Paleoanthropological Exploration of the Otavi Mountain Land,Namibia

纳米比亚奥塔维山地的古人类学探索

• 批准号: 9121666
• 负责人: Glenn Conroy
• 金额: $ 9.95万
• 依托单位: Washington University School of Medicine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1992
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1992-04-01 至 1998-09-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9121666&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Paleoanthropological; Exploration; Otavi; Mountain; Land

The primary objective of this proposal is to continue paleontological exploration of cave deposits in the Otavi Mountains of northern Namibia. During the past year Conroy and colleagues discovered in this area the first Miocene hominoid known from southern Africa. The fossil has been named Otavipithecus and it exhibits a number of features which differentiate it from other middle Miocene hominoids from Eurasia and other areas of Africa. Dating by association places Otavipithecus between 12 and 14 MYA. A number of other deposits have been identified in the Otavi region which require systematic exploration. The discovery of three separate fossil faunas at the Otavi site of Berg Aukas (both Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene) will allow the investigators to track faunal and, by inference, paleoecological changes through rime in this part of Africa. The discovery of Otavipithecus significantly extends the range of hominoids in this time period. As a result hypotheses which view East Africa and/or Eurasia as the foci for hominoid evolution may need to be re-evaluated. Indications are that Miocene Namibia was relatively humid in contrast to the semi-arid conditions of Oligocene and modern Namibia. The Otavi deposits have great potential for providing information on vertebrate evolution and paleoclimate and ecological change in Southern Africa over a span of 16 million years.

这项建议的主要目标是继续对纳米比亚北部奥塔维山脉的洞穴沉积物进行古生物学勘探。在过去的一年里，康罗伊和他的同事们在这个地区发现了非洲南部已知的第一个中新世古人类。这块化石被命名为Otavipithecus，它展示了许多特征，这些特征使它与欧亚大陆和非洲其他地区的其他中新世中期人科动物区别开来。根据关联年代测定，Otavipithecus在距今12至14万年之间。在奥塔维地区还发现了其他一些需要系统勘探的矿床。在Berg Aukas的Otavi遗址发现了三种不同的动物化石（都是中新世和上新世-更新世），这将使研究人员能够追踪非洲这一地区的动物，并由此推断出古生态的变化。Otavipithecus的发现大大扩展了这一时期人科动物的范围。因此，将东非和/或欧亚大陆视为类人猿进化中心的假设可能需要重新评估。表明中新世纳米比亚相对湿润，相对于渐新世和现代纳米比亚的半干旱条件。奥塔维沉积物具有很大的潜力，可以为研究1600万年来南部非洲的脊椎动物进化、古气候和生态变化提供信息。