Provenancing of Hominid and Mammalian Fossils from Kanjera, Kenya, using EDXRF
Date
1994Author
Plummer, Thomas W.
Kinyua, A.Muriithi
Potts, Richard
Type
ArticleLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
We describe a rapid, non-destructive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) technique for provenancing fossil bone, and apply it to surface collected fossils from Kanjera, Kenya. The locality is best known for its controversial anatomically modern human fossils, potentially among the earliest from Africa. Excavations of the 1987-1988 Smithsonian Expedition provided the in situ fossil sample necessary to provenance the previous finds. Relative Sr, Y, Zr, U, Rb, Rn and Th concentrations were used to characterize 301 fossils from six stratigraphic units, the sources of the surface fossils. Important fossils from past Kanjera expeditions, including the hominid and Theropithecus oswaldi samples, were analysed and their relative elemental values used to assign them to a reference sample. The hominids post-date Kanjera Formation deposition. The T. oswaldi fossils are largely attributable to the early Pleistocene Kanjera Bed KN-2A. Secondary deposition of Kanjera Formation fossils into later strata was noted.
Keywords
Kenya, Kanjera, Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence, Fossil Provenancing, Hominids, Baboons
URI
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440384710545http://hdl.handle.net/11295/64607
Citation
Journal of Archaeological Science Volume 21, Issue 4, July 1994, Pages 553–563Publisher
University of Nairobi