Renewed field investigations of Pliocene sediments at Lomekwi

该项目通过在肯尼亚洛梅克维遗址的持续古生物田野调查，调查了350万至330万年前的早期人类亲属(古人类)和他们生活的环境。最近的化石发现，包括在Lomekwi发现的化石，揭示了比之前所知的那个时期更多的原始人多样性。此外，最近在Lomekwi发现了石器，比我们人类的起源早了50万多年。这项田野工作将有助于揭示谁是最早的工具制造者，以及该地区的环境是否存在某些特殊之处，从而催生了物种多样性或技术行为的进步。该项目将加强美国和肯尼亚之间的国际合作关系，并教育两国在古生物学和公共宣传方面合作的学生。该项目将把新闻专业的学生、教育专家和科学家聚集在一起，共同开发关于人类史前和科学的初中和高中教材，旨在满足下一代教育标准，供全国发行。洛梅克维的古生物学研究旨在恢复更多的原始人化石(3.5-3.3 Ma)，并描述它们的古生态背景。直到最近，唯一已知的中上新世人类是南方古猿，人的多样性似乎是在较晚的时候才出现。根据更多的化石数据，现在似乎不止一个人，甚至几个人，在上新世中期共存，最著名的是来自洛梅克维的Kenyzopus platyopps。此外，Lomekwi最近宣布的3.3 Ma石器表明，至少一些前人猿拥有比之前想象的更先进的物质文化。石器和人类多样性的出现提出了一些基本问题，即当地和区域环境和/或生物地理因素可能在上新世中期影响了西图尔卡纳的人类。在Lomekwi发现更多的化石将揭示当时有多少原始人，是否确实是一个有效的分类群，Lomekwian的工具制造者可能是谁，以及哪些古环境因素可能影响了它们的多样性和行为。该项目将支持一个国际合作小组、本科生和研究生培训、当地社区科学教育和推广，以及科学课程的开发。该项目的联合资金由国家科学基金会国际科学与工程办公室(OISE)提供。

This project investigates early human relatives (hominins) and the environment they lived in 3.5 to 3.3 million years ago, through continued paleontological fieldwork at the site of Lomekwi, Kenya. Recent fossil discoveries, including from Lomekwi, have revealed more hominin diversity than was previously known for that time period. Furthermore, stone tools were recently discovered at Lomekwi, predating the origin of our genus Homo by over one half million years. This fieldwork will help uncover who the first toolmakers were and if there was something special about the environment of the region that spawned species diversity or the advance in technological behavior. The project will strengthen international collaborative ties between the United States and Kenya, and educate students from both countries working together in paleontology and public outreach. The project will bring journalism students, education specialists and scientists together to collaborate in developing middle school and high school teaching materials on human prehistory and science designed to meet Next Generation educational standards for national distribution.Paleontological research at Lomekwi is aimed at recovering more hominin fossils (3.5-3.3 Ma) and characterizing their paleoecological context. Until recently, the only known middle Pliocene hominin was Australopithecus afarensis, and hominin diversity appeared to have blossomed only later. With additional fossil data, it now appears that more than one hominin, and perhaps several, coexisted in the mid-Pliocene, most notably Kenyanthropus platyops from Lomekwi. Also, the recent announcement of 3.3 Ma stone tools from Lomekwi suggests that at least some pre-Homo hominins had more advanced material culture earlier than previously imagined. The appearance of stone tools and hominin diversity raises fundamental questions about local and regional environmental and/or biogeographic factors that may have influenced hominins in West Turkana in the mid-Pliocene. Finding more fossils at Lomekwi stands to reveal how many hominins were present at that time, whether K. platyops is indeed a valid taxon, who the Lomekwian tool makers may have been, and what paleoenvironmental factors may have influenced their diversity and behavior. This project will support an international collaborative team, undergraduate and graduate student training, local community science education and outreach, and science curriculum development. Joint funding for this project is provided by the National Science Foundation's Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).