Couleuvre
Couleuvre is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Courçais
Courçais is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Coutansouze
Coutansouze is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Couzon
Couzon is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Créchy
Créchy is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Cressanges
Cressanges is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Creuzier-le-Neuf
Creuzier-le-Neuf is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Creuzier-le-Vieux
Creuzier-le-Vieux is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Deneuille-lès-Chantelle
Deneuille-lès-Chantelle is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Cusset
Cusset is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Deneuille-les-Mines
Deneuille-les-Mines is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Désertines, Allier
Désertines is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Deux-Chaises
Deux-Chaises is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Diou, Allier
Diou is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Domérat
Domérat is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Dompierre-sur-Besbre
Dompierre-sur-Besbre is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Doyet
Doyet is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Droiturier
Droiturier is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Durdat-Larequille
Durdat-Larequille is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Ébreuil
Ébreuil is a commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Échassières
Échassières is a commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Vicq, Allier
Vicq is a commune. It is found in the Allier department in the center of France.
Murat, Allier
Murat is a commune. It is found in the Allier department in the center of France.
Nades
Nades is a commune. It is found in the Allier department in the center of France.
Nassigny
Nassigny is a commune. It is found in the Allier department in the center of France.
Naves, Allier
Naves is a commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
La Petite-Marche
La Petite-Marche is a commune. It is found in the Allier department in the center of France.
Escurolles
Escurolles is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Espinasse-Vozelle
Espinasse-Vozelle is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France.
Estivareilles, Allier
Estivareilles is a French commune. It is in the Allier department in the center of France. It is about 10 km north of Montluçon on the right-hand side of the Cher river. There is a lavoir (a public washing basin), a lantern of the dead and a church from the nineteenth century.
Étroussat
Étroussat is a commune. It is found in the Allier department in the center of France.
Koobi Fora
Koobi Fora is a region around Koobi Fora Ridge, on the eastern shore of Lake Turkana, Kenya. It is in the territory of the nomadic Gabbra people. The term East Turkana can be used for the whole area.
The ridge is an outcrop of mainly Pliocene/Pleistocene sediments. It is composed of claystones, siltstones, and sandstones that preserve numerous fossils of land mammals, including early hominin species. The ridge is being eroded into a badlands terrain by a series of ephemeral rivers that drain into the northeast portion of modern Lake Turkana.
In 1968 Richard Leakey established the Koobi Fora Base Camp on a large sandspit projecting into the lake near the ridge, which he called the Koobi Fora Spit. A survey and numerous excavations showed the region was a source of hominin fossils from the last 4.2 million years. Far exceeding the number of humanoid fossils are the non-humanoid fossils, which give us a look at the fauna and flora as far back as the Miocene.
In 1973, the government of Kenya reserved the region as Sibiloi National Park, establishing a headquarters for the National Museums of Kenya on Koobi Fora Spit. The reserve is well-maintained and is well-guarded by friendly but armed park police. Protection of sites and especially of wildlife are of prime concern.
Exploration and excavation are done by the Koobi Fora Research Project (KFRP), which collaborates with universities and individuals around the world.
The simple hierarchy of scientific places for Koobi Fora is the following: Koobi Fora is the region; the region is divided into fossil collecting areas; within fossil collection areas there are archaeological sites and hominid paleontological localities.
Locating and referencing the hundreds of sites in the Koobi Fora region has been an ongoing process. The entire reservation was divided into somewhat over 100 numbered areas. In the year 2000 the KFRP went over to a GPS system.
Some notable areas are as follows.
The first archaeological site, i.e., FxJj 1, was found in Area 105. It is nicknamed the KBS site for Kay Behrensmeyer Site, after the researcher who first found stone tools there. This site is also the place where the first tuff was found, i.e., the KBS Tuff.
It is known as the location of skull 1470, discovered by Bernard Ngeneo in 1972, reconstructed by Meave Leakey, later reconstructed and named "Homo habilis" by Richard Leakey, as possibly the first of the genus "Homo", and finally "Homo rudolfensis". Richard Leakey found it 45 m below the 1.89 my KBS tuff; thus, it is older than that date, but is conventionally dated to it.
Searching for and finding fossils in such a large area is another difficult problem. One solution has been to organize all persons present into a group to sweep a designated area. Richard Leakey devised a method that produced better results: he organized and trained a search team of Kenyans, which became known as "the hominid gang", under the leadership of Kamoya Kimeu. They have discovered the majority of the fossil Hominins, which currently amount to over 200.
Koobi Fora is perhaps best known for its specimens of the genus "Homo", but those of the genus "Australopithecus" also have been found. The following species are represented:
"Australopithecus" and "Homo" seem to have coexisted in the region for about one million years. One possible explanation is different food sources. It is believed that "Australopithecus" became extinct and "Homo" went on to generate later species.
Large quantities of stone tools have been found at Koobi Fora both on the surface and in caches, which have dates of their own, but are seldom in association with hominins. No other candidates for their manufacture have been found, however. The tools are Oldowan and Acheulean. The Koobi Fora community has devised the following teminology to describe three local industries:
With the change from Olduwan to Acheulean technique, hominins got more of a return for a given output of energy and could do more. The chief technological development was the edge of the handax. The advantage of the "core reduction strategy" was more and thinner flakes per mass of cores. More and better flakes meant better use of carcasses and therefore a need for fewer carcasses, less hunting, etc. Moreover, the increased number of flakes available made ranging farther from the source of the stone possible and gave more staying power to the hunt.
Koobi Fora is underlain by Pliocene basalts and filled with nearly 600 meters of Pliocene-Pleistocene sediments, dating from about four-million to one-million years ago.