Gowlett, JAJ; Manthi, FK; Shipton, CBK; (2023) Kariandusi, Kenya. In: Beyin, A and Wright, DK and Wilkins, J and Olszewski, DI, (eds.) Handbook of Pleistocene Archaeology of Africa: Hominin behavior, geography, and chronology. (pp. 563-576). Springer International Publishing: Cham, Switzerland.

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Abstract

Kariandusi (0.45°S, 36.28°E) was one of the first early archaeological sites known in East Africa, discovered by Louis Leakey’s second expedition of 1928–1929 (Leakey, 1931, 1936). The site lies on the eastern side of the Gregory Rift Valley, about 120 km NNW of Nairobi, and about 2 km to the east of Lake Elmenteita (Fig. 1). The Acheulean localities face across the lake and the Rift Valley floor. The Nakuru-Elmenteita basin is flanked by Menengai volcano on the north, and by the volcanic pile of Mount Eburru on the south, visible from Kariandusi. The western wall of the rift, the Mau Escarpment of the Rift, can also be seen some 35 km away (Fig. 2). In the present day, the basin contains the small lakes of Elmenteita, close to the sites, and Lake Nakuru, which is out of sight beyond Lion Hill. Geologists have been fascinated with the history of the lakes since the pioneering investigations in the area a century ago. According to McCall (1966), the diatomites at Kariandusi were first reported by Hobley in 1909; the sediments were later described by Gregory (1921). The diatomite, with its strikingly white hue and more than 30 m deep, is an indicator of large and deep lakes in the past.

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