Exploring the Feasibility of Landscape Archaeology at Olduvai Gorge

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Drs. Robert Blumenschine and Fidelis Masao will conduct exploratory paleoanthropological research at the site of Olduvai Gorge in Northern Tanzania to test a series of survey and analytic techniques. They wish to determine whether it is possible to distinguish materials in primary undisturbed context from those which have been eroded from elsewhere, higher up the stratigraphic sequence, and then redeposited and reburied. They will use three techniques - broad scale surface collection, intensive surface collection from squares of different size, and finally, controlled excavation - to collect series of animal bones and stone tools. These then will be analyzed and compared. The Olduvai Gorge provides crucial evidence on the development of humans because its strata contain archaeological materials which span almost two million years. Although much paleoanthropological research has been conducted at the Gorge, it has focussed, for the most part, on "sites" or dense concentrations of lithic and faunal remains. This has provided a biased picture of the prehistoric landscape and how early humans fit into it. Archaeologists have come to realize that to provide a balanced picture, areas of medium and low artifact density should be examined as well. At Olduvai, however, this may be difficult or impossible to do. Because the Gorge is so steep, materials tend to be eroded from their primary context and carried downward. To acquire distributional data which will shed light on human behavior, it is necessary to separate derived from in situ materials. Drs. Blumenschine's and Masao's work will show whether, in fact, this can be done. This research is important for several reasons. It will, hopefully, serve to develop and test analytic techniques which will be applicable in many archaeological situations. It will set the stage for a larger research project and may, in itself, increase our understanding of this important site. Since one investigator is American and the other Tanzanian, it will also foster scientific cooperation between these two countries.