Association between Oldowan assemblages and Homo erectus / Homo ergaster

The association between Homo erectus / Homo ergaster specimens and Oldowan assemblages is documented in four sites (in Ethiopia, at Melka Kunture, Garba IV level 5 (HC1) and Gombore I (HC1); in Kenya in the western part of Lake Turkana, Naiyena Engol 1 (HC1); in Tanzania, at Oldupai, PTK site (HC1)) dated between 2 and 1.5-1.6 Ma (Fig. 5). I present here the discoveries from Melka Kunture, where Professor Yves Coppens worked and published some remains. In Melka Kunture, the site Garba IV, level D, yielded an Oldowan lithic assemblage and a young child’s mandible (MK 81 GAR IVE 0043, HC 1) attributed to early Homo erectus / Homo ergaster (Condemi 2004; Gallotti & Mussi 2015; Zanolli et al. 2016; Mussi et al. 2023). These remains were estimated to be slightly older than 1.7 Ma (Morgan et al. 2012; Tamrat et al. 2014; Gallotti & Mussi 2015), but are more recently considered to be around 2 Ma (Mussi et al. 2023). This site also reveals that hominins adapted to the high-altitude environment of the highlands of Melka Kunture (at or above 2000 m a.s.l.) during the Lower Pleistocene.

During the excavation of the Melka Kunture Gombore I site, a well-preserved distal portion of a left humerus (Gombore IB-7594, formally Melka Kunture 3 or MK3, HC1) was found in situ (Chavaillon & Berthelet 2004), alongside rich faunal and Oldowan assemblages, predomantly made up of pebble tools. The humerus is dated to 1.5-1.6 Ma (Morgan et al. 2012; Tamrat et al. 2014). Most authors attribute this specimen to the genus Homo (Senut 1979) and more specifically to Homo sp. (Chavaillon et al. 1977; Di Vincenzo et al. 2015) or to Homo erectus or aff. erectus (Coppens 2004; Cazenave et al. 2017). According to Coppens (2004), the robust humerus should be allocated to Homo habilis. However, Lague & Jungers (1996) suggest that this specimen should be assigned to Paranthropus boisei.