Archaeology and Paleoenvironments of the Kapthurin Formation, Baringo, Kenya

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Sally McBrearty博士将继续在肯尼亚的Baringo盆地地区进行考古研究。她将特别关注图根山的Kapthurin地层。先前在该地区的考古研究已经产生了考古遗址的分层序列以及少量的原始人（人类）骨骼材料。在以前工作的基础上，她将进行考古、地质和古生物勘探和测绘。还将进行有限的挖掘。沉积物样本将被收集起来，用氩定年法来确定年龄。地球化学指纹图谱可用于野外地层对比检验，x射线荧光分析可为地层位置不明的地表化石的来源提供技术支持。麦克布里蒂博士将使用石器和考古动物试图重建人类行为。将采用许多技术来了解这些原始人所适应的多变环境。尽管考古学、古生物学和遗传学等一系列证据表明，解剖学上的现代人最早出现在撒哈拉以南非洲，但这一现象发生的时间和地点尚不清楚。然而，古人类学家最感兴趣的是导致这种出现的过程，这方面的证据也很少。麦克布里蒂博士的研究将解决这个问题。迄今为止的信息表明，这种转变发生在中更新世，而Kapthurin组包含了这一时期。先前的工作表明，它包含考古材料和动物以及人类遗骸。麦克布里蒂博士的工作将增加这个数据库，并带来广泛的现代科学技术，以便作出解释。这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将增进我们对非洲过去的了解。它将为大量古人类学家提供感兴趣的数据，并为现代人类的出现提供新的线索。

McBrearty With support from the National Science Foundation Dr. Sally McBrearty will continue 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 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 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 inter est to a large number of paleoanthropologists and shed new light on the emergence of modern humans.