Taphonomy and Paleoichnology of Olduvai Hominid 1 (OH1), Tanzania

This paper presents a case study of the Late Pleistocene skeletal remains of Olduvai Hominid 1, which were unearthed in Tanzania. Excavated in 1913, this fossil shows severe damage due to subterranean termites (Insecta: Isoptera). By combining methods to quantify and locate traces on the skeleton wi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational journal of osteoarchaeology Vol. 27; no. 5; pp. 785 - 800
Main Authors Matu, M., Crevecoeur, I., Huchet, J.‐B.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Chichester Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.09.2017
Wiley
Subjects
bone surface modification
East Africa
Forensic anthropology
Forensic osteology
Hominids
human burial
Humanities and Social Sciences
insect damage
Late Pleistocene
Olduvai
termite
Termites
topography of traces
Tanzania
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Summary:This paper presents a case study of the Late Pleistocene skeletal remains of Olduvai Hominid 1, which were unearthed in Tanzania. Excavated in 1913, this fossil shows severe damage due to subterranean termites (Insecta: Isoptera). By combining methods to quantify and locate traces on the skeleton with the study of the different taphonomic processes that altered the deposit, we demonstrate a non‐arbitrary pattern of termite alteration of the skeletal remains. These results shed new light on the possibility to reconstruct the original position of a skeleton in a deposit and the potential to infer the space of decomposition and past funerary practices. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1047-482X
1099-1212
DOI:10.1002/oa.2593