Archaeology & Paleoenvironments of the Kapthurin Formation, Baringo District, Kenya

在国家科学基金会的支持下，Sally McBrearty博士将继续在肯尼亚的Baringo盆地地区进行考古研究。特别是，她将专注于图根山的Kapthurin地层。该地区以前的考古研究已经产生了一系列分层的考古遗址以及少量的原始人（人类）骨骼材料。 研究将包括分析现有的博物馆藏品，新的考古遗址发掘和古代地表调查。凝灰岩单元的地球化学分析和氩测年将完善卡普图林年代学。McBrearty博士将使用石器和考古动物来重建人类行为。将采用许多技术来了解这些原始人适应的波动环境。 虽然有很多证据表明 考古学、古生物学和遗传学 这表明解剖学上的现代人类首次出现在撒哈拉以南非洲，只是何时何地发生的是未知的。然而，古人类学家最感兴趣的是导致这种出现的过程，而在这方面也几乎没有证据。McBrearty博士的研究将解决这个问题。迄今为止的资料表明，过渡发生在中更新世，Kapthurin组包括这一时期。先前的工作表明，它包含考古材料和动物以及人类遗骸。McBrearty博士的工作将增加这一数据库，并带来广泛的现代科学技术来承担，以作出解释。 这项研究之所以重要，有几个原因。它将增加我们对非洲过去的了解。它将为大量古人类学家提供感兴趣的数据，并为现代人类的出现提供新的线索。

With support from the National Science Foundation Dr. Sally McBrearty will continue archaeological research in the Baringo Basin region of Kenya. In particular she will focus on the Kapthurin Formation in the Tugen Hills. Previous archaeological research in the area has yielded a stratified sequence of archaeological sites as well as a small amount of hominid (human) skeletal material. Research will include analysis of existing museum collections, new archaeological site excavations and investigation of ancient landsurfaces. Geochemical analysis and argon dating of tuff units will refine the Kapthurin chronology. Dr. McBrearty will use stone artifacts and archaeological fauna in an attempt to reconstruct human behavior. A number of techniques will be employed to understand the fluxuating environment to which these hominids adapted. While a number of lines of evidence archaeological, paleontological and genetic suggest that anatomically modern humans first appeared in sub Saharan Africa just when and where this occurred is unknown. What interests paleoanthropologists most however is the process which lead to this emergence and here also little evidence is available. Dr. McBrearty's research will address this issue. Information to date suggests that the transition took place during the Middle Pleistocene and the Kapthurin Formation encompasses this time period. Prior work indicates that it contains archaeological materials and fauna as well as human remains. Dr. McBrearty's work will increase this data base and bring a wide range of modern scientific techniques to bear in order to make interpretations. This research is important for several reasons. It will increase our understanding of Africa's past. It will provide data of interest to a large number of paleoanthropologists and shed new light on the emergence of modern humans.