Hominin footprints, fossils, and their context in the early Pleistocene of Koobi Fora, Kenya

这个古人类学领域和实验室项目的主要目标是：1)恢复更多新发现的相关化石人类骨骼，可能属于已灭绝的类人猿，并对化石解剖进行详细分析，以提高我们对人类上肢和手的进化的了解；2)挖掘、记录和分析肯尼亚遗址的多层人类足迹化石；3)进行调查和挖掘，以在目标地区发现新的足迹层，并记录遗址的古环境和考古学背景。人类骨骼和脚印化石是与人类进化有关的最罕见和最有信息量的发现之一。最近的研究在肯尼亚伊莱特附近的一个遗址建筑群(FwJj14)出土了这两个化石，以及石器和屠宰的骨骼化石，该遗址可以追溯到151万至153万年前。研究小组还在肯尼亚库比福拉的GaJi10遗址附近发现了足迹化石层，年龄从140到150万年前不等。该奖项资助田野工作，以恢复更多的人类骨骼和脚印化石，以及有关其古代生态环境的数据。这些发现提供了一个独特的机会来检验长期存在的假设，提出新的问题，并极大地提高我们对人类上肢和手部解剖、行走步态、古人类行为以及150万年前人类进化史上关键时期图尔卡纳湖地区几个灭绝人类物种的环境背景的理解。该项目通过促进跨学科和国际合作，改善美国少数民族在古人类学中的代表性，以及改善非洲学者的培训，为科学界提供了许多可衡量的更广泛的影响。研究人员将从该项目中获得数据，包括向肯尼亚国家博物馆(NMK)提供足迹3D地图，供其他学者直接或通过在线可访问的数据库(例如图尔卡纳数据库中的动物化石数据，以及史密森学会NMNH人类起源计划网站上的3D数字足迹表面)提供。许多化石足迹表面很脆弱，容易受到快速侵蚀；我们的项目将记录并在适当的情况下在NMK收集和保存这些不可替代的资源。该项目将加强国际(美国-肯尼亚-南非)以及在美国国内的机构间(乔治亚州-JHU-史密森尼-罗格斯大学)的合作。此外，该项目非常认真地致力于培训古人类学方面代表性不足的群体(例如，非洲裔美国人、西班牙裔)的美国学生，以及来自肯尼亚和南非的研究生。

The main goals of this paleoanthropology field and lab project, awarded to Brian Richmond and colleagues, are to 1) recover more of a newly-discovered associated fossil human skeleton possibly belonging to the extinct species Paranthropus boisei, and perform detailed analyses of the fossil anatomy to improve our understanding of the evolution of the human upper limb and hand; 2) excavate, document, and analyze multiple layers of fossil human footprints at sites in Kenya; 3) conduct surveys and excavations to find new footprint layers in targeted areas and to document the paleo-environmental and archeological contexts of the sites. Fossil human skeletons and footprints are among the rarest and most informative discoveries relating to human evolution. Recent research has unearthed both, along with stone tools and fossilized butchered bones, at a site complex (FwJj14) dating to 1.51-1.53 million years ago near Ileret, Kenya. The research team also discovered fossilized footprint layers, ranging in age from 1.4-1.5 million years ago, near site GaJi10 at Koobi Fora, Kenya. This award funds fieldwork to recover more of the fossil human skeleton and footprints, and data on their ancient ecological setting. These discoveries offer a unique opportunity to test long-standing hypotheses, ask novel questions, and dramatically improve our understanding of the evolution of human upper limb and hand anatomy, walking gait, ancient human behavior, and the environmental contexts of several extinct human species living in the Lake Turkana area 1.5 million years ago, a critical time in human evolutionary history.This project offers a number of measurable broader impacts for the scientific community by fostering interdisciplinary and international collaboration, improving minority representation in paleoanthropology in the US and improving training of African scholars.. The researchers will make data from this project, including 3D maps of footprints available to the National Museum of Kenya (NMK) for curation, and to other scholars directly and via online-accessible databases (e.g., fossil animal data in the Turkana Database, and 3D digital footprint surfaces on the Human Origins Program website at the Smithsonian's NMNH). Many fossil footprint surfaces are fragile and subject to rapid erosion; our project will document and, when appropriate, collect and preserve at the NMK these irreplaceable resources. This project will strengthen international (US-Kenya-South Africa) and, within the US, inter-institutional (GW-JHU-Smithsonian-Rutgers) collaborations. Furthermore, this project takes very seriously its commitment to train US students from groups underrepresented (e.g., African-American, Hispanic) in paleoanthropology, as well as graduate students from Kenya and South Africa.