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| Geographical range | Afro-Eurasia |
|---|---|
| Period | Lower Paleolithic |
| Dates | 2.9 million years BP – 1.7 million years |
| Major sites | Olduvai Gorge |
| Preceded by | Lomekwi 3[1] |
| Followed by | Acheulean |
| The Paleolithic |
|---|
| ↑ Pliocene (before Homo) |
| ↓ Mesolithic |
The Oldowan (or Mode I) was a widespread stone tool archaeological industry (style) in prehistory. These early tools were simple, usually made by chipping one, or a few, flakes off a stone using another stone. Oldowan tools were used during the Lower Paleolithic period, 2.9 million years ago up until at least 1.7 million years ago (Ma), by ancient Hominins (early humans) across much of Africa. This technological industry was followed by the more sophisticated Acheulean industry (two sites associated with Homo erectus at Gona in the Afar Region of Ethiopia dating from 1.5 and 1.26 million years ago have both Oldowan and Acheulean tools[2]).
The term Oldowan is taken from the site of Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, where the first Oldowan stone tools were discovered by the archaeologist Louis Leakey in the 1930s. However, some contemporary archaeologists and palaeoanthropologists prefer to use the term Mode 1 tools to designate pebble tool industries (including Oldowan), with Mode 2 designating bifacially worked tools (including Acheulean handaxes), Mode 3 designating prepared-core tools, and so forth.[3]
Classification of Oldowan tools is still somewhat contentious. Mary Leakey was the first to create a system to classify Oldowan assemblages, and built her system based on prescribed use. The system included choppers, scrapers, and pounders.[4][5] However, more recent classifications of Oldowan assemblages have been made that focus primarily on manufacture due to the problematic nature of assuming use from stone artefacts. An example is Isaac et al.'s tri-modal categories of "Flaked Pieces" (cores/choppers), "Detached Pieces" (flakes and fragments), "Pounded Pieces" (cobbles utilized as hammerstones, etc.) and "Unmodified Pieces" (manuports, stones transported to sites).[6] Oldowan tools are sometimes called "pebble tools", so named because the blanks chosen for their production already resemble, in pebble form, the final product.[7]
It is not known for sure which hominin species created and used Oldowan tools. Its emergence is often associated with the species Australopithecus garhi[8] and its flourishing with early species of Homo such as H. habilis and H. ergaster. Early Homo erectus appears to inherit Oldowan technology and refines it into the Acheulean industry beginning 1.7 million years ago.[9]
- ^ The Oldowan is classically considered the oldest industry of the Lower Paleolithic. The postulate of an even earlier, possibly pre-human (australopithecine) "Lomekwian" industry is due to Harmand, S.; et al. (2015). "3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya". Nature. 521 (7552): 310–315. Bibcode:2015Natur.521..310H. doi:10.1038/nature14464. PMID 25993961. S2CID 1207285.
- ^ Semaw, Sileshi; Rogers, Michael J.; Simpson, Scott W.; Levin, Naomi E.; Quade, Jay; Dunbar, Nelia; McIntosh, William C.; Cáceres, Isabel; Stinchcomb, Gary E.; Holloway, Ralph L.; Brown, Francis H.; Butler, Robert F.; Stout, Dietrich; Everett, Melanie (4 March 2020). "Co-occurrence of Acheulian and Oldowan artifacts with Homo erectus cranial fossils from Gona, Afar, Ethiopia". Science Advances. 6 (10): eaaw4694. Bibcode:2020SciA....6.4694S. doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaw4694. PMC 7056306. PMID 32181331.
- ^ Clark, J. G. D. (1969). World prehistory: a new outline. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- ^ Clark, J.; de Heinzelin, J.; Schick, K.; Hart, W.; White, T.; WoldeGabriel, G.; Walter, R.; Suwa, G.; Asfaw, B.; Vrba, E.; et al. (1994). "African Homo erectus: Old radiometric ages and young Oldowan assemblages in the middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia". Science. 264 (5167): 1907–1909. Bibcode:1994Sci...264.1907C. doi:10.1126/science.8009220. PMID 8009220. S2CID 43698095.
- ^ Leakey, Mary D. (1976) [1971]. "A Summary and Discussion of the Archaeological Evidence from Bed I and Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania". In Isaac, Glynn Llywelyn (ed.). Human origins: Louis Leakey and the East African evidence. pp. 431–460. ISBN 978-080539942-4. OCLC 2288094.
- ^ Isaac, G. Ll., Harris, J. W. K. & Marshall, F. 1981. "Small is informative: the application of the study of mini-sites and least effort criteria in the interpretation of the Early Pleistocene archaeological record at Koobi Fora, Kenya." in "Inter-nacional de Ciencias Prehistoricas Y Protohistoricas", Mexico City. Mexico, pp. 101–119.
- ^ Napier, J. (November 1962). "Fossil Hand Bones from Olduvai Gorge". Nature. 196 (4853): 409–411. Bibcode:1962Natur.196..409N. doi:10.1038/196409a0. S2CID 41163323.
- ^ De Heinzelin, J; Clark, JD; White, T; Hart, W; Renne, P; Woldegabriel, G; Beyene, Y; Vrba, E (1999). "Environment and behavior of 2.5-million-year-old Bouri hominids". Science. 284 (5414): 625–9. Bibcode:1999Sci...284..625D. doi:10.1126/science.284.5414.625. PMID 10213682. S2CID 6620385.
- ^ Richards, M. P. (December 2002). "A brief review of the archaeological evidence for Palaeolithic and Neolithic subsistence". European Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 56 (12): 1270–1278. doi:10.1038/sj.ejcn.1601646. ISSN 1476-5640. PMID 12494313.