Reconstructing Olduvai

Dr. Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo is a Professor of Prehistory in the University of Alcalá’s Department of History and Philosophy. He is co-director of Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA) and of the Olduvai Palaeoanthropology and Palaeoecology Project (TOPPP). He has also co-directed paleoanthropological projects in Peninj, Eyasi, and Olduvai Gorge and has been guest professor at the Universities of Harvard, Rutgers, St. Louis, and Rice. His specialties are taphonomy and palaoanthropology. Dr. Lucía Cobo-Sánchez is a Researcher with the Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and Evolution of Human Behavior (ICArEHB) at the University of Algarve. She obtained her PhD in Archaeology from the University Complutense, and her research focuses on subsistence and socio-ecological adaptations of hominins. Dr. Cobo-Sánchez’s fieldwork spans South Africa, Namibia, Iberia, Germany, and Tanzania. She is a collaborator with IDEA in several studies of early Pleistocene sites in Olduvai Gorge. Dr. Enrique Baquedano is co-director of the Institute of Evolution in Africa (IDEA) and Visiting Professor at the University of Alcalá. He is director of the Regional Archaeological Museum and co-director of the Olduvai Palaeoanthropology and Palaeoecology Project (TOPPP). His research focuses on taphonomy and historiography. Dr. Audax Mabulla is Associate Professor of Archaeology and Heritage Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam and Field Coordinator of the University’s Archaeology Unit. His research focuses on modern-day Hadza hunter-gatherers in Tanzania’s Lake Eyasi Basin, and he is an active champion of the land rights of the Hadza. Dr. Agness Gidna is principal conservator at the National Museum of Tanzania. She obtained her PhD from the University of Alcalá and is a founder of the largest Pastoral Neolithic site in sub-saharan Africa (Luxmanda Site). She is the first Tanzanian woman to hold a doctorate in Physical Anthropology and the first female research director at Olduvai Gorge, where she is a co-principal investigator of the Olduvai Palaeoanthropology and Palaeoecology Project (TOPPP). Dr. Fernando Diez-Martin is Professor of Prehistory at the University of Valladolid. His research focuses on paleoanthropology, European and African Paleolithic archaeology, lithic technology, post-sedimentary processes of anthropic character, and the history of paleoanthropological thought. His fieldwork spans Spain, Portugal, Republic of Georgia, United States, and Tanzania, with a focus on Peninj, Kilwa, and Olduvai Gorge.

Part I 1. Introduction: The discovery and excavation of David’s Site (DS) 2. The FLK Zinj paleolandscape: Reconstruction of a 1.84 Ma wooded habitat in the FLK Zinj-AMK-PTK-DS archaeological complex, Middle Bed I 3. The geological reconstruction of DS Part II 4. A brief summary of the history of the research of the Olduvai Bed I archaeological sites and their impact on the reconstruction of early hominin lifeways 5. Reconstructing early human behavior through the taphonomic analysis of DS Part III 6. Reconstructing early human behavior through the technological analysis of DS 7. Conclusions