Abstract
Stable carbon and oxygen isotope values from soil carbonates were used to determine the vegetation context of archaeological sites and local climatic conditions represented in a ∼0·99Ma paleosol that is exposed laterally in the Olorgesailie basin, southern Kenya rift valley. As part of this landscape-scale project, samples of an upper Member 1 paleosol were analyzed along nearly 4km of outcrop in three adjacent parts of the basin. Modern East African soil and plant community analogs are used to interpret the isotope ratios. The carbon isotopic composition of the paleosol carbonates indicates that the area supported a local biomass of about 75–100% C4plants during the period of soil formation. After averaging the data for each trench, an open C4grassland is represented by half of the carbon values, with wooded grassland more abundant across the paleolandscape than it is in the area now. This vegetational reconstruction is supported by the mammalian faunal assemblage, which has a high percentage of grazers. Although the relatively small sample size outside the main excavation area precludes firm characterization of vegetational diversity across the basin in upper Member 1 times, eastern and western localities in the study area may have had more woody C3plants than the widely sampled zone in between. Oxygen isotopes indicate that the lowland basin was slightly cooler and moister than today's semi-arid climate, with greater annual rainfall. Archaeological traces have a virtually continuous distribution across the paleolandscape, but vary in density of occurrence. With the strong evidence for C4grassland as the primary vegetation context across most of the study area, no habitat preference by the Acheulean toolmakers at Olorgesailie is shown in our initial comparison between carbon isotope values and stone/bone densities.
Published Version
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