Palaeontological and palaeoanthropological exploration of the Pleistocene Lake Manyara deposits at Makuyuni, Northern Tanzania

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The proposed project will explore the Lake Manyara region, Tanzania, for new fossil sites of the Plio-Pleistocene in the "Hominid-Corridor" between Southern and Eastern Africa. It will aim to retrieve well-documented fossil material, and potentially hominidproduced faunal assemblages and hominid remains. Preliminary investigation of the region in the early and mid-1990s, demonstrated the strong palaeontological and palaeoanthropological potential of the region. During this earlier research, rich, wellpreserved fossil remains were recovered, including two potential hominid fragments. Initial geological study indicates that the Manyara beds correspond to Olduvai (middle) Bed II and Bed III and thus are roughly dated to between 1.7 and 0.4 ma. The beginning of this period coincides with the evolution of early H. erectus and with increased aridity in East Africa, while its latter part marks the beginning of the diversification of the H. sapiens lineage in Africa. The proposed research will aim to: 1. document the biogeographic and palaeoecological background of these events, and 2. to potentially recover hominid fossils from this relatively pooriy represented time period.