ARCHAEOLOGICAL PREDICTIONS FOR HOMINID LAND-USE IN THE PALEO-OLDUVAI BASIN, TANZANIA, DURING LOWERMOST BED-II TIMES

We present a preliminary predictive model of Oldowan stone artefact an d scavenged larger mammal bone assemblages for 11 landscape facets mod eled earlier to occur across a large portion (>300 km(2)) of the paleo -Olduvai Basin during lowermost Bed II times. This second phase of mod el-building is based on our earlier characterizations of the basin's l andscape ecostructure and the inter-facet distribution of key resource s and hazards probably encountered by Late Pliocene hominids (Peters & Blumenschine, 1995, 1996). Our current-extension of the model of homi nid-landscape interactions specifies additional theoretical components , including: (1) the assumed capabilities of Oldowan hominids (presuma bly Homo habilis, primarily); (2) the landscape-facet-specific tasks t hey carried out; (3) the immediate stone and bone task residues they p roduced; and (4) the predicted composition, condition, density, and cl ustering of stone artefact and butchered and unbutchered bone assembla ges for each facet. We develop ecological linkages between these new a nd formerly reported modeling components, the most fundamental of whic h is the facet-specific degree of tree/shrub cover abundance, and the correlated degree of competition among larger carnivores and hominids for scavengeable larger mammal carcasses. These factors condition vari ability among landscape facets in scavenging opportunities encountered by hominids, which in our model is the major predictor of bone and st one artefact assemblage composition. The predictive value of scavengin g reflects the bias of paleoanthropological traces toward technology a nd butchery in their landscape context, bur the model is surprisingly insensitive to what are usually thought to be critical social componen ts of hominid land use. The predictions for the traces of hominid-land scape interactions modeled herein can be tested in the future against the landscape archaeological sample being excavated from lowermost Bed II by the Olduvai Landscape Paleoanthropology Project. (C) 1998 Acade mic Press Limited.