‘We hunt to share’: social dynamics and very large mammal butchery during the Oldowan–Acheulean transition

The Early Pleistocene (2.58–0.78 Ma) was a period of major evolutionary changes in the hominin lineage. progressive consolidation bipedal locomotion, alongside increases cranial capacity and behavioural flexibility, allowed early Homo to exploit an increasing diversity resources environmental settings within changing landscapes East Africa beyond. These complex processes were not necessarily linear or spatially uniform, given technological documented, particularly during Oldowan–Acheulean transition. In this paper, we argue that human populations experienced considerable demographic expansion from c.1.7–1.5 Ma onwards, expressed number, size, density, distribution archaeological sites. patterns resulted interplay high-yielding animal resource exploitation strategies, investment, prosocial behaviours as well increasingly structured land use patterns. A more consolidated structure led extinction large sympatric carnivore species, while larger group sizes would have successful Out-of-Africa dispersals.