The evolution of hominin behavior during the OldowaneAcheulean transition: Recent evidence from Olduvai Gorge and Peninj (Tanzania)

The emergence of human behavior, understood as a distinct adaptive pattern among primates, which created a material record in the form of archaeological sites, has been widely studied during the Oldowan phase of human evolution. Behavior, as a crucial part of adaptation, is tightly linked to ecology. The Olduvai Paleoecology and Paleoanthropology Project (TOPPP) stressed the importance of studying archaeological sites and the behavior represented therein within their broader paleoecological settings. A multidisciplinary effort integrating the geology, paleobotany, paleochemistry and archaeology of Olduvai Bed I was published as a monographic issue of Quaternary Research in 2010. In this collective work, compelling evidence was provided of the heuristic value of conceiving archaeology within the broader framework of paleoecology. In the past five years, TOPPP has collected a wealth of information from a diversity of sites both at Olduvai Bed I and Bed II, including most of the few anthropogenic sites that are categorized as Developed Oldowan and Acheulean. This information is archaeological (technological, behavioral, taphonomic) as well as geomorphological, geological, geochemical, paleobotanical and paleontological. Using this information jointly, we can address the evolution of human behavior from the Oldowan through Developed Oldowan and Acheulean in conjunction with the evolution of landscapes in two of the most important localities for this type of study in Africa: Olduvai Gorge and Peninj (Lake Natron) (Tanzania). The relevance of this information for Quaternary and human evolutionary studies is evident. There is a vacuum of behavioral information for Developed Oldowan and Acheulean hominins in comparison with older Oldowan hominins. Site functionality is basically unknown in these more recent sites. The comparison of the three types of archaeological record and their landscapes will contribute to understand this crucial part of human evolution. Understanding to what extent Homo erectus hominins were behaviorally similar or different from early Homowill contribute to more accurate reconstructions of the evolution of subsequent Homo taxa. The present volume introduces important advances made on the reconstruction of Bed I hominin paleoecology during the Oldowan and its transition into the Acheulean during the formation of Bed II. Bunge (1998) argued that to scientifically address any topic, it was necessary to properly define the object of study prior to the formulation of hypotheses (Domínguez-Rodrigo, 2012). Unfortunately, this has not been frequently done in archaeological research dealing with the Acheulean. The definition of Acheulean is still a