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Early archaeological sites, hominid remains and traces of fire from Chesowanja, Kenya

Abstract

Recent investigations of Lower Pleistocene sites at Chesowanja have yielded in situ Oldowan and Oldowan-like stone artefacts, evidence of fire and a fragmentary ‘robust’ australopithecine cranium. Burnt clay found at one artefact locality dated to >1.42±0.07 Myr is the earliest known evidence of fire associated with a hominid occupation site.

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Gowlett, J., Harris, J., Walton, D. et al. Early archaeological sites, hominid remains and traces of fire from Chesowanja, Kenya. Nature 294, 125–129 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/294125a0

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