Miocene Primates of Asia

皮尔比姆博士和他的合作者将继续他们对高等灵长类动物起源的研究，包括原始人(人类)。特别是，他们将重点放在较早的不太为人所知的时间段，从大约1500-700万年前开始。正是在中新世中期至晚期，人类可能出现了谱系，现代类人猿属首次出现。不幸的是，化石记录非常稀少，皮尔比姆博士的研究正在帮助填补这一空白。在过去NSF的支持下，皮尔比姆博士领导了巴基斯坦和肯尼亚的野外项目，这些项目已经发现了非常重要的发现。皮尔比姆博士将继续在巴基斯坦进行实地考察，并分析在那里和肯尼亚发现的材料。多年来的研究已经产生了大量的化石组合，该团队将致力于阐明灵长类和其他哺乳动物群体的发育模式。他们将重建动物群的结构，并追踪它们随时间的变化。这项研究很重要，因为它追溯了人类物种的发展。要了解我们今天的样子，重要的是追溯我们的长期历史，并阐明其中所反映的过程。

Dr. Pilbeam and his collaborators will continue their research into the origins of higher primates, including hominids (humans). In particular, they will focus on the earlier less well known time period which extends from ca. 15 - 7 million years ago. It was during this mid to late Miocene period that the human line likely emerged and that modern genera of anthropoid apes first appear. Unfortunately, the fossil record is very scanty, and Dr. Pilbeam's research is helping to fill this gap. With past NSF support, Dr. Pilbeam has led field projects in Pakistan and Kenya which have recovered extremely significant finds. Dr. Pilbeam will continue fieldwork in Pakistan and will analyze materials recovered both there and in Kenya. Years of search have produced extensive fossil assemblages and the team will work to elucidate patterns of development in both primates and other mammalian groups. They will reconstruct the structure of faunal communities and trace their change through time. This research is important because it traces the development of the human species. To understand ourselves as we are today, it is important to trace our long-term history and to elucidate the processes which are reflected therein.