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Kapthurin Formation of Kenya, Full-Scale Block Excavation, with Some 52-M2 Surface Which Preserves a Welldated Sequence Ofacheulian Excavated in 2001

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Kapthurin Formation of Kenya, Full-Scale Block Excavation, with Some 52-M2 Surface Which Preserves a Welldated Sequence Ofacheulian Excavated in 2001 WAMEAKUMA The Kaptlrnrin Formation The Kapthurin Formation is exposed west of Middle Pleistocene shes from Lake Baringo, Kenya, and forms the Middle the 'southern" Kapthurin Pleistoctneportionofthe~mHillssequence(see Formation of Kenya Hill 2002 and refirences therein). Hominid remains have been rccovcftd from sediments bracketed by Christian A. Tryon the Pumice Tuffmcmbcr(K2) and the 'Grcy Tuff;' University of Connecticut now dated by the 'OArPAr method to between 509 Department of Anthropology 9 ka and 543 f 4 ka @em and McBrearty 2002; BOX U-2176 Wood 1999). Archaeological sites arc aUriile Storrs, Connecticut, 06269, USA the Acheulian, MSA and possibly Sangoan and E-mail: [email protected] Faunsrmth.* TheseoccurwithintheMiddleSihsand Gravels member (K3) and tbc overlying Bddcd Tuff member (K4), the latter a complex of tufibous de positsandintercalatcdscdiment(Tal1m 1976,1978, Introduction Cornelissen et al. 1990; McBrearty et d. 1996; McBrearty 1999; Tryon and McBrearty 2002~). Fossil and genetic evidence is consistent with Tcphmstxatigraphic correlatim and a sequence of Afiican origin for sapiens during Mid- an Homo the '"ArPArdates on Wand lava document the tempo- dle Pleistocene (Stringer and An- 1988; Howell ral succession and age of these sites. This work has 1999; McBWand Brooks 2000). One notable demonstrated the complexity of the Acheulien-MSA feature of the Afican Middle Pleistocene archaeo- aansitioq with intmtmtified Achwlian and MSA logical word is the end Of the IMg-livad A&& sites,andshown~thistransitimwithiatheBaringo Industrial Complex and its replacement by diverse basin had by -285 Ica (TIYOUand McBrtarty industries of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) (Isaac 200% bin0 and McBreglty 2002). 1982; Clark 1994; McBrearty 2001). Evidence for a suite of novel behaviors that characterize- modern& RiwarcbaeologicalresearchmtheKapthurin recentforagcrsisassociatcdwithh4iddlePkistocene Formation focused on exposum north of the Ndau MSA sites, and the earliest Homo sapiens fossils arc River, witb only cursory exambation of more south- found with MSA artifacts (see Clark 1988; Deacoo erly areas (McBrearty a al. 1996566-570). slpvey and Deacon 1999; McBrearty and Brooks 2000 for in 2001 focused on -40 kmf of additional geologi- recent summaries). cally mapped Kapthurin Formation sediments (Martyn 1969; Tallon 1976) soutb of the Ndau River, These suggest significant behavioral data an area informally designated the "suuthem" changes during the Middle Pleistocene hominids by Kapthurin Formation. employing MSA technology. Previously, only broad contrasts between Acheulian and MSA sites were possible due to a lack of Afican sites with a well- Survey Objectives and Results preserved, dated, continuous sedimentary and ar- chaeological record spanning the Acheulian-MSA FUM investigations conducted in the southern Formation were directed at recovery transition (Clark 1982; Wendorf d. 1994). By Kapthurin the er Of additid archae~logical and fossil ~~llect- examining this transition in detail, we may begin to sitn ing localities, well detailed tephrostratigraphic understand the causes underlying hominid behavioral as as obmtioas of the Bedded Tamember. Walkover adaptations that drove this change, as well as begin survey of known lasted fhm 8 May- 1 June to test recent hypotheses comlating the advent of exposures the MSA with hominid speciation and dispersal 2001, followed by test trenching at GnJh-75 and (Foley and Lahr 1997; Lahr and Foley 1998,200 I). Koimilot (GRm-74). Koimilot WBS later Chosen for Recent research in the Kapthurin Formation of Kenya, full-scale block excavation, with some 52-m2 surface which preserves a welldated sequence ofAcheulian excavated in 2001. 'lbnty sites, primarily and MSA sites, is therefore relevant to this scattm,werediscovatd~gthes\pvey,withfour discussion. sites re-investigated (Table 1 and Figure 1). Tht 6 NYAMEAKUAU No. 57Jum 2002 Figure 1: Archaeological and fossil sites hm the southern Kapthrvin Famatian. Included arc archaeological andpelaeOntologicalsites~the2001survcy(seeTable 1). Localities26-28wereinitialiyreportedbyMcBrtarty ef 2. I,sw, plant 7 Table 1: Southern Kapthurin FcUmation sits fomd during 2001 sur~y Site Name SASES c4mtealt Wgraphy AtQibUtiOn Loc. 39 Galh-13 artifactsandfauna K4 Acheulian-MSA Loc. 40 -12 artifactsandh K3 Acheulw Loc. 100 GnJh-64 mtifacts K4 ?ssngoan-MsA Loc. 101 GnJh-65 artifactsandf;auna K3 Actaculh Loc. 102 artifactsandfauna I K3 I Acheulian ~ ~~~ ~ - Lac. 103 artifactsandfauna K3 Acheulian Loc. 104 artifacts K3 Indctuminate Loc. 105 GnJh-69 artifacts K3 and K4 ?Acheulian 19 Loc. 106 GnJh-70 artifacts K3 Indeterminate Loc. 107 GnJh-71 artifacts K3 Acheulian-MSA ~~ l1 Loc. 108 artifacts K4 Acheulian I I 12 Loc. 109 Grim-72 fa\pna K3 NIA Loc. 110 -73 artifactssndhuna K3 ?MSA I 14 ~LQc.111 artifactsandfauna K3 Acheulian 15 Loc. 112 Galh-8 artifactsandfauna K4 Achedim 16 Loc. 113 GoJh-9 fauna K3 NIA 17 Loc. 114 GoJh-10 artifacts K3 Acheulian 18 Loc. 115 GnJh-76 artifacts K4 Acheulian 19 Loc. 116 Go&- 1 1 idfacts K4 Acheulian GnJh-75 artifbasandfauna K4? MSA 21 Koimilot GnJh-74 artifactsandhuna K4 MSA (Loc. 118) 22 Loc. 119 GnJh-77 artifiicts K4 MSA 23 N y ogonyek GoJh- 1 artifactsandhum I K4Moloccnesed I MSA-LSA 24 Logumkum GoJi-7 artifacts and fauna Ilosowuani Fm. MSA-Rmt 8 NYAME AKUMA No. 57 June 2002 approximate spatial extent of each site was deter- containing rarc points and Levallois cores at GoJh- mined in the field, as was sedimentary and 13 and Grim-71, and more extensive s\irface scatters stratigraphic context. A Magellan 3 IS GPS unit pro- at Logumkum (GoJi-7), Nyogonyek (GoJh-1), and vided precise locational data, and usell for Koimilot (GnJh-74). Artifacts from Logumkum of Farrand et ul. 1976) include attribution of a site to period or industxy- were col- (Logumkum TV lected. Artifacts and fossils are presently housed at Lcvalloisanddiscoidalcores,Le~loiSpointSasweU as scrapers and bifacial points made on Levallois the Archaeology Division of the National Museums ' of Kenya (NMK) in Nairobi. flakes; rare artiEacts are of obsidian. These lie on an up-fiiultcd sedimentary sequence of lacustrine sedi- ment and W,assigned to the Ilosuowani Foxmation Southern Kapthurin Formation (Tiercelin and Vicens 1987; Le Turdu et aZ. 1995). Paleontology and Archaeology Nyogonyek is a large eroded area containing multi- ple dense patches of many of them The 2001 was successll in identifl- artifacts, typo- survey logically Stone Age, reported by Fanand ing a suite of previously unknown paleontological Later first et ul. (1976). An artifact concentration discovered and archaeological localitieshm southem exposum in 2001 consists ofnumerous Levallois flakes of the Kapthurin Formation. Sites ocdwithin cores, and points, produced by lineal well convergent alluvial and lacustrine sediments, in multiple as as temp andunipolarrecurrentmethods(cfB& 1994). The raYstratigraphic contexts. Although in situ fossils artifacts are apparently within down-faulted were observed and recovered hmmultiple locali- sediments of a lacustrine hies of the Middle Silts ties, fossil fauna are generally neither abundant nor and Gravels member (Tallon 1976; Fanand et ul. well preserved in the southern Kapthurin Formation. 1976; McBrearty 1999). Plant fossils are occasionally found, at times in growth position, within layers of &-fall tuf€(Tallon 1976, Excavation at Koimilot (GnJh-74) recovered personal observation). Two tephra layers rich in both two stratified MSA assemblages (Tryon and grass and leaf impressions bracket the excavations McBrearty 2002b) (Figures 3 and 4). Over 2000 ar- at Koimilot. tifacts were movered from the 36-m2excavation at Locus 1, the stratigraphically lower of the two Archaeological variability in the southern as- semblages. occur in a -IO-cm-thick hori- Kapthurin Formation is comparable to that found Artifacts zon within fine-grained overbank sediments, north of the Ndau River (e.g. Cornelissen 1992; with refitting sets within the excavated area as well McBrearty et ul. 1996; McBrearty 1999). Sites at- hm as between the excavation and surface finds. Is+ tributable to the Acheulian Industrial Complex are lated teeth and tooth hgments comprise the recov- well represented handaxes and cleavers, produced by ered fauna The lithic assemblage consists of casu- from a range of fine-to-coarse grained lavas. These ally flaked large cobbles, well a dense debitage implements were prodyced from side and end-struck as as concentration and associated centripetally flaked flakes, from cobbles (GoJh-12) and the Kombewa cores that apparently reflect a Levalloismode of flake method (Gnlh-76). A large Levallois flake, similar production. Retouched pieces are rare. Locus 2 is to those used for handaxe production at LHA (Leakqr adjacent to and stratigraphically higher than 1 er a1 1969) was also recovered in situ from within Locus (Figures 3,4 and 6). The 12-m2 excavation recov- the Bedded Tuff at GnJh-62. Picks, found in the ered -150 from within a 10-an-thick zone Acheulian but often considered characteristic of the artifacts fiom five of the excavated meters. Artifacts Sangoan, were found in situ at GnJh-66, and have are as- sociated with fine-to-coarse sands, and include large been reported fiom elsewhere in the Kapthurin For- length 2 10 points and elongated mation (Cornelissen 1995). Cores include a variety (max. cm)Levallois flakes, a centripetally flaked Levallois core, a blade of single and multiple platform, discoidal and rare core and ochre. Future research will systematically
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