This site , located two kilometres to the east of Lake Elementeita along the main Nairobi-Nakuru highway, is an Acheulian site characterised, like Olorgesailie, by the presence of heavy hand axes and cleavers. A walk through the site takes visitors through several excavation pits, undertaken by Louis Leakey in 1928, each displaying a scattered assortment of stone tools, many made from obsidian: the black volcanic rock found in lava flows.
Kenya is well known internationally for her palaeontological and archaeological sites; materials from sites such as Kariandusi are a major source of information about the history of humankind, particularly biological and cultural evolution.
Kariandusi is also important because of the commercial mining activities at the diatomite deposits nearby. The opening of the mines, apart from unveiling more archaeological materials, has made it possible for dating of the site by use of pumice and other datable materials in the sediments. Apart from the open excavation sites, there is a small site museum with displays of excavated fossils and stone tools. |