The Lower Paleolithic archaeological sites called Lokalalei are located in the Lake Turkana region of Kenya, and are dated between 2.3 and 2.4 million years old. The site assemblage is made up of typically Oldowan artifacts, consisting of a small number of stone cores and debitage, and animal bone including extinct bovids, horses, pigs, and theropithecus.
Most importantly, one of the Lokalalei sites included a molar thought to have come from some form of Homo. If this tooth represents the maker of the stone tools, it is significantly different than the findings at Bouri, which implied an Australopithicine, tool maker.
Sources
This definition is part of the About.com Guide to the Lower Paleolithic.
Prat, Sandrine, et al. 2005 First occurrence of early Homo in the Nachukui Formation (West Turkana, Kenya) at 2.3-2.4 Myr. Journal of Human Evolution 49(2):230-240.
This glossary entry is part of the Dictionary of Archaeology. Any mistakes are the responsibility of Kris Hirst.
