Developing and Testing New Geospatial Approaches in Paleoanthropology

古生物学家今天寻找化石的方式与我们的前辈自世纪该学科诞生以来所用的方式几乎相同。他们研究地质和地形图，以便找到可能发现某个年代的化石的地方，然后他们走很长的路，眼睛在地面上搜寻侵蚀化石的迹象。 因此，许多重要的古生物遗址被偶然发现，机会和运气继续在许多古生物学探险的成功或失败中发挥重要作用。这种跨学科的研究利用了最先进的从遥感和空间科学的艺术成像方法和分析技术，以开发和测试新的预测模型，以确定古生物学家应该集中精力在该领域，以最大限度地提高他们在寻找生产化石的地方的效率。 调查人员将利用陆地卫星图像以及高分辨率的商业卫星图像来确定怀俄明州大分水岭盆地始新世沉积物中已知生产地点的光谱特征。 将测试一些分析方法，包括人工神经网络分析和基于地理对象的图像分析，以确定生产地点的光谱特征。 该研究小组将在两个夏季进行实地考察，以评估预测模型的成功性。该国际研究小组包括脊椎动物古生物学、古人类学、地质学和地理学等方面的专家。他们的目的是促进地理和空间科学的新方法在古人类学和古生物学中的应用。更广泛的影响包括培训本科生和研究生采用这种跨学科的方法进行实地人类学研究，以及开发基于网络的教育和推广工具。

Paleontologists search for fossils today in very nearly the same ways that our predecessors have since the beginnings of the discipline in the nineteenth century. They study geological and topographic maps in order to locate places where fossils of a certain age may be found, and then they walk long distances with their eyes scouring the ground for hints of eroding fossils. As a result, many important paleontological sites are literally stumbled upon, and chance and luck continue to play a large role in the success or failure of many paleontological expeditions.This interdisciplinary research utilizes state-of-the-art imaging methods and analytical techniques from remote sensing and the spatial sciences to develop and test new predictive models for determining where paleontologists should concentrate their efforts in the field in order to maximize their effectiveness at finding productive fossil-bearing localities. The investigators will use Landsat imagery as well as high-resolution, commercially available satellite imagery to determine the spectral characteristics of known productive localities in the Eocene deposits of Wyoming's Great Divide Basin. A number of analytical approaches will be tested for their ability to identify the spectral signatures of productive localities, including artificial neural network analysis and geographic object-based image analysis. The research team will spend two summer field seasons searching those areas on the ground that are predicted to have a high potential to be fossil-bearing, in order to statistically evaluate the success of the predictive models.The international research team includes specialists from vertebrate paleontology, paleoanthropology, geology and geography, and their aim is to stimulate the application of new approaches from the geographic and spatial sciences to the sciences of paleoanthropology and paleontology. Broader impacts include the training of undergraduate and graduate students in this cross-disciplinary approach to field-based anthropological science, and development of web-based tools for education and outreach.