Dissertation Research: Late Miocene Paleontology of the Middle Awash Valley, Ethiopia: Faunal Description, Analysis and Interpretation

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The Middle Awash area of Ethiopia has been a remarkably important and productive paleontological region, yielding fossil remains of numerous vertebrate taxa, including early hominids. Abundant vertebrate fossils collected from Middle Awash deposits represent significant data relevant to studying the later Neogene vertebrate evolution in Africa. This project represents a detailed study of vertebrate fauna from the terminal Miocene of the Middle Awash Valley. Results from such comparative analyses are essential to our understanding of the Late Miocene vertebrate history of Africa. Argon/argon and paleomagnetic data currently being generated from these deposits are establishing a reliable chronostratigraphy for the Middle Awash, thereby refining biochronology of other contemporaneous African Late Miocene localities for which radiometric dates do not exist. The results of the proposed study will elucidate the paleobiogeography, paleoenvironment, and faunal diversity during the time at which hominids are believed to have differentiated