%0 Journal Article
%A Arcos Fernández, Saleta
%A Sevilla García, María Paloma
%A Fernández Jalvo, Yolanda
%T Preliminary small mammal taphonomy of FLK NW level 20(Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania)
%D 2010
%@ 0033-5894
%U https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/42057
%X The Bed-I series of Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) is a reference site in human evolution, having yielded theholotypes of Paranthropus boisei and Homo habilis, together with manufactured artefacts and abundant largeand micro-fauna. Excavations in Olduvai Gorge have been recently resumed, with new aims and new results.This paper presents the results of the taphonomic analysis carried out on a fossil small-mammal assemblagerecovered from FLK NW level 20, a layer overlying Tuff C, dated from 1.84 Ma. The analysis provides goodevidence of a category 1 predator, most likely a barn owl, as the predator of the bone assemblage. Tramplingand sediment compression might influence postdepositional breakage of the bones. This study is especiallyrelevant since previous taphonomic analyses carried out at levels above and below this sample led toinconclusive results due to a low number of fossils (Fernández-Jalvo et al., 1998). The new sample providesnew information to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental context in which early hominins inhabited.
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