Under the direction of Dr. J.W.K. Harris, Jack McCoy will conduct extensive field survey and excavation of 2 million year old sediment deposits at Koobi Fora in Northern Kenya. This doctoral dissertation project is designed to identify, characterize and describe archaeological occurrences principally through the proxy of hominid (early human) modified fossil bone exhibiting evidence of meat consumption and stone tool use. Using stone tools to process a carcass for meat and marrow produces distinctive modification marks (cut marks, percussion marks) on fresh bone. These marks are often preserved on the bone as it becomes fossilized. Evidence (stone tools and cut marked fossil bone) of an established pattern of this novel new meat consumption behavior prior to 2.3 million years ago has been discovered to the north in Ethiopia and only a short distance to the west at Lokalalei in Kenya. And yet, at Koobi Fora, where the fossil remains of over three dozen hominids (genera: Australopithecus & Homo) have been recovered from Upper Burgi (2.2-1.9 million years old) exposures virtually nothing is known of hominid behavior, ecology, or material culture during this period. Extensive paleontological and archaeological research previously conducted at Koobi Fora did not focus on archaeological traces from the Upper Burgi period; a pivotal time in hominid evolution.
Koobi Fora encompasses an area of over 3,000 square kilometers. Approximately 1,000 square kilometers are exposed ancient deposits spanning the last 4 million years. Because of the unique nature and vast lateral extent of the exposures, a large variety of ancient landscapes and habitats can be identified in the sediments. The selection of widely separated areas of investigation makes it possible, utilizing modified bone and stone tools as markers on the landscape, to develop a regional view of hominid activities and movements during this time period. Recognition of the distribution patterns of these markers across widely different geographic locations and paleoenvironments will allow one to address theoretical questions of hominid habitat preference, as well as changes in diet and behavior which have not been addressed elsewhere at this early stage of human evolution. Significantly, this research goes beyond the discovery and initial description of the archaeological traces and examines the circumstances that made stone tools adaptive at the onset of a novel new hominid behavior (carnivory) that would eventually become habitual. It is expected that this research will become part of a long term basin-wide comparative study that will address the changing nature of the earliest archaeological record in the Turkana Basin over time.
On a broader perspective, this project has the potential to confirm the usefulness of modified fossil bone as an unequivocal proxy for stone tool use. If fossil bone fragments with a modification signature indicative of hominid activity have visibility in the geological record then it will become possible to identify hominid presence and behavior patterns where no stone tool evidence (traditional archaeological record) is known to exist. Stone tools from Gona in Ethiopia, dated at 2.6 million years old, presently define the onset of the archaeological record. Testable hypotheses about hominid behavior prior to 2.6 million years ago can only be formulated if the hominids can be located on the ancient landscape. Cut marked bone and percussion fractured shaft fragments may provide that opportunity and could become the basis of a new paradigm from which to investigate the true onset of the archaeological record.
