Pliocene Paleontology and Geology of the Middle Awash Valley Ethiopia

埃塞俄比亚阿瓦什河谷中部的上新世古生物学和地质学

• 批准号: 9318698
• 负责人: Tim White
• 金额: $ 29.52万
• 依托单位: University of California-Berkeley
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 1994
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1994-05-15 至 1997-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9318698&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Pliocene; Paleontology; Geology; Middle; Awash

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

摘要 P.I.蒂姆·白色 SBR- 9318698 不久前，非洲南部的古生物学工作确立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。 随后在东非奥杜威峡谷（Leakey's）和其他地方，包括哈达尔（Johansen）的工作，扩展了早期人类的已知地理和时间分布，并导致了对更大多样性和复杂性的认识。 位于埃塞俄比亚的中阿瓦什地区，岩石的年代从晚中新世到晚更新世，是非洲大陆研究人类起源和进化的最重要的天然实验室。 这里的数据涉及的问题范围很广，如过去500万年原始人类进化的克里思和模式，石器技术和生存模式的起源和进化，以及全球气候变化和原始人类进化事件之间的关系。 这个杰出的团队的早期工作表明，阿瓦什盆地提供了生命的“快照”，而不是一个连续的含化石沉积物。 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的350万年的早期原始人类遗骸。 研究的调查阶段即将结束，现在有可能将人类进化研究中持续存在的问题与这个丰富而复杂的资源库中的资源相匹配。 这项工作将由该基金资助，将研究三组含有原始人类的上新世沉积物，这些沉积物已经产生了一些非常有趣的早期原始人类化石。 野外工作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。 迄今为止，由于该网站将提供的化石和背景数据集不足，古生物学家一直无法解决这些问题。 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\anthro\jfried\9318698.abs ) R 不 U W ' ) ! ! ! ! D ) ) ( Times New Roman 符号Arial _ _ _ _ _ ^ " H （4% 54%-4%# 我 = 乔纳森·弗里德兰德