Geological and Paleoanthropological Data Harmonization Workshop

Arizona State University, Scottsdale AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Research findings from one project or site are usually more informative about underlying phenomena when they can be compared with data from other relevant research sites. To be meaningful, such comparisons may require shared vocabulary, methods, and data formats, in addition to collaboration across research groups. This field-based workshop will bring together geologists and paleoanthropologists to discuss best practices and protocols for comparing data across research sites, using several Pliocene and early Pleistocene hominin fossil locations in the Awash basin of Ethiopia. The workshop will also generate new research questions for future collaborative projects that span beyond individual project boundaries. Participants will include graduate students, early career scientists, international scholars, and groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines. A component of this workshop will contribute to the NSF-supported PaleoCore project by helping to synthesize and standardize geological mapping data and creating a template that can be used by any other geological project. This award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering. A major impediment to the study of human origins and evolution has been that field studies are often conducted within the bounds of spatially restricted project areas. These project area boundaries are rarely based on broader ecological or geological constraints, and these limitations impede the formulation of overarching research questions that are critical for understanding hominin evolution and its context over larger scales of time and space. For geologists, conducting inter- and intraregional comparisons can be challenging as they do not always have direct knowledge of information from adjacent research project areas boundaries across which outcrops are contiguous. As a result, researchers have not effectively and comprehensively addressed broader regional-scale research questions. This workshop reflects the idea that substantial progress could be made in understanding the geological context of human evolution through better communication, collaborative work, and transparent data sharing. No one location/research project in the lower Awash River valley preserves a complete and continuous sequence of Pliocene and early Pleistocene sediments. When combined, however, they encompass an impressive temporal and spatial coverage of early hominin habitats within a complex rifting environment. There is tremendous potential to use the combined record from these project areas to evaluate how rifting has evolved and to explore the interplay between climate, tectonics, hominin evolution, and paleoecology in the Afar. The workshop will also result in a report that discusses best practices for planning and conducting research across separate but related research sites.