LAETOLI (Ngaloba)
LOCATION
An area of sedimentary exposures containing several
hominid and other sites in the Serengeti Plains of
northern Tanzania, about 40 km S of Olduvai Gorge.
DISCOVERY
E. Kandini, 1976.MATERIAL
Fairly complete calvaria with maxilla and part of nasal
region present.DATING AND STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT
Laetoli is best known for its Pliocene fossils and foot-
prints, deriving from the Laetolil Beds. The much
later hominid skull LH 18 was recovered at the sur-
face, but in situ, from the disconformably overlying
Ngaloba Beds. These sediments consist of water-lain
materials eroded and redeposited from the sediments
and volcanics below (Day et al., 1980). The best
estimate for the age of the Ngaloba Beds is around
120 Ka (R. L. Hay, in Day et al. 1980), based on an
adjacent tuff. This date is supported by U-series
analyses on bone that range from 129 Ka to 108 Ka
(Leakey and Harris, eds, 1987).ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
Stone artifacts have been recovered from the Ngaloba
Beds, both in situ and on the surface. They represent aMiddle Stone Age assemblage apparently similar to
those found at Lake Eyasi and in the Ndutu Beds
exposed at Olduvai Gorge (Day, 1986).PREVIOUS DESCRIPTIONS AND ANALYSES
Initial description was by Day et al. (1980). These
authors found that LH 18 represented “an early East
African example of sub-Saharan Homo sapiens” (p. 56),
pointed to its possession of “some modern features and
some that are archaic” (p. 56), and compared it to a
wide variety of Middle and Late Pleistocene hominids.
The specimen has not been monographed, but those
who have mentioned it subsequently in passing have
mostly regarded LH 18 as “archaic,” only a minority
emphasizing its resemblances to modern humans.
Holloway (2000) gives a cranial capacity of 1367 ml.MORPHOLOGY
Adult. Damaged calotte reconstructed from numerous
fragments; R temporal attached; L temporal detached
but present; also maxilla with partial dentition. Some
distortion, especially of frontal. Bone of vault quite
thick, especially around midline and in occipital region.Calotte
Long, narrow, with long frontal bone. In side profile,
frontal gently rises from directly behind thick supraor-
bital tori; no posttoral sulcus. Profile rise arcs up and
back to peak above region of auditory meatus. Posterior164