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Even in the absence of Homo sapiens remains, the advanced nature of some of the Oldowan tools raises questions about the correctness of attributing their manufacture to a creature as primitive as Homo habilis. The Leakeys found in Bed I of Olduvai Gorge bola stones and an apparent leather-working tool that might have been used to fashion leather cords for the bolas (Section 5.3.2). Using bola stones to capture game would seem to require a degree of intelligence and dexterity beyond that possessed by Homo habilis. This concern is heightened by the recent discovery of a relatively complete skeleton of Homo habilis, which shows this hominid to have been far more apelike than scientists previously imagined (Section 11.7).

It should be kept in mind that Homo sapiens fossils are quite rare even at Late Pleistocene sites where, according to conventional views, they should be expected to be found. Marcellin Boule (Boule and Vallois 1957, p. 145) noted that scientists searching for human fossils in the Prince’s Cave at Grimaldi in southern Europe sifted through four thousand cubic yards of deposits without finding a single human bone. Nevertheless, stone tools and animal remains were both abundant in the cave. Thus the absence of Homo sapiens fossils at a particular site does not eliminate Homo sapiens as the maker of stone tools found there.

Furthermore, as described in Chapters 6 and 11, fossil skeletal remains of human beings of the fully modern type have been discovered by scientists in strata at least as old as the lower levels of Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Among them may be numbered the fossil human skeleton discovered in 1913 by Dr. Hans Reck in Bed II of Olduvai Gorge (Section 11.1), and some fossil human femurs discovered by Richard Leakey at Lake Turkana, Kenya, in a formation slightly older than Bed I at Olduvai (Section 11.3). Bed I is now dated at approximately

1.75 million years, and the top of bed II is dated at about 0.7–1.0 million years (M. Leakey 1971, pp. 14–15).

It is, therefore, not correct to say that there is no fossil evidence whatsoever for a fully human presence in the lower levels of Olduvai Gorge. In addition to fossil evidence, we have a report from Mary Leakey (1971, p. 24) about a controversial circular formation of stones at the DK site in lower Bed I: “On the north side, where the circle was best preserved, there were groups of stones piled up into small heaps. It is possible to identify six of these piles which rise to a height of 6–9 in. and are spaced at intervals of 2–2.5 ft., suggesting that they may have been placed as supports for branches or poles stuck into the ground to form a windbreak or rough shelter.”

Leakey then continued: “In general appearance the circle resembles temporary structures often made by present-day nomadic peoples who build a low stone wall round their dwellings to serve either as a windbreak or as a base to support upright branches which are bent over and covered with either skins or grass” (M. Leakey 1971, p. 24). For the purpose of illustration, Mary Leakey provided a photograph of such a temporary shelter made by the Okombambi tribe of South West Africa (now Namibia).

Not everyone agreed with Leakey’s interpretation of the stone circle. But accepting Leakey’s version, the obvious question may be raised: if she believed the structure resembled those made by “present-day nomadic peoples” like the Okombambi, then why could she not assume that anatomically modern humans made the Olduvai stone circle 1.75 million years ago?

The same assumption might easily be made about even the crudest stone tools. Leakey stated in her book: “An interesting present-day example of unretouched flakes used as cutting tools has recently been recorded in SouthWest Africa and may be mentioned briefly. An expedition from the State Museum, Windhoek, discovered two stone-using groups of the Ova Tjimba people who not only make choppers for breaking open bones and for other heavy work, but also employ simple flakes, un-retouched and un-hafted,