Renewed field investigations of Pliocene sediments at Lomekwi

University Of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia MO

Investigators

Abstract

This project investigates early human relatives (hominins) and the environment they lived in 3.5 to 3.3 million years ago, through continued paleontological fieldwork at the site of Lomekwi, Kenya. Recent fossil discoveries, including from Lomekwi, have revealed more hominin diversity than was previously known for that time period. Furthermore, stone tools were recently discovered at Lomekwi, predating the origin of our genus Homo by over one half million years. This fieldwork will help uncover who the first toolmakers were and if there was something special about the environment of the region that spawned species diversity or the advance in technological behavior. The project will strengthen international collaborative ties between the United States and Kenya, and educate students from both countries working together in paleontology and public outreach. The project will bring journalism students, education specialists and scientists together to collaborate in developing middle school and high school teaching materials on human prehistory and science designed to meet Next Generation educational standards for national distribution. Paleontological research at Lomekwi is aimed at recovering more hominin fossils (3.5-3.3 Ma) and characterizing their paleoecological context. Until recently, the only known middle Pliocene hominin was Australopithecus afarensis, and hominin diversity appeared to have blossomed only later. With additional fossil data, it now appears that more than one hominin, and perhaps several, coexisted in the mid-Pliocene, most notably Kenyanthropus platyops from Lomekwi. Also, the recent announcement of 3.3 Ma stone tools from Lomekwi suggests that at least some pre-Homo hominins had more advanced material culture earlier than previously imagined. The appearance of stone tools and hominin diversity raises fundamental questions about local and regional environmental and/or biogeographic factors that may have influenced hominins in West Turkana in the mid-Pliocene. Finding more fossils at Lomekwi stands to reveal how many hominins were present at that time, whether K. platyops is indeed a valid taxon, who the Lomekwian tool makers may have been, and what paleoenvironmental factors may have influenced their diversity and behavior. This project will support an international collaborative team, undergraduate and graduate student training, local community science education and outreach, and science curriculum development. Joint funding for this project is provided by the National Science Foundation's Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).