Association between Oldowan assemblages and Homo and Paranthropus
The association between Homo habilis (Homo habilis, Homo sp.), Paranthropus (P. aff. P. aethiopicus and Paranthropus boisei) specimens and Oldowan assemblages is documented in four sites (in Ethiopia, in the lower Omo Valley, OMO 57-5 (HC1), in Kenya at Koobi Fora, FXJj 38 (HC1), and in Tanzania, at Oldupai Gorge at FLK level 22 and FLK NN level 3 (HC1) dated between 2.32 and 1.78-1.52 Ma (Fig. 4).
I present here two sites from Oldupai gorge, which are of key importance in hominin evolution as they contain the holotypes of the species Paranthropus boisei and Homo habilis and OMO 57-5, in the lower Omo Valley in Ethiopia, discovered thanks to the work of Jean Chavaillon and Yves Coppens.
At OMO 57-5 (Member F of the Shungura Formation), the 40 square metres excavation revealed four hominin tooth fragments and an in situ quartz flake along with 16 surface artefacts (Coppens et al. 1973; Chavaillon 1976). One tooth fragment (OMO 57/5-1972-371, a left lower second premolar, HC1) is assigned to P. aff. P. aethiopicus, based on its morphology (Coppens et al. 1973; Coppens 1977; Suwa 1990; Wood & Leakey 2011). Another dental remain (OMO 57/5-1972-319), a left upper first premolar, is classified as indeterminate (White 1988), or as belonging to a non-robust indeterminate hominin (Suwa 1990), or Homo aff. Homo sp. (Wood & Leakey 2011). The Oldowan assemblage is characterized by systematic knapping and therefore not derived from natural fragmentation (de la Torre 2004). The deposit is dated between 2.32 Ma and 2.23 Ma (McDougall & Brown 2008).
In Tanzania, at Oldupai, the FLK level 22 has yielded a dense Oldowan assemblage (over 255 artefacts) and abundant mammal fossils (over 3500) (Leakey 1971) dated between 1.845 +/- 0.002 and 1.839 +/- 0.005 Ma (Blumenschine et al. 2003, 2012). Four hominin individuals were identified, including the cranium OH 5 (HC1), the Paranthropus boisei holotype (formerly Zinjanthropus boisei, Leakey 1959). The site also revealed some teeth and calvaria fragments (OH 6), attributed to H. habilis (HC1) and some post-cranial bones (tibia and fibula, OH 35) attributed to either P. boisei or H. habilis as these fossils are associated with OH 5 or OH 6.
The same association is also observed at FLK NN level 3 in Bed I at Oldupai. In this site numerous Oldowan stone artefacts were found alongside five hominin individuals, catalogued as OH 7 (juvenile mandible and cranial fragments and hand bones), holotype of Homo habilis (Leakey et al. 1964), OH 8 foot bones (paratype of H. habilis, Leakey et al. 1964), initially reported by Day & Napier (1964), OH 48 clavicle, OH 43 metatarsals and OH 49 radial shaft. The estimated age of these remains is 1.84 Ma (Deino 2012). OH 7 cranial remains are identified as H. habilis, but the allocation of the hand (OH7) and foot bones (OH8) to the same species is based on the parsimonious hypothesis of spatial association (Grine et al. 2022). However, some researchers have suggested that these hand bones (OH7) should belong to Paranthropus (Moyà-Solà et al. 2008). Conversely, the morphology of the OH 8 hallucal tarsometatarsal complex is very similar to that of modern humans, which supports an attribute to the genus Homo (Berillon 1999).
Publication Date: 2025-12-05