Olduvai Gorge is an archaeological site located in the
eastern Serengeti Plains, which is in northern Tanzania. The
gorge is a very steep sided ravine roughly 30 miles long and
295 ft. deep. Exposed deposits show rich fossil fauna, many
hominid remains and items belonging to the one of the oldest
stone tool technologies, called Olduwan. The time span of
the objects recovered date from 2,100,000 to 15,000 years
ago.
The main Olduvai Beds are in a lake basin about 16 miles
in diameter. The rocks under the basin date to 5.3 million
years ago. There have been seven major Beds distinguished
they are ranked from oldest to youngest; Bed I, Bed II, Bed
III, Bed IV, the Masek Beds, the Ndutu Beds, and Baisiusiu
Beds.
Bed I dates to 2,100,000 years old and is 197 feet thick.
It is mainly formed of lava flows, volcanic-ash deposits and
other sediments. The upper part of the bed contains varied
fauna and evidence of the Olduwan industry. Skeletal remains
of hominids are assigned to the Homo Habilis an
Australopithecus Boisei families. Campsites and what is
believed to be a butchery site have also been excavated from
this bed.
The Hominid living sites in Bed I are found mainly where
streams from the volcanic highlands carried fresh water to
Olduvai lake. The conditions for the preservation of the
sites is mainly due to the ash falls from the nearby
volcanoes and the inconsistency of the lake's depth. The
debris found at the sites are various Olduwan tools, bone
and teeth from animals, mainly from fair sized antelopes.
Also a loosely built circle of lava blocks was found,
suggesting that crude shelters were formed here as well.
The living sites in Beds II-IV are normally found in what
would have been river and stream channels. Therefore, many
of the sites were displaced by water action.
Bed II is 66-98 feet thick and is 1,150,000 to 1,700,000
years old. It has two main divisions of rock layer, upper
and lower, that were separated by an erosional break. The
lower part of Bed II is similar to Bed I. The upper part was
formed after fault shifts had reduced the ancient lakes
size. It is in this part of Bed II that the development of
the Acheulian industry starts to show. Here also are the
remains of Homo Habilis, Homo Erectus and Australopithecus
Boisei.
The gorge was modified by fault shifting and erosion. It
is after these geographical changes that Beds III and IV
were created. These two Beds range from 1,150,00 to 600,000
years ago. These two Beds are separable only in the eastern
part of the gorge and are combined elsewhere into a single
unit. They have a maximum thickness of about 98 feet and
consists mainly of sediment from streams that fed Olduvai
Lake.
During a period of major faulting and volcanism roughly
400,000 to 600,000 years ago, the Masek Beds accumulated.
They are up to 82 ft. thick and again contain mostly stream
sediments with some aeolian (wind-worked) tuff. It is
assumed the climate at this time was probably much like
today based on the deposits found there. There is only one
major archaeological site found in these beds and it is of
the Acheulian tool industry.
The Ndutu Beds were formed by faulting, erosion and the
filling of the gorge around 32,000 years ago. It consists
mainly of aeolian tuff. In this Bed two sites have been
found which date to the Middle Stone Age.
The last of the archaeological Beds is the Naisiusiu. It
lays in the bottom of the Gorge at what is now the present
depth. It only has a depth of 33 ft and also consists of
aeolian tuff. It contains one site that has microlithic
tools and one complete Homo Sapien skeleton, both of which
date to 17,000 years ago.
Mrs
Maggie Mlengeya (Managing Director)
Email:
serengetiso@yahoo.com
Tel
255-27-253 7095 OR Cell
255-748-40 6996
Or
Rafiki
Africa, New Mwanza Hotel.
Tel
255-28- 49040 OR Cell
255-748- 32 1180
Email:
rafikiafrika@yahoo.com
Or
Kirstin
Lightfoot,
567
SE Shoemaker Place, Pullman,
WA 99163, USA.
Tel
509-339-24-9, Email: kirstin@vetmed.wsu.edu
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