Geological and Paleoanthropological Data Harmonization Workshop

当一个项目或地点的研究结果与其他相关研究地点的数据进行比较时，它们通常更能提供有关潜在现象的信息。为了有意义，这种比较可能需要共享词汇、方法和数据格式，以及跨研究小组的合作。这个以实地为基础的研讨会将汇集地质学家和古人类学家，利用埃塞俄比亚阿瓦什盆地的几个上新世和早更新世古人类化石地点，讨论跨研究地点比较数据的最佳实践和协议。研讨会还将为未来跨越单个项目边界的合作项目产生新的研究问题。参与者将包括研究生、早期职业科学家、国际学者以及在STEM学科中代表性不足的群体。本次研讨会的一个组成部分将通过帮助合成和标准化地质测绘数据以及创建可用于任何其他地质项目的模板，为nsf支持的PaleoCore项目做出贡献。该奖项由国际科学与工程办公室共同资助。研究人类起源和进化的一个主要障碍是实地研究往往是在空间上受限制的项目区域范围内进行的。这些项目区域边界很少基于更广泛的生态或地质限制，这些限制阻碍了总体研究问题的形成，这些问题对于理解人类进化及其在更大时间和空间尺度上的背景至关重要。对于地质学家来说，进行区域间和区域内的比较可能具有挑战性，因为他们并不总是直接了解邻近研究项目区域的信息，这些区域的边界是连续的。因此，研究人员没有有效和全面地解决更广泛的区域尺度研究问题。这次研讨会反映了这样一种观点，即通过更好的沟通、协作工作和透明的数据共享，可以在理解人类进化的地质背景方面取得实质性进展。在阿瓦什河下游河谷，没有一个地点或研究项目保存了完整的、连续的上新世和早更新世沉积层序。然而，当它们结合在一起时，它们在复杂的裂谷环境中涵盖了早期人类栖息地的时间和空间覆盖范围。利用这些项目区的综合记录来评估裂谷是如何演变的，并探索阿法尔地区气候、构造、人类进化和古生态之间的相互作用，具有巨大的潜力。讲习班还将产生一份报告，讨论在不同但相关的研究地点规划和开展研究的最佳实践。

Research findings from one project or site are usually more informative about underlying phenomena when they can be compared with data from other relevant research sites. To be meaningful, such comparisons may require shared vocabulary, methods, and data formats, in addition to collaboration across research groups. This field-based workshop will bring together geologists and paleoanthropologists to discuss best practices and protocols for comparing data across research sites, using several Pliocene and early Pleistocene hominin fossil locations in the Awash basin of Ethiopia. The workshop will also generate new research questions for future collaborative projects that span beyond individual project boundaries. Participants will include graduate students, early career scientists, international scholars, and groups underrepresented in STEM disciplines. A component of this workshop will contribute to the NSF-supported PaleoCore project by helping to synthesize and standardize geological mapping data and creating a template that can be used by any other geological project. This award is co-funded by the Office of International Science and Engineering.A major impediment to the study of human origins and evolution has been that field studies are often conducted within the bounds of spatially restricted project areas. These project area boundaries are rarely based on broader ecological or geological constraints, and these limitations impede the formulation of overarching research questions that are critical for understanding hominin evolution and its context over larger scales of time and space. For geologists, conducting inter- and intraregional comparisons can be challenging as they do not always have direct knowledge of information from adjacent research project areas boundaries across which outcrops are contiguous. As a result, researchers have not effectively and comprehensively addressed broader regional-scale research questions. This workshop reflects the idea that substantial progress could be made in understanding the geological context of human evolution through better communication, collaborative work, and transparent data sharing. No one location/research project in the lower Awash River valley preserves a complete and continuous sequence of Pliocene and early Pleistocene sediments. When combined, however, they encompass an impressive temporal and spatial coverage of early hominin habitats within a complex rifting environment. There is tremendous potential to use the combined record from these project areas to evaluate how rifting has evolved and to explore the interplay between climate, tectonics, hominin evolution, and paleoecology in the Afar. The workshop will also result in a report that discusses best practices for planning and conducting research across separate but related research sites.