Pliocene Paleontology and Geology of the Middle Awash Valley Ethiopia

一段时间以前，在非洲南部的古生物研究工作确定了南方古猿是人类家族的祖先，并揭示了早期人类化石记录的广泛多样性。随后在非洲东部的Olduvai峡谷（Leakey's）和其他地方，包括Hadar (Johansen)，扩展了已知的早期人类的地理和时间分布，并导致对更大的多样性和复杂性的认识。埃塞俄比亚的中阿瓦什，岩石跨越晚中新世到晚更新世，是非洲大陆研究人类起源和进化最重要的自然实验室。这里的数据涉及的问题非常广泛，包括过去500万年人类进化的速度和模式，石器技术和生存模式的起源和演变，以及全球气候变化与人类进化事件之间的关系。这个杰出团队的早期工作表明，阿瓦什盆地提供的是生命的“快照”，而不是含化石沉积物的连续序列。他们发现了各种新的考古发现和脊椎动物化石，包括来自六个不同时间跨度350万年的早期人类遗骸。研究的调查阶段即将结束，现在有可能将人类进化研究中正在进行的问题与这个丰富而复杂的资源库的资源相匹配。由这笔拨款支持的工作将在三套上新世人类矿床上进行，这些矿床已经产生了一些非常有趣的早期人类化石。田野调查将为关键问题提供关键数据——1)已知最早的原始人，2)南方古猿阿法种的骨骼生物学，以及人属的起源。到目前为止，古生物学家还无法解决这些问题，因为该网站将提供的化石和背景数据集不足。该项目在培训来自不发达国家的专业人员并与之合作方面也有着无与伦比的记录。* * * P人类学\ jfried \ \ 9318698。腹肌)是吗？!!!D)) (Times New Roman Symbol & Arial _ _ _ _ _ ^”h (4 %54 %-4 % # I = Jonathan Friedlaender乔纳森·弗里德兰德尔

ABSTRACT P.I. Tim White SBR- 9318698 Some time ago, paleontological work in southern Africa established Australopithecus as an ancestor of the human family and also revealed extensive diversity in the early human fossil record. Subsequent work in eastern Africa at Olduvai Gorge (the Leakey's) and elsewhere, including Hadar (Johansen), extended the known geographic and temporal distributions of early hominids and led to the recognition of even greater diversity and complexity. The Middle Awash in Ethiopia, with rocks spanning the Late Miocene through Late Pleistocene, is the continent's most important natural laboratory for the study of human origins and evolution. Data from here bear on issues as wide-ranging as the tempo and mode of hominid evolution across the last five million years, the origins and evolution of stone tool technology and subsistence patterns, and the relationships between global climate change and events in hominid evolution. The earlier work of this outstanding team has shown that the Awash basin provides 'snapshots' of life through time rather than a continuous succession of fossil bearing sediments. They have discovered a variety of new archaeological occurrences and fossil vertebrates, including early hominid remains from six separate time horizons spanning 3.5 million years. The survey phase of the research is drawing to a close, and it is now possible to match ongoing problems in human evolutionary studies with the resources of this rich and complex repository. The work to be supported by this grant will work on three sets of hominid-bearing Pliocene deposits, whic h have already yielded some very interesting early hominid fossils. The fieldwork will contribute critical data on key issues - 1) the earliest known hominids, 2) the skeletal biology of Australopithecus afarensis, and the origin of the genus Homo. To date, paleontologists have been unable to resolve these issues because of inadequate fossil and contextual data sets, which this site will provide. This project also has an unparalleled record of training of, and collaboration with, professionals from an undeveloped country. *** P\anthro\jfried\9318698.abs ) r t U W ' ) ! ! ! ! D ) ) ( Times New Roman Symbol & Arial _ _ _ _ _ ^ " h (4 %54 %-4 % # I = Jonathan Friedlaender Jonathan Friedlaender