden BJ, Leakey MG, Quade J, et al. (1997) Global vegetation change through the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. Nature 389: 153-158.
22. Kappelman J, Plummer TW, Bishop LC, Duncan A, Appleton S (1997) Bovids as indicators of Plio-Pleistocene paleoenvironments in East Africa. J Hum Evol 32: 229-256.
23. Kingston JD, Harrison T (2007) Isotopic dietary reconstructions of Pliocene herbivores at Laetoli: implications for early hominin paleoecology. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 243: 272-306.
24. Plummer TW, Bishop LC (1994) Hominid paleoecology at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania as indicated by antelope remains. J Hum Evol 27: 47-75.
25. Spencer L (1997) Dietary adaptations of Plio-Pleistocene Bovidae: implications for hominid habitat use. J Hum Evol 32: 201-228.
26. Sponheimer M, Lee-Thorp JA (2003) Using carbon isotope data of fossil bovid communities for paleoenvironmental reconstruction. S Afr J Sci 99: 273-275.
27. Vrba ES (1980) The significance of bovid remains as indicators of environment and predation patterns. In: Behrensmeyer AK, Hill AP, eds. Fossils in the making. Chicoago: University of Chicago Press. pp 247-272.
28. Potts R (1988) Early hominid activities at Olduvai. New York: Aldine De Gruyter. 407 p.
29. Cerling TE, Harris JM, Leakey MG (1999) Browsing and grazing in elephants: the isotope record of modern and fossil proboscideans. Oecologia 120: 364-374.
30. Sikes NE (1994) Early hominid habitat preferences in East Africa: paleosol carbon isotopic evidence. J Hum Evol 27: 25-45.
31. Sikes NE, Ashley GM (2007) Stable isotopes of pedogenic carbonates as indicators of paleoecology in the Plio-Pleistocene (upper Bed I), western margin of the Olduvai Basin, Tanzania. J Hum Evol 53: 574-594.
32. Bamford MK, Stanistreet IG, Stollhofen H, Alber RM (2008) Late Pliocene grassland from Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Palaeogeogr Palaeoclimatol Palaeoecol 257: 280-293.
33. Quade J, Levin N, Semaw S, Stout D, Renne P, et al. (2004) Paleoenvironments of the earliest stone toolmakers, Gona, Ethiopia. GSA Bull 116: 1529-1544.
34. Quinn RL, Lepre CJ, Wright JD, Feibel CS (2007) Paleogeographic variations of pedogenic carbonate d13C values from Koobi Fora, Kenya: implications for floral compositions of Plio-Pleistocene hominin environments. J Hum Evol 53: 560-573.
35. López-Sáez JA, Domínguez-Rodrigo M (2009) Palynology of OGS-6a and OGS-7, two new 2.6 Ma archaeological sites from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia: insights on aspects of Late Pliocene habitats and the beginnings of stone tool use. Geobios 42: 503-511.
36. Howell FC, Haesaerts P, Heinzelin J (1987) Depositional environments, archeological occurrences and hominids from Members E and F of the Shungura Formation (Omo basin, Ethiopia). J Hum Evol 16: 665-700.
37. Prat S, Brugal J-P, Tiercelin J-J, Barrat J-A, Bohn M, et al. (2005) First occurrence of early Homo in the Nachukui Formation (West Turkana, Kenya) at 2.3-2.4 Myr. J Hum Evol 49: 230-240.
38. Braun DR, Harris JWK, McCoy JT, Quinn RL, Bamford M, et al. (2006) Pliocene hominin behavioral adaptations: new evidence from the Koobi Fora Formation. Paleoanthropol A14.
39. Kimbel WH (2009) The origin of Homo. In: Grine FE, Fleagle JG, Leakey RE, eds. The first humans-origin and early evolution of the genus Homo. Netherlands: Springer. pp 31-38.
40. Roche H, Blumenschine RJ, Shea JJ (2009) Origins and adaptations of early Homo: what archeology tells us. In: Grine FE, Fleagle JG, Leakey RE, eds. The first humans-origin and early evolution of the genus Homo. Netherlands: Springer. pp 135-147.
41. Wood B (1991) Koobi Fora research project volume 4: Hominid cranial remains from Koobi Fora. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 466 p.
42. Anton SC (2008) Framing the Question: Diet and Evolution in Early Homo. In: Vinyard C, Ravosa MJ, Wall C, eds. Primate Craniofacial Function and Biology. Netherlands: Springer. pp 443-482.
43. Lieberman DE, Wood BA, Pilbeam DR (1996) Homoplasy and early Homo: an analysis of the evolutionary relationships of H. habilis sensu stricto and H. rudolfensis. J Hum Evol 30: 97-120.
44. Rightmire GP, Lordkipanidze D (2009) Comparisons of early Pleistocene skulls from East Africa and the Georgian Caucasus: evidence bearing on the origin and systematics of genus Homo. In: Grine FE, Fleagle JG, Leakey RE, eds. The first humans-origin and early evolution of the genus Homo. Netherlands: Springer. pp 39-48.
45. Susman RL (1991) Who made the Oldowan tools? Fossil evidence for tool behavior in Plio-Pleistocene Hominids. J Anthro Res 47: 129-151.
46. D'Errico F, Backwell L (2009) Assessing the function of early hominin bone tools. J Archaeol Sci 36: 1764-1773.
47. Reed KE (1997) Early hominid evolution and ecological change through the African Plio-Pleistocene. J Hum Evol 32: 289-322.
48. Bramble DM, Leiberman DE (2004) Endurance running and the evolution of Homo. Nature 432: 345-352.
49. Wheeler P (1991) The thermoregulatory advantages of hominid bipedalism in open equatorial environments: the contribution of convective heat loss and cutaneous evaporative cooling. J Hum Evol 21: 107-115.
50. Walker A, Leakey R (1993) The Nariokotome Homo erectus skeleton. Cambridge: Harvard University press. 457 p.
51. Sikes NE, Potts R, Behrensmeyer AK (1999) Early Pleistocene habitat in Member 1 Olorgesailie based on paleosol stable isotopes. J Hum Evol 37: 721-746.
52. Cerling TE, Bowman JR, O'Neil JR (1988) An isotopic study of a fluvial-lacustrine sequence: the PlioPleistocene Koobi Fora Formation, East Africa. Palaeogeogr Palaeocl 63: 335-356.
53. Levin NE, Cerling TE, Passey BH, Harris JM, Ehleringer JR (2006) A stable isotope aridity index for terrestrial environments. PNAS 103: 11201-11205.
54. Kingston JD (1999) Environmental determinants in early hominid evolution: issues and evidence from the Tugen Hills, Kenya. In: Andrews P, Banham P, eds. Late Cenozoic Environments and Hominid Evolution: a tribute to Bill Bishop. London: Geological Society. pp 69-84.
55. Kingston JD, Marino BD, Hill A (1994) Isotopic evidence for Neogene hominid paleoenvironments in the Kenya Rift Valley. Science 264: 955-959.
56. Cerling TE, Harris JM, Leakey MG (2003) Isotope paleoecology of the Nawata and Nachukui Formations at Lothagam, Turkana Basin, Kenya. In: Leakey MG, Harris JM, eds. Lothagam: The dawn of humanity in Eastern Africa. New York: Columbia University Press. pp 605-624.
57. WoldeGabriel G, Haile-Selassie Y, Renne PR, Hart WK, Ambrose SH, Asfaw B, Heiken G, White T (2001) Geology and palaeontology of the late Miocene Middle Awash valley, Afar rift, Ethiopia. Nature 412: 17-178.
58. Wynn JG (2000) Paleosols, stable carbon isotopes, and paleoenvironmental interpretation of Kanapoi, Northern Kenya. J Hum Evol 39: 411-432.
59. Cerling TE, Hay RL (1986) An isotopic study of paleosol carbonates from Olduvai Gorge. Quat Res 25: 63-78.
60. Lee-Thorp JA, van der Merwe NJ, Brain CK (1994) Diet of Australopithecus robustus at Swartkrans from stable carbon isotopic analysis. J Hum Evol 27: 361-372.
61. van der Merwe NJ, Thackeray JF, Lee-Thorp JA, Luyt J (2003) The carbon isotope ecology and diet of Australopithecus africanus at Sterkfontein, South Africa. J Hum Evol 44: 581-597.