Use and exploitation of aquatic resources by premodern hominids: the case of Africa

Abstract

The present work considers the possibility of the use and exploitation of aquatic resources of  malacofauna  and  icthyofauna  by  premodern  hominids  in  Africa.  We  analyse  the  dynamic  and  determining lake paleocological systems of the Olduvai Gorge and Koobi Fora Ridge, as favourable habitats  for  the  consumption  of  aquatic  food  products,  and  we  give  taphonomic  evidence  of  icthyofauna. We also show possible models of capture such as opportunistic foraging types “R” and “T” and riverside foraging. These are strategies which might have been used for capturing icthyofauna of the Claridae and Cichlidae families; such high quality food must have been essential for brain maintenance and development in the first hominids.