From excavation at FLK North levels 1–2 in 1960–1962, Mary Leakey reported approximately 1200 Oldowan artifacts and 3300 large mammal fossils as a hominin “living floor”. Preliminary taphonomic analysis by Bunn seemed supportive, based on the presence of some cut-marked bones, the concentration of several dozen bovid individuals, and the relative abundance of limbs and mandibles over other axial elements. Recent taphonomic analysis of Leakey's entire fossil assemblage by Domínguez-Rodrigo and Barba, however, documents a minor hominin role at the site, contrasted to the dominant role of carnivores. Felids brought prey animals; hyenas scavenged from abandoned felid meals. At different times, hominins butchered several bovids and discarded artifacts at this dynamic location. Since 2006, renewed excavations at FLK North and other sites by the Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project (TOPPP) have expanded artifact and fossil samples and implemented new analytical approaches to clarify taphonomic histories of the Olduvai paleolandscape. At FLK North, > 1000 new large mammal fossils from levels 1 to 2 show minimal butchery evidence amid abundant evidence of carnivore gnawing/fracture, rodent gnawing, and sediment abrasion. To help guide future excavation and analyses, we have developed several alternative working hypotheses of site formation.

FLK North is one of the densest concentrations of fossils found in Olduvai Gorge. A recent taphonomic re-evaluation of the collection excavated by Leakey at the site suggests that it was a palimpsest in which most of the animals were accumulated and modified by carnivores. The lithic tools therefore seem to have an independent depositional history from most of the fauna. The present study, based on new excavations, expands the evidence supporting this interpretation and demonstrates a thicker deposit than was reported by Leakey, including new archaeological levels. It also shows that in the few instances where hominins butchered carcasses, meat, not marrow, was their main target. This argues against passive scavenging hypotheses, which emphasize the dietary role of marrow, and instead underscores the importance of meat in the diet of early Pleistocene hominins.

Examination of marks on a bone from Blombos Cave reveals that they were intentionally engraved and there is evidence of bone working techniques at the site. Engraved designs have also been identified on pieces of ochre from Blombos Cave, suggesting such engraving was a symbolic act with symbolic meaning.