title: Analysis of orientation patterns in Olduvai Bed I assemblages using GIS techniques: implications for site formation processes.
abstract: Mary Leakey's excavations at Olduvai Beds I and II provided an unparalleled wealth of data on the archaeology of the early Pleistocene. We have been able to obtain axial orientations of the Bed I bone and stone tools by applying GIS methods to the site plans contained in the Olduvai Volume 3 monograph (Leakey, 1971). Our analysis indicates that the Bed I assemblages show preferred orientations, probably caused by natural agents such as water disturbance. These results, based on new GIS techniques applied to paleoanthropological studies, have important implications for the understanding of the formative agents of Olduvai sites and the behavioral meaning of the bone and lithic accumulations in Bed I.
authors.affiliation: Centro Nacional de Investigación sobrela Evolución Humana, Paseo Sierra de Atapuerca s/n, 09002 Burgos, Spain. alfonso.benito@cenieh.es
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Benito-Calvo
authors.forename: Ignacio
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: de la Torre
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D055593:Geological Phenomena; D015186:Hominidae; D010163:Paleontology / Q000379:methods*; D045483:Rivers; D013636:Tanzania; D053001:Tool Use Behavior