Social and cultural dynamics of human groups with Acheulean technology in the Olduvai Gorge

• Dates of activity: 2023
• Funding: Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte. Ayudas proyectos arqueológicos en el exterior. Convocatoria 2022.
• Principal investigators: Susana Rubio-Jara (Universidad Complutense de Madrid) y Joaquín Panera Gallego (Universidad Complutense de Madrid)
• MAN researcher: Juan Antonio Martos Romero
• Research team: Manuel Santonja (IDEA); Alfredo Pérez-González (IDEA); Abel Moclán Ramos (IDEA); Patricia Bello-Alonso (Universidad de Vigo); Beatriz Ugarte (Universidad Complutense)

In the Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania), the archaeological site of Thiongo Korongo, c. 1.3 Ma, preserves one of the largest concentrations of stone tools from the early Acheulian period, together with a large number of skeletal remains. The study of human behaviour during the Lower and Middle Pleistocene has focused mainly on chronostratigraphic, technological and zooarchaeological evidence. However, the relationship between the technological strategies used to make stone tools and resource use, functionality, ecosystem and climate have not been systematically analysed. These constitute fundamental pieces to advance in the knowledge of the behavioural patterns of human groups during this period. With these premises, the general objectives of the project are: to analyse the social dynamics of human groups in the early phases of the Acheulean; to analyse subsistence behaviour at Thiongo Korongo, considering that there was a repeated occupation of the same space over a prolonged period of time; and to evaluate the influence of the functionality of the sites and their different archaeological levels on the production of lithic tools.

This research is part of 'The Olduvai Paleonthropology and Paleoecology Project' co-directed by Manuel Domínguez-Rodrigo, Enrique Baquedano and Audax Mabulla.