Association between Oldowan assemblages and Homo habilis sensu lato
The association between the Oldowan and early Homo specimens can be observed in six occurrences (in Ethiopia, at Hadar, A.L. 666 (HC1), and Fejej, Fj-1a (HC2); in Kenya, in the western part of Lake Turkana, Lokalalei site complex (HC2); in Tanzania, in Oldupai Gorge, MNK Skull site (HC1), DK site (HC2) and Ewass Oldupa site (HC2) dated between 2.3 and 1.67 Ma (Table 1; Fig. 2). I describe here the two archaeological sites where hominin remains were discovered in archaeological layers or at the surface of the excavation (HC1).
The first is the archaeological site named A.L. 666, in the Hadar region in Ethiopia. The lithic assemblage (34 artefacts including 14 found in situ) is typical of the Oldowan (Kimbel et al. 1996; Plummer 2004; Goldman-Neuman & Hovers 2012). These assemblages are dated to c. 2.35 Ma by the Bouroukie Tuff 3 (Campisano & Feibel 2008) and between 2.3 and 1.9 Ma based on the fauna (Rowan et al. 2022). A maxilla (A.L. 666-1) was found on the surface of the hill (at the base). This latter shows clear early Homo traits and was assigned to Homo aff. H. habilis (Kimbel et al. 1996; Kimbel et al. 1997). However, Spoor et al. (2015) have considered that its morphology is not compatible with OH7, and therefore with H. habilis, and furthermore does not present the facial morphology observed in H. rudolfensis. For the abovementioned authors, the morphology of A.L. 666-1 is more derived toward early H. erectus / ergaster.
The second high-confidence site (HC1) is MNK Skull site from Middle Bed II at Oldupai (Leakey 1971; de la Torre et al. 2021), which yielded an Oldowan assemblage and two in situ Homo habilis specimens (OH 13, paratype of Homo habilis), as well as dental remains catalogued as OH 15 (Leakey et al. 1964; Tobias 1991) dated to c. 1.67 Ma (de la Torre et al. 2021).
Publication Date: 2025-12-05