Mapping Africa's

Olorgesailie

Olorgesailie is an Earlier Stone Age Acheulian site situated between Mounts Olorgesailie and Esakut in southern Kenya and within the world famous East African Rift Valley. The sedimentary basin was once filled by the now extinct lake Olorgesailie that dried up at around 200,000 years ago and provides some of the most important information about the region’s past climatic and environmental changes. The site is well known for the large number of handaxes with other bifacial tools which have been linked to the early hominin record, particularly Homo erectus dating around 900,000 years ago in the region. It also contains a plethora of fossilised faunal remains, some of which date as far back as 1.2 million years ago.

  • Catwalk where handaxes are displayed washing out of sediment
  • A close-up of diatomite layers at Olorgesailie

Did you know?

The land on which the site is located was donated to the National Museums of Kenya (NMK) by the Maasai community who continue to live there today. To find out more about Olorgesailie visit the National Museums of Kenya.

Sources
1. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, East African Research Projects. “Olorgesailie: Life and Times of the Handaxe Makers” [Link]
2. National Museums of Kenya. “Sites and Monuments, Olorgesailie” [Link]