Renewed field investigations of Pliocene sediments at Lomekwi

该项目通过在肯尼亚Lomekwi遗址持续的古生物实地考察，调查了人类早期亲戚（古人类）和他们在350万至330万年前生活的环境。最近发现的化石，包括来自洛美克威的化石，揭示了比之前所知的那个时期更多的古人类多样性。此外，最近在洛美克威发现了石器，比我们人属的起源早了50多万年。这次实地考察将有助于揭示谁是第一批工具制造者，以及该地区的环境是否有什么特别之处，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学生、教育专家和科学家聚集在一起，共同开发符合下一代教育标准的人类史前史和科学的初中和高中教材，并面向全国发行。Lomekwi的古生物学研究旨在恢复更多的古人类化石（3.5-3.3 Ma）并表征其古生态环境。直到最近，唯一已知的上新世中期人类是南方古猿阿法种，而人类多样性似乎只是在后来才出现。有了更多的化石资料，现在看来，上新世中期有不止一种甚至可能是几种人族共存，其中最著名的是来自洛梅克威的肯尼亚人鸭形猿人。此外，最近公布的来自洛美克威的3.3 Ma石器表明，至少有一些前人类拥有比之前想象的更先进的物质文化。石器的出现和古人类的多样性提出了一些根本性的问题，即当地和区域的环境和/或生物地理因素可能在上新世中期影响了西图尔卡纳的古人类。在洛美克威发现更多的化石将揭示当时有多少人族存在，是否盘古人确实是一个有效的分类群，洛美克威人的工具制造者可能是谁，以及什么样的古环境因素可能影响了他们的多样性和行为。该项目将支持国际合作团队、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开发。该项目的联合资助由美国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).