Paleoanthropological Survey of a Late Miocene-Early Pliocene Site

Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland OH

Investigators

Abstract

This project will survey a new site in Ethiopia that may contain fossils and archaeological evidence of early human (hominin) ancestors around 5 to 6 million years ago. The site was previously identified as potentially fossil-bearing using satellite imagery data. A team of investigators with many combined years of paleontological and archaeological experience will survey a 100 square kilometer area to identify and document any fossils and artifacts and gather geological data. If new fossils and artifacts are found at this site, they could expand our understanding of the environmental and biological pressures that led to the evolution of key human adaptations like walking upright, stone tool use, and meat eating. The project will support science education, training, and conservation in the local community, and among US and Ethiopian students, researchers and the US public. This project, submitted in response to the High-Risk Research in Biological Anthropology and Archaeology (HRRBAA) solicitation, is a two-week field survey of a previously unexplored area, known as Asale, in the Danakil Depression in the Afar Regional State, Ethiopia, to document the presence of paleontological and archeological remains. The investigators are a highly qualified group of paleoanthropologists with a long history of successful work in Ethiopia and in Africa more broadly. They have a strong familiarity with the Mio-Pleistocene fauna of the Afar region, paleoecological reconstruction, and isotopic geochemistry. They will assess the paleoanthropological potential of volcanic and sedimentary deposits with the goal of documenting earlier stages of human evolution and its context, specifically the Miocene-Pliocene boundary when hominins first appear in the fossil record. Data from the site may also provide information about the geographic distribution of taxa and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. The project supports science conservation efforts, and if the site contains hominin data, the larger ensuing project would support training of students and communication of findings to the general public through university scientific outreach programs. The project is jointly supported by the Biological Anthropology and Archaeology Programs at NSF.