HRRBAA: Paleoanthropological Investigations of Early Pleistocene Hominin Dispersals

目前西欧人类的化石证据可以追溯到大约140万年前（Ma）。东欧的同一时期仍然没有得到充分的研究，尽管它很可能是人类扩散到欧洲其他地区的一条路线。这一高风险研究项目将对罗马尼亚奥尔捷什河谷进行古生物学和地质调查，该河谷是东欧这一时期哺乳动物群化石最丰富的地点。研究人员将在几个已知地点寻找人类居住的证据，寻找其他地点，并收集数据以了解该地区的古环境并确认这些地点的日期。作为一个可能的迁徙路线，新的发现将提供有关西欧人口的宝贵信息。该项目将鼓励科学领域的性别和种族多样性，为三所主要培养第一代大学生和少数民族学生的大学的本科生提供研究机会。它还将支持早期职业女性科学家，美国和罗马尼亚科学家之间的国际合作以及社区科学推广。有证据表明，化石人类成功地从非洲分散到格鲁吉亚和印度尼西亚的1.85 Ma，但在欧洲最早的证据是直到~1.4 Ma。对于这种明显的晚期扩散有两种可能的解释：1）某些障碍阻止了人类向欧洲的扩散，或者2）人类在1.4 Ma之前就已经存在，但古生物学研究尚未发现他们的存在。虽然西欧的这一时期的遗址已被深入研究，但东欧的古生物地点尚未被彻底探索。罗马尼亚的奥尔泰什河谷已经发现了一系列化石遗址，这些遗址可能揭示了早更新世期间进入欧洲的扩散模式，初步工作表明，该地区有可能产生更多的遗址。这一高风险研究项目将对奥尔特加河谷进行古生物学和地质调查，以寻找早更新世人类居住的证据，并对该地区的古环境进行初步调查。通过定位和分析罗马尼亚早更新世化石遗址的数据，我们可以确定这些遗址的动物群是否与欧亚大陆其他早更新世人类遗址的动物群相似，或者这些遗址之间是否存在差异，这些差异对于防止人类在这个时候扩散到欧洲很重要。重要的是，对这些地方的化石进行检查，并确定任何潜在的石器工具和/或切割标记的骨头，有可能在更新世早期在该地区建立人类的存在。如果是这样的话，这将是欧洲格鲁吉亚以西最早的人类证据。

Fossil evidence for hominins in Western Europe currently dates to as early as ~1.4 million years ago (Ma). The same time period in Eastern Europe remains understudied, even though it is likely to have been a route of hominin dispersal into the rest of Europe. This high-risk research project will undertake a paleontological and geological survey of the Olteþ River Valley, Romania, which is the location of the richest fossil site of mammalian fauna in Eastern Europe from this time period. The investigators will look for evidence of hominin occupation at a few known sites, search for additional sites, and collect data to understand the paleoenvironment of the region and confirm dates for the sites. As an area that served as a likely migration route, new discoveries would shed valuable information on the peopling of Western Europe. This project will encourage gender and ethnic diversity in science by providing research opportunities for undergraduate students at three universities that primarily educate first-generation college and minority students. It will also support early career female scientists, international collaborations among US and Romanian scientists, and community science outreach. Evidence suggests that fossil hominins successfully dispersed from Africa to Georgia and Indonesia by 1.85 Ma, but the earliest evidence in Europe is not until ~1.4 Ma. There are two possible explanations for this apparent late dispersal: 1) some barrier prohibited hominin dispersal into Europe, or 2) hominins were present there earlier than 1.4 Ma but paleontological investigations have not yet uncovered their presence. While sites from this time period in Western Europe have been intensively investigated, paleontological localities in Eastern Europe have not been as thoroughly explored. The Olteþ River Valley of Romania has yielded a series of fossil sites that may shed light on dispersal patterns into Europe during the early Pleistocene, and preliminary work suggests that this region has the potential to yield additional sites. This high-risk research project will undertake a paleontological and geological survey of the Olteþ River Valley to look for evidence of hominin occupation during the early Pleistocene, and conduct preliminary investigations of the area's paleoenvironment. By locating and analyzing data from fossil sites from the early Pleistocene of Romania, we can determine whether the fauna from these sites were similar to those found at other early Pleistocene hominin sites across Eurasia, or whether there were differences among these sites that were important for preventing hominin dispersals into Europe at this time. Critically, examination of fossils from these localities and identification of any potential stone tools and/or cut marked bones has the potential to establish the presence of hominins in this region during the early Pleistocene. If so, this would represent the earliest evidence of hominins in Europe west of Georgia.