Use-wear analysis from Thiongo Korongo site (Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania): approach to economic activities developed in the African Acheulean

Abstract

The study presented here is part of a research project that aims to determine the functionality of the acheulean lithic industry recovered at Thiongo Korongo (TK) archaeological site (Upper section of Olduvai’s Bed II, ca. 1,353 ± 0,035 Ma.) (Santonja et al. 2014; 2016 submitted). This approach follows the most recent studies whose aim is to understand the use-wear developed in a specific chronological, environmental, technological and human anthropological reality (Lemorini et al. 2014). In this poster we present the preliminary results of our experimental use-wear analysis of TK. Prior to the study of the archaeological record we created a use-wear reference collection with experimental tools made on raw materials similar to those found at Olduvai Gorge sites (quartz and volcanic rocks), including local quartzite brought from TK. This reference collection is necessary to understand the development of use-wear on these materials for a correct identification of use-related traces on the archaeological material (Pedergnana, Ollé 2016). The results obtained will be combined with techno-functional studies conducted at other Acheulean sites (Mora, De la Torre 2005; Díez-Martín et al. 2009) and current research in order to reconstruct the economic activities at the TK site.