Olduvai Gorge

Olduvai Groge is a valley in the Serengeti Plains at the western margin of the Eastern Rift Valley in northern Tanzania. The formations discussed in this volume, Beds I and II, were deposited in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene and have yielded large quantities of the remains of early man, in the form of bones and stone tools and evidence of the environment in which they lived. Bed I, in which remains of Australopithecus boisei and Homo habilis have been found, is firmly dated between 1.9 million years for the lowest level and 1.65 million years for a level below the top. This third volume describes the excavations. In Part I, starting with the lowest levels and devoting a chapter to each main level, Dr Leakey describes the actual process of excavation and the finding of the principal remains. In Part II, Dr Leakey describes the circumstances of the discovery of the hominid skeletal remains. These range from purposive excavation to accidental discovery while collecting small stones for mixing in concrete. Finally, mammalian bones, as tools and as food remains are discussed.

List of figures; List of tables; List of plates; Introductory note; Foreword Professor J. D. Clark; Acknowledgements; Map; Introduction; Geologic background of Beds I and II: Stratigraphic summary Professor R. L. Hay; Part I: 1. Lower bed I. Site DK and site FLK NN: Level 4; 2. Middle bed I. Site FLK NN: Levels 1–3. Site FLK: the 'zinjanthropus' level and the upper levels; 3. Upper bed I and lower bed II. Site FLK north: Levels 1–6, the clay with root casts and the Deinotherium level. Site HWK east: Levels 1 and 2; 4. The lower part of middle bed II. Site HWK east: the sandy conglomerate: Levels 3–5; 5. The upper part of middle bed II. Site EF–HR. The main occupation site at MNK. Sites FC west and FC. Site SHK; 6. Upper bed II. Sites TK and BK; Part II. 7. The discoveries of hominid remains; 8. Mammalian bones from Beds I and II with evidence of hominid modification; 9. The faunal remains from the living sites in Beds I and II; 10. Summary and discussion; Appendices; References; Index.

The formations discussed in this volume, Beds I and II, were deposited in the Lower and Middle Pleistocene and have yielded large quantities of the remains of early man, in the form of bones and stone tools and evidence of the environment in which they lived.