Publication: Preliminary small mammal taphonomy of FLK NW level 20
(Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)
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2010
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Elsevier
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Abstract
The Bed-I series of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) is a reference site in human evolution, having yielded the
holotypes of Paranthropus boisei and Homo habilis, together with manufactured artefacts and abundant large
and micro-fauna. Excavations in Olduvai Gorge have been recently resumed, with new aims and new results.
This paper presents the results of the taphonomic analysis carried out on a fossil small-mammal assemblage
recovered from FLK NW level 20, a layer overlying Tuff C, dated from 1.84 Ma. The analysis provides good
evidence of a category 1 predator, most likely a barn owl, as the predator of the bone assemblage. Trampling
and sediment compression might influence postdepositional breakage of the bones. This study is especially
relevant since previous taphonomic analyses carried out at levels above and below this sample led to
inconclusive results due to a low number of fossils (Fernández-Jalvo et al., 1998). The new sample provides
new information to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental context in which early hominins inhabited.