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Why might Olduvai animal-bone sites have been tool caches instead of home bases?

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An illustration of Homo habilis, an early human ancestor, shown walking upright with a hairy body and ape-like features. A scale beside the figure indicates height in inches and centimeters. — Homo habilis Artist's rendering of *Homo habilis*, which lived from 2 to 1.5 million years ago.

The interpretation of Olduvai Gorge sites as "home bases" is debated because there is no evidence that Homo habilis actually resided where animal bones and stone tools accumulated. These locations were likely dangerous, as the presence of carcasses would have attracted numerous predators.1

Instead of serving as residential home bases, these sites may have functioned as caches of stone tools and raw materials. By strategically placing these caches in convenient areas, H. habilis could facilitate the rapid processing of animal parts scavenged from kills made by other predators. This model suggests that the accumulation of artifacts and fossils was a result of opportunistic foraging and processing activities rather than a reflection of a settled social structure.1