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Part III. Regional Studies in the Gregory Rift Valley |
This paper reports on excavations which have been carried out at an Acheulian site complex situated in Kenya on the western flank of the Rift Valley north-west of Nakuru. There is a profusion of stone implements on the ground, and excavations supplemented by surface studies indicate that large numbers of hand-axes, cleavers, other artefacts and manuports are concentrated mainly on a single extensive horizon, interpreted as an occupation surface. Artefacts occur across an area of at least 14 000 sq. m., though density of remains is variable. Two excavations have produced artefact samples of similar composition, and the biface groups are remarkably similar, even though the trenches were sited 60 m apart This homogeneity in material from the main horizon is not maintained in other occurrences, which include a flake horizon, an area with stone blocks in and around a hollow and two low density sites with bifaces some distance from the main site and at a higher level.
The site is valuable not only for its size and horizontal continuity, but also for its superb context with artefacts lying undisturbed on a clayey surface, and for its strategic location between other Acheulian sites. In the conclusion, comparisons are drawn with some other sites. Palaeomagnetic determinations suggest that the site complex is likely to be older than 0.7 m.y.
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This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
Interim Report of the 1973 and 1974 Excavations
