Abstract
Recent investigations of Lower Pleistocene sites at Chesowanja have yielded in situ Oldowan and Oldowan-like stone artefacts, evidence of fire and a fragmentary ‘robust’ australopithecine cranium. Burnt clay found at one artefact locality dated to >1.42±0.07 Myr is the earliest known evidence of fire associated with a hominid occupation site.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Carney, J., Hill, A., Miller, J. A. & Walker, A. Nature 230, 509–514 (1971).
Bishop, W. W., Pickford, M. & Hill, A. Nature 258, 204–208 (1975).
Bishop, W. W., Hill, A. & Pickford, M. in Geological Background to Fossil Man (ed. Bishop, W. W.) 309–327 (Scottish Academic, Edinburgh 1978).
Harris, J. W. K. & Gowlett, J. A. J. in Proc. 8th Panafrican Congr. of Prehist. & Quat. Stud., Nairobi (TILLMIAP, 1980).
Hooker, P. J. & Miller, J. A. Nature 282, 710–712 (1979).
Leakey, M. D. Olduvai Gorge Vol. 3 (Cambridge University Press, 1971).
Hay, R. L. Geology of the Olduvai Gorge (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976).
Harris, J. W. K. & Herbich, I. in Geological background to Fossil Man (ed. Bishop, W. W.) 529–547 (Scottish Academic, Edinburgh, 1978).
Leakey, M., Tobias, P. V., Martyn, J. E. & Leakey, R. E. F. Proc. prehist. Soc. 35, 48–76 (1969).
Gowlett, J. A. J. in Geological Background to Fossil Man (ed. Bishop, W. W.) 337–360 (Scottish Academic, Edinburgh, 1978).
Tobias, P. V. Olduvai Gorge Vol. 2 (Cambridge University Press, 1967).
Rak, Y. & Howell, F. C. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 48, 345–366 (1978).
Rak, Y. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 49, 71–78 (1978).
Holloway, R. L. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 37, 173–186 (1972).
Tobias, P. V. in Anthropology and Human Genetics (Fischer, Stuttgart, 1968).
Holloway, R. L. Am. J. phys. Anthrop. 54, 109–118 (1981).
Oakley, K. P. in Social Life of Early Man (ed. Washburn, S. L) 176–193 (Wenner Gren, New York, 1961).
Kretzoi, M. & Vértes, L. Curr. Anthrop. 6, 74–87 (1965).
De Lumley, H. (ed.) La Préhistoire Francaise Vol. 1, 823 (CNRS, Paris, 1976).
Isaac, G. L1. Olorgesailie, 94 (University of Chicago Press, 1977).
Barbetti, M., Wintle, A. & Flude, K. in Harris, J. W. K., thesis, Univ. California, 556–583 (1978).
Barbetti, M., Clark, J. D., Williams, F. M. & Williams, M. A. J. Anthropologie 18(2,3), 299–304 (1980).
Walton, D. Nature 277, 643–644 (1979).
Rogers, J., Fox, J. M. W. & Aitken, M. J. Nature 277, 645–646 (1979).
Tylecote, R. F. Metallurgy in Archaeology (Arnold, London, 1962).
Stinson, K. J. & Wright, H. A. J. Range Management 22, 169–174 (1966).
Walker, A. C. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B 292, 57–64 (1981).
Wood, B. A. in Recent Advances in Primatology (eds Chivers, D. J. & Joysey, J. A.) 349–372 (Academic, London, 1978).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gowlett, J., Harris, J., Walton, D. et al. Early archaeological sites, hominid remains and traces of fire from Chesowanja, Kenya. Nature 294, 125–129 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/294125a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/294125a0
- Springer Nature Limited
This article is cited by
-
Impact of a recent wildfire on tortoises at Cape Point, South Africa, and implications for the interpretation of heated bones in the archaeological record
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2023)
-
Early evidence of fire in south-western Europe: the Acheulean site of Gruta da Aroeira (Torres Novas, Portugal)
Scientific Reports (2020)
-
Dedicated core-on-anvil production of bladelet-like flakes in the Acheulean at Thomas Quarry I - L1 (Casablanca, Morocco)
Scientific Reports (2020)