Revealing Hominid Origins

人类(我们的动物科)的起源和进化构成了一个基本的科学问题。与这一问题有关的一个史无前例的发现阶段正在世界各地进行。最近，原始人类的化石记录长度翻了一番，现在延伸到了500万到700万年--这一时期以前被分子研究确定为原始人类起源的中心。新发现的化石和相关数据为东半球的实地和实验室研究注入了活力。科学现在站在揭示祖先原始人的古生物学的门槛上，并提供了关键的背景证据。这些新的和日益多样化的原始现场生成数据的财富挑战了个人和研究团队比较、整合和传播他们的结果的能力。揭示原始人起源倡议(ROI)专注于500万到700万年的间隔，在这些时间间隔中，最近的发现直接和深刻地影响到关于人类在自然界中的位置的科学概念。这一跨学科和国际倡议是阐明人科的起源和最早进化的持续努力。它显然是协作性的。它将支持15个国家的近50名核心研究科学家以及数百名其他古生物学家、地质学家、地质年代学家、动物学家和相关学科的其他科学家正在进行的研究。ROI国际协作旨在启动和加速非洲和欧亚许多实地地点的研究；促进世界各地实验室的分析；加强地球和生物科学家之间的跨学科活动；在发展中世界建设基础设施；并加快数据传播，从而大大扩大人类起源研究的范围和规模。该倡议是专门组织的，以支持、改进和扩展现场和实验室工作，包括勘探、挖掘、发现和分析。区域研究中心将通过建立和支持国际分析工作组、加强古人类学基础设施以及为数据共享创建创新和综合的信息学机制来整合研究。随着现代和古代环境、生物群落和生物群的探索，研究成果将超越传统的学科边界。这项合作倡议旨在将关于原始人起源的尖端研究的见解和结果迅速带给国际科学界、非专业观众和课堂。专业参与者和相关的现场和实验室技术和支持人员都将反映对加强来自多个国家、种族、性别和背景的人参与的承诺。鉴于人类起源研究的重要性，该倡议将在榜样建设方面促进类似的努力。它将促进和深化跨越国际边界和整个科学领域的教育。ROI将把这种包容性与加强基础设施、促进国际交流以及在整个非洲特别是发展中国家的研究环境中促进教育努力结合在一起。相应地，根据电子通信的改进，该倡议支持的研究的性质和结果将得到广泛和迅速的传播，其受众将远远超出古人类学、地球科学界和生物科学界。

The origin and evolution of Hominidae (our zoological family) constitutes a fundamental scientific problem. An unprecedented phase of discovery bearing on this problem is underway across the world. The fossil record for hominids has recently doubled in length, now extending into the 5 to 7 million-year period--a time formerly identified by molecular studies as central to hominid origins. The newly-discovered fossils and contextual data have invigorated field and laboratory studies spanning the eastern hemisphere. Science now stands on the threshold of revealing the paleobiology of the ancestral hominid, complete with crucial contextual evidence. This wealth of novel and increasingly diverse primary field-generated data has challenged the abilities of individuals and research teams to compare, integrate, and disseminate their results.The Revealing Hominid Origins Initiative (RHOI) is focused on the 5 to 7 million-year interval wherein recent finds bear directly and profoundly upon scientific concepts of humanity's place in nature. This interdisciplinary and international initiative constitutes a sustained effort to illuminate the origin and earliest evolution of Hominidae. It is explicitly collaborative. It will support ongoing research in 15 countries, by nearly 50 core research scientists, and hundreds of other paleontologists, geologists, geochronologists, zoologists, and other scientists in allied disciplines. The international RHOI collaboration is designed to activate and accelerate research at many African and Eurasian field sites; to facilitate analyses in the laboratories around the world; to enhance interdisciplinary activities among earth and biological scientists; to build infrastructure in the developing world; and to speed the dissemination of data, thereby greatly extending human origins research in scope and in scale. The initiative is specifically organized to support, improve, and extend field and laboratory work, including exploration, excavation, discovery, and analysis. The RHOI will integrate research by creating and supporting international analytical working groups; by enhancing paleoanthropological infrastructure; and by creating innovative and integrative informatics mechanisms for data sharing.The broadened impact of the initiative is epitomized by the structure of research teams and communication within and between such teams. Research results will transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries as present and ancient environments, biomes, and biotas are explored. The collaborative initiative is designed to bring insights and consequences of cutting-edge research on hominid origins promptly to the international scientific community, the lay audience, and the classroom. Professional participants and associated field and laboratory technical and support staff will all reflect a commitment toward enhancing the involvement of people from many nations, ethnicities, genders, and backgrounds. Given the prominence of human origins research, the initiative will foster similar efforts in role-model building. It will promote and deepen education across international boundaries and throughout the sciences. RHOI will couple this inclusivity with the enhancement of infrastructure, the promotion of international communication, and the furtherance of educational efforts in specifically developing-world research settings across Africa. Correspondingly, and in keeping with enhancements in electronic communication, the nature and consequences of research supported by the initiative will receive wide and prompt dissemination to a worldwide audience far beyond the paleoanthropological, earth and biological sciences communities.