Paleolandscape-reconstructions of tectonically active regions - a new tool to predict fossil site locations and discern patterns of hominin inhabitance

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Tectonically active landscapes play a key role in understanding the evolution and dispersal of our human ancestors. In Africa, the earliest findings of hominin fossils are associated with the tectonically active sectors of the East African Rift, and the oldest dated human presence in North America is also located in the tectonically active western United States. But the landscapes inhabited by early humans have undergone massive changes over time, driven by long-term tectonic, geomorphic and climatic processes. Quantifying styles and rates of tectonic and geomorphological processes and reconstructing their impact on landscape evolution is thus a powerful method to 'wind back the clock' and by this to visualize landscapes as they might have existed at some earlier time. The aim of my proposal is to carry out a research study at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES) at University of Colorado, Boulder, to reconstruct physical landscapes at regional scales in tectonically active settings and to identify key elements promoting hominin land use. Using a combination of geological and geomorphological remote sensing analysis and computer modeling approaches, I aim to create a paleolandscape model, featuring time slices critical for early human landscape inhabitance. I will focus my research on two key locations: East Africa and western North America. The southern Kenya Rift in East Africa is an area well-known for its high abundance of Plio-Pleistocene hominin sites. Southern Oregon in the western United States is famous for one of the earliest findings of modern humans at the end of the last ice age in North America. Both target regions share similar tectonogeomorphic features, such as closely-spaced extensional faults in volcanic plateau landscapes, as well as a series of fault-bounded and internally drained lake basins characterized by a complex paleolake history. By comparing the two study regions I aim to show that throughout different stages of human evolution a combination of landscape features characteristic for tectonically active regions created distinct conditions promoting hominin settlement and dispersal. Results of this study will: (1) improve paleoenvironmental and paleoanthropological interpretations related to how early humans have strategically exploited beneficial elements of complex landscapes; (2) lead to new methods in discovering hominin fossil sites in other tectonically active regions in the world.