Methods of determining early hominid behavioral activities associated with the controlled use of fire at FxJj 20 Main, Koobi Fora, Kenva

Abstract

Abstract A methodological approach which can discriminate between archaeological evidence of fire resulting from natural processes and archaeological evidence of fire resulting from human activities has recently been used to identify evidence of hominid-controlled fire at FxJj 20 Main, an early Pleistocene archaeological site near Koobi Fora, Kenya. The evidence of fire at FxJj 20 Main consists of highly localized, fully oxidized sediment features found near the base of the archaeological horizon. Similar features are preserved at the nearby sites of FxJj 20 East and FxJj 20 AB, but evidence of hominid-controlled fire has not yet been confirmed at these sites. The use and control of fire is regarded as a major technological breakthrough which would have provided hominids with a number of adaptive advantages that have important evolutionary implications. The virtual lack of thermally-altered stone artifacts and bones, the localized configurations of the oxidized features, and the spatial patterning of the artifacts in relation to the oxidized features, indicate that the early hominids did not use fire for the purpose of hunting, cooking, preserving food, intentional plant selection, vegetation clearing, or improving the flaking characteristics of lithic materials. At present, it appears that the early hominids at FxJj 20 Main used controlled fire primarily as a source of protection against predators, as a source of light, and/or as a source of heat.