Exploration for Fossil Primates in the Carbonatites of Namibia

灵长类动物的骨骼化石，包括几个与人类血统密切相关的物种的遗骸，已经在南非的一些地点被发现。然而，像这样的化石在非洲南部的其他地区（如博茨瓦纳、安哥拉和纳米比亚）却鲜为人知。在南非、博茨瓦纳、安哥拉和纳米比亚，几乎所有这些遗址的化石都是在石灰岩中形成的喀斯特洞穴中积累起来的。这些石灰岩洞穴只发现了一些灵长类动物的骨骼化石。然而，纳米比亚有许多非常古老的火山侵入物，这些岩石的化学成分使它们同样容易通过水溶解形成洞穴。在纳米比亚全境发现了11种碳酸盐岩侵入物。在其中一次入侵形成的两个喀斯特洞穴系统中发现了大约10万到250万年前的化石。该项目将探索纳米比亚剩余的10个碳酸盐岩，以确定它们是否也含有新生代的化石洞穴沉积物。特别是，希望通过这次调查能够发现可能含有灵长类动物骨骼化石的其他地点。任何这样的化石都将大大增加我们对非洲灵长类动物进化和古生态的理解。

Fossil bones of primates, including the remains of several species that are closely related to the human lineage, have been recovered from a number of sites in South Africa. Fossils such as these, however, are very poorly known from other areas of southern Africa (e.g., Botswana, Angola, and Namibia). Almost all the fossils from these sites accumulated in karst caves that had formed in the limestones that outcrop in South Africa, Botswana, Angola and Namibia. These limestone caves have yielded only a few fossilized primate bones. However, there are a number of very old volcanic intrusives in Namibi, and the chemical composition of these rocks makes them equally susceptible to cave formation through water dissolution. Eleven carbonatite intrusives have been identified throughout Namibia. Fossils dating from about 100 thousand to some 2.5 million years ago have been discovered in two karst cave systems that formed in one of these intrusives. This project will explore the remaining ten carbonatites in Namibia to determine whether they also contain fossiliferous cave sediments of Cenozoic age. In particular, it is hoped that additional sites that may contain fossil primate bones will be identified by this survey. Any such fossils will add significantly to our understanding of primate evolution and paleoecology in Africa.