Archaeology and Paleoenvironments of the Kapthurin Formation, Baringo, Kenya

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With support from the National Science Foundation Dr. Sally McBrearty will conduct archaeological research in the Baringo Basin region of Kenya. In particular she will focus on the Kapthurin Formation in the Tugen Hills. Previous archaeological research in the area has yielded a stratified sequence of archaeological sites as well as a small amount of hominid (human) skeletal material. Building on previous work done by a Belgian team she will conduct archaeological, geological and paleontological prospecting and mapping. Limited excavation will also be carried out. Sediment samples will be collected to determine age by means of argon dating. Geochemical fingerprinting will serve to check on field stratigraphic correlations and x-ray fluorescence analysis will provide a technique to provenience surface fossils whose stratigraphic position is unclear. Dr. McBrearty will use stone artifacts and archaeological fauna in an attempt to reconstruct human behavior. A number of techniques, including soil carbonate analysis will be employed to understand the fluxuating environment to which these hominids adapted. While a number of lines of evidence - archaeological, paleontological and genetic - suggest that anatomically modern humans first appeared in sub Saharan Africa just when and where this occurred is unknown. What interests paleoanthropologists most however is the process which lead to this emergence and here also little evidence is available. Dr. McBrearty's research will address this issue. Information to date suggests that the transition took place during the Middle Pleistocene and the Kapthurin Formation encompasses this time period. Prior work indicates that it contains archaeological materials and fauna as well as human remains. Dr. McBrearty's work will increase this data base and bring a wide range of modern scientific techniques to bear in order to make interpretations. This research is important for several reasons. It will increase our understanding of Africa's past. It will provide data of interest to a large number of paleoanthropologists and shed new light on the emergence of modern humans.