Collaborative Research: Paleoanthropological investigation of the Ledi-Geraru hominin site (Afar, Ethiopia)

埃塞俄比亚的阿瓦什北部地区以其丰富的早期人类阿法种南方古猿化石遗迹（例如“露西”），以及我们自己属人的起源和世界上最早的石器的证据而闻名。然而，由于区域不整合，在阿瓦什北部大部分地区都没有适当年龄的沉积沉积，这些沉积沉积连接了阿法古猿和人属之间的关键间隔。该研究项目建立在最近在阿瓦什北部阿法尔勒迪-杰拉鲁（ALG）地区进行的古人类学工作的基础上，该地区已经确定了古生物学丰富的沉积物，填补了这一时间空白，为了解早期人类的起源、进化和古环境背景以及人类血统的标志——石器技术提供了一个难得的窗口。这个野外项目也有助于我们理解250万到300万年前的这段时间，这是人类进化史上最迷人的时期之一，它包括了其他几个人族物种最早和最后出现的日期，以及整个非洲哺乳动物和植物群的重大变化。ALG序列的独特保存使一个由古人类学家、古生物学家、考古学家和地质学家组成的多学科团队能够1)确定与阿瓦什北部地区阿法南猿形态变化和最后出现以及随后早期人属和石器出现直接相关的古环境背景；2)将邻近古人类遗址的阿法古猿生境空间分析扩展到ALG地区，以更好地了解古环境的横向变化；3)收集石器技术发展初期ALG地区存在的动物群、人源化动物群和人工制品的证据；4)利用挖掘的样带，在那里发现了潜在的古人类改造过的骨头，以进一步证明古人类可能是早期食肉动物。该项目包括为不同群体的研究生提供相关领域和实验室技术培训，其中包括妇女、埃塞俄比亚人和其他非洲人，这些学生在该领域的代表性通常不足。该项目的数据也将通过互联网从亚利桑那州立大学外展网站下载，纳入为K-12教师开发的教材中。

The northern Awash region of Ethiopia is famous for its abundant fossil remains of the early hominin Australopithecus afarensis (e.g., "Lucy"), as well as evidence for the origins of our own genus, Homo, and the world's earliest stone tools. Due to a regional unconformity, however, appropriately aged sedimentary deposits that bridge the critical interval between A. afarensis and Homo unfortunately are missing from most of the northern Awash. This research project builds upon recent paleoanthropological work in the Afar Ledi-Geraru (ALG) region of the northern Awash that has identified paleontologically-rich sediments that fill this time gap, providing a rare window into understanding the origins and the evolutionary and paleoenvironmental contexts of early Homo, and of lithic technology, a hallmark of the human lineage. This field project also contributes to our understanding of the interval between 2.5 and 3.0 million years ago, one of the most fascinating periods in human evolutionary history, and one which encompasses both the first and last appearance dates of several other hominin species as well as significant changes in mammalian fauna and flora throughout Africa.The unique preservation of the ALG sequence enables a multidisciplinary team of paleoanthropologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, and geologists to 1) determine the paleoenvironmental context directly relevant to the morphological change and last appearance of A. afarensis, and the subsequent appearance of early Homo and stone tools in the northern Awash region; 2) extend spatial analyses of A. afarensis habitats from adjacent paleoanthropological sites into the ALG region to better understand the lateral variation in paleoenvironments; 3) collect evidence from fauna, hominin-modified fauna, and artifacts that existed in the ALG region during the earliest development of lithic technology; and 4) utilize transect excavations where potential hominin-modified bones were recovered, to document further evidence of possible early carnivory among hominins.This project includes training in relevant field and lab techniques for a diverse group of graduate students, including women, Ethiopians, and other Africans, students typically under-represented in this field. Data from this project also will be incorporated into teaching materials developed for K-12 teachers via internet download from the Arizona State University Outreach website.