Makapansgat Interdisciplinary Paleoecology Project

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With National Science Foundation support Dr. Matt Sponheimer and his colleagues will investigate the ecology of the early human ancestor Australopithecus africanus and associated mammals from Makapansgat Limeworks, South Africa. The team brings together specialists in biogeochemistry, dental microwear, and ecomorphology to provide a more complete picture of the ecological background for human evolution. No single method of paleoecological research can provide a complete picture of an animal's ecology, as they all have intrinsic strengths and weaknesses. By using a variety of techniques in tandem, however, it may be possible to utilize their respective strengths, while partially overcoming their limitations. To this end, this team will examine the paleoecology of the Makapansgat fauna using dental microwear, cranial and postcranial morphology, carbon isotope, oxygen isotope, and elemental analyses. The initial phase of this project will be a large-scale modern collection and sampling program in South Africa and Kenya. This will provide the necessary background for interpreting data from fossil specimens. Once the modern specimens have been analyzed, the team will apply these techniques to the three million-year-old fossils from Makapansgat. The team will focus on the following questions: 1) What habitats did our early ancestors prefer; 2) What did our early ancestors eat; and 3) How much competition did they have for these resources. While this project is ultimately intended to provide information about the ecology of Australopithecus africanus and its associated fauna, it will also make important contributions to all of the individual subfields utilized, as the team will analyze a larger and more diverse African fauna than previous efforts. This research is important for several reasons. It will provide data on early human diets and habitats of long-standing interest to archaeologists and physical anthropologists. Moreover, it will provide a sound multidisciplinary basis from which the ecology of other extinct animals can investigated. This will shed new light on the ecological background of mammalian evolution in Africa.