High Risk Exploratory Research -- Paleontological Survey of the Lake Rukwa Basin, Tanzania

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

Historically, Tanzania has served as a major source for evidence into the evolution of humankind. In the relatively unexplored southwestern portion of the country, the Rukwa Basin presents favorable conditions for the preservation and recovery of primate fossil remains. The current project will be a survey and reconnaissance of this area to collect paleontological, and geological, samples relevant to human evolution from this relatively unexamined area. The Rukwa Basin is a northwest trending rift roughly 300km by 50km. Geologic surveys have identified four major stratigraphic units with the most relevant being the Lake Bed deposits dated roughly 10 -- 0.1 million years ago. The objectives of the project are as follows 1) survey of the Rukwa Basin; 2) collection of hominin fossils; 3) collection of other fossils, and geological specimens, relevant to dating of the area, or reconstruction of the paleoenvironment. Human origin studies have thrived in the past few decades from a variety of advances in analytical approach, or from the application of technology including medical imaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT). Few advances, however, have as dramatic and immediate an impact as the announcement of new fossil finds. The past decade alone has seen one new genus and several new species of early hominin described. Equally important are reports expanding the known geographic distribution of some species (e.g., Australopithecus boisei in Ethiopia; Homo rudolfensis in Malawi). The proposed survey of the Rukwa basin hopes to add to the early hominin database by discovering new fossils and/or increasing the understanding of the ecological circumstances of human evolution.