SGER: Bioarchaeological Fieldwork and Exploratory Biochemical Testing at Gobero, Republic if Niger

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With support from the National Science Foundation, Drs. Christopher Stojanowski, Kelly J. Knudson, and Alicia Wilbur will conduct exploratory, high risk, field and laboratory research on skeletal remains from the early Holocene cemetery of Gobero, located east of Agadez in the Tenere Desert, Republic of Niger. Work supported will include excavation and conservation of the burials, preliminary screening for mtDNA preservation, and carbon, strontium, and oxygen isotope analysis to begin generating baseline data on diet and mobility. Gobero was discovered in 2003 during field reconnaissance of Cretaceous fossil beds by Dr. Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago and the site is actively and quickly eroding due to wind action and is at risk for looting. An international team of archaeologists, geologists, and bioarchaeologists will descend on the Sahara and excavate the rapidly eroding cemetery in October and November 2006. Stojanowski will lead the Arizona State University contingent of bioarchaeologists and direct the osteological component of field excavation. During this field season approximately 80 burials will be mapped and removed for analysis. Genetic and isotopic analyses, performed by Wilbur and Knudson, respectively, will begin in September 2006 based on material recovered during initial surface survey in 2005. It was during this survey that the significance of Gobero became apparent. A wide array of material remains including fauna, ceramics, lithics, bone tools, bone harpoons, and jewelry were recovered. Approximately 200 burials were mapped on the surface. Material culture suggests the site was occupied by Kiffian fishing populations that inhabited the Sahara when wetter conditions prevailed ca. 10,000 to 6,000 bp. Prior to Gobero's discovery, sites of this antiquity in the Sahara contained a handful of burials at most. Never has a large cemetery containing 200-300 individuals been excavated. Excavation of an in situ cemetery with associated habitation and lake deposits will allow unprecedented opportunity to examine the lives of the Sahara's earliest inhabitants, including subsistence, health, activity patterns, and mortuary practices. Morphological and genetic analysis will also inform research on the population history of northern Africa. The broader impacts of this project include the establishment of an anthropological museum in Agadez, the incorporation of minority high school students in the research under the auspices of Project Exploration, a Chicago non-profit organization that teaches science to underserved communities, an online database of osteological data from Gobero and other North African sites, and undergraduate and graduate student training in field excavation techniques and genetic, isotopic, and morphological laboratory analyses.