Re: Clam bake: another proof for AAT

Our local netloon asked:


Op 22-10-2007 14:40, in artikel
1193056831.439037.50210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, Lee Olsen
<paleocity@xxxxxxxxxxx> schreef:


Already found your imaginary kelp, coconuts, and shells associated
with early Homo?

My little boy, already found 1 Homo fossil NOT associated with shells??

At Gona, Ethiopia, 2.5 Ma-old stone tools were deposited in ³floodplain
environments, close to margins of channels that carried the volcanic cobbles
used as raw materials for tool manufacture² (Semaw et al. 1997: 333).
Nearby, in the Hata Member of the Bouri Formation, hominid fossils of a
similar age to the Gona deposits were discovered in sediments containing
sandstone with bivalve and gastropod shells ³deposited by fluvial processes
associated with floodplains along distributary channels close to a shallow
fluctuating lake² (de Heinzelin et al. 1999: 625). This Member also reveals
evidence of cut and percussion marks on bones of medium and large-sized
bovids, though stone tools have so far not been discovered.
The Homo maxilla AL 666, dated to 2.3 Ma, along with a stone tool assemblage
(though no signs of butchering), was recovered from deposits of the Hadar
Formation, suggesting a landscape which was ³predominantly open, with
wetlands and bushed or wooded grasslands, and with stands of trees close to
the water source² (Kimbel et al. 1996: 559).
At Olduvai Gorge, Plio-Pleistocene Homo remains are associated with deposits
containing ³cemented aggregates of the small benthic, freshwater clam
Corbicula² as well as crocodiles, hippos and fish (Blumenschine et al. 2003:
1220). Cut and percussion marks are found on a percentage (4.2 and 8.3%
respectively) of the long bones of larger mammals. Fish and gastropods,
judging by the remains of ?living sites¹, might have been consumed at
Olduvai Gorge, while the avian fauna included abundant waders (flamingoes,
herons, storks, rails, jacanas, plovers, sandpipers and stilts), swimmers
and divers (grebes, cormorants, pelicans and ducks) as well as marine birds
(gulls, terns and skimmers) (Leakey 1979).
The earliest occurrence of the genus Homo in the Turkana Basin is associated
with floodplain deposits in which gastropods, fish, crocodiles, bovids,
equids, suids, cercopithecids and hippopotamids occur (Pratt et al. 2005).
During Plio-Pleistocene times the Turkana Basin contained a large lake
fringed by swampy wetlands as indicated by the numerous fossils of hippos,
crocodiles, fish (including a stingray, suggesting a marine connection at
the time), gastropods, bivalves, sponges and numerous ostracods. Lung fish,
water bucks, cane rats, monkeys, giraffes, buffaloes, camels, rhinoceroses
and elephants suggest a rich mosaic of wet, dry, open and closed habitats in
the vicinity of an extensive lake, or large river (Feibel et al. 1991).
The most complete skeleton of an early Homo specimen, KNM-WT 15000, the
so-called ?Turkana Boy¹ of Nariokotome, Kenya, was discovered on the western
side of the Turkana Basin. It lay among reeds and hippopotamid footprints,
and the most abundant faunal remains associated with it were water snails,
fish and turtles (see Table 6).
The Plio-Pleistocene Shungara Formation in the Omo Basin contains an
archaeological assemblage as well as molluscs (including freshwater oyster
Etheria reefs), fish, crocodiles, hippopotamids, bovids, cercopithecids,
turtles, suids and other vertebrates. The archaeological occurrences ³are
all in proximal river settings² (Clark Howell et al. 1987: 696).
In the Western Rift Valley, the Senga 5A site (2­2.3 Ma) contains artefacts
associated with gastropods, bivalves, fish, hippopotamids, suids and bovids
in a ³low-energy littoral lacustrine setting² (Harris et al. 1987: 724).
The Plio-Pleistocene Chiwondo Beds of Malawi have yielded Homo fossils as
well as fragmented remains of fish, turtles, crocodiles and large mammals.
They also contain molluscs ³in consolidated beds of carbonate cemented
sandstone. Molluscan shell beds crop out as benches up to several meters
thick and several hundred meters wide² (Schrenk et al. 1995: 59).
The late Pliocene Chemeron hominid (KNM-BC 1) was deposited in a lake filled
basin where fish remains were abundant: ³Molluscs also lived in the lake,
and locally their remains accumulated to form shelly limestones. ? There is
little doubt that the fossil came from the Upper Fish Beds² (Martyn and
Tobias 1967).
The Dmanisi Homo fossil site, dated to 1.8 Ma, is located at the confluence
of two rivers, where at the time a lake or pond had formed due to the
blocking of a river by a lava stream. ³The hominid site itself was likely
located near a lake or pond, rich in lacustrine resources. This biome,
together with the adjacent forest-steppe formations, created a highly
productive ecotone rich in animal and plant resources² (David Lordkipanidze,
personal communication to MV). The inhabitants might have eaten hackberrys,
since abundant seeds have been found at this site (Gabunia et al. 2000).
Early Pleistocene archaeological sites from the Jordan Valley include
Erk-el-Ahmar and ¹Ubeidiya. These sites are associated with lacustrine and
fluvial deposits rich in fresh water gastropod and bivalve remains as well
as fish, turtles, hippos and birds (Bar-Yosef and Tchernov 1972).
Aïn Hanech, an archaeological site in Algeria dated to about 1.8 Ma, was
formed on an alluvial floodplain cut by a meandering river (an oxbow lake),
and may indicate repeated activities by hominids at a shallow river
embankment (Sahnouni et al. 2002).
At Pabbi Hills, Pakistan, artefacts of Pliocene age, about 2 Ma, have been
discovered in deposits which also contain crocodiles, turtles, aquatic
gastropods and bivalves. The molluscs suggest a large, slow-moving river
with clean, shallow water less than five meters deep, analogous to
unpolluted sections of the Ganges River (Dennell 2004).
The site of Mojokerto (Perning), on the Island of Java has been dated to
between 1.5 and 1.8 Ma. This coastal deltaic environment (Huffman 2006)
contained fresh water and marine molluscs, which would have been easily
procured and consumed by early hominid inhabitants (Frank Wesselingh,
personal communication to SM).
At Sangiran, also on Java, where H. erectus was found, ³a thin layer of
diatoms (uni-cellular marine phytoplankton) and dark clays with a marine
musselfauna was deposited by the sea, as was noticed and described before by
Professor Martin from Leiden² (von Koenigswald 1981).
Hominids on Java were using mollusc shells to butcher mammals, presumably to
gain access to nutritious meats, as early as 1.5 Ma (Choi and Driwantoro
2007).
The archaeological site of Majuangou (Nihewan), in China, recently dated to
1.66 Ma, reveals that hominids inhabited a lake filled basin, where the
remains of aquatic molluscs, and the leaves and fruits of aquatic plants
have been discovered, indicating a low energy lakeshore or marsh environment
(Zhu et al. 2004).
In the Middle Awash of Ethiopia, the Daka Member of the Bouri Formation,
dated to 1 Ma, contains artefacts, Homo erectus cranial and post cranial
bones, abundant hippo fossils, as well as gastropods and bivalves associated
with alluvial, lakeside beaches or shallow water deposits in distributary
channels (Asfaw et al. 2002).
Buia, in Ethiopia, contains Homo erectus fossils and artefacts dated to 1
Ma. These occur in deltaic deposits of the Alat Formation, which also
contains fish and freshwater gastropod (Melanoides) remains (Abbate et al.
2004). Evidence that hominids butchered medium to large-sized bovids,
hippos, and a crocodile, also come from these deposits (Fiore et al. 2004).
A partial Homo cranium from the same stratigraphic level as Acheulian
artefacts from Olorgesailie, Kenya, has been dated to between 0.97 and 0.9
Ma. The sandy silt adhered to the frontal bone of this specimen contained
amphibian bones and the tooth of the swamp rat Otomys sp., which today
inhabits thick grasses in and around the swamps, lakes and rivers of East
Africa (Potts et al. 2004).
The Angolan site of Dungo V reveals evidence for the exploitation of a large
whale (Balaenoptera sp.) on a former beach possibly more than 1 Ma. Closely
associated with the whale skeleton were numerous Lower Palaeolithic
artefacts, together with numerous molluscs, other marine invertebrates and
shark teeth (Gutierrez et al. 2001).
The earliest evidence for human activity in northern Europe comes from the
site of Pakefield, England, about 0.7 Ma, where artefacts from estuarine
silts containing marine fauna have been discovered. The majority of
artefacts derive from ?Unio bed¹ coastal river deposits (Parfitt et al.
2005).

Etc.etc.etc.etc.



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