High Risk Exploratory Research -- Paleontological Survey of the Lake Rukwa Basin, Tanzania

从历史上看，坦桑尼亚一直是人类进化的主要证据来源。在该国相对未被勘探的西南部，鲁克瓦盆地为灵长类化石遗骸的保存和恢复提供了有利条件。目前的项目将是对这一地区进行调查和侦察，从这一相对未经检验的地区收集与人类进化相关的古生物和地质样本。鲁克瓦盆地是一条西北走向的裂谷，宽约300公里，宽50公里。地质调查已经确定了四个主要的地层单位，其中最相关的是大约10-10万年前的湖床沉积。该项目的目标如下：1)调查鲁克瓦盆地；2)收集人类化石；3)收集与该地区的年代测定或古环境重建有关的其他化石和地质标本。在过去的几十年里，由于各种分析方法的进步，或通过包括计算机断层扫描(CT)在内的医学成像技术的应用，人类起源研究蓬勃发展。然而，很少有进展像新化石发现的宣布那样具有戏剧性和立竿见影的影响。仅在过去的十年里，就描述了一个新的属和几个新的早期人种。同样重要的是，有报告扩大了一些物种的已知地理分布(例如，埃塞俄比亚的南方古猿；马拉维的鲁道夫人)。拟议中的鲁克瓦盆地调查希望通过发现新的化石和/或增加对人类进化生态环境的了解，来增加早期人的数据库。

Historically, Tanzania has served as a major source for evidence into the evolution of humankind. In the relatively unexplored southwestern portion of the country, the Rukwa Basin presents favorable conditions for the preservation and recovery of primate fossil remains. The current project will be a survey and reconnaissance of this area to collect paleontological, and geological, samples relevant to human evolution from this relatively unexamined area. The Rukwa Basin is a northwest trending rift roughly 300km by 50km. Geologic surveys have identified four major stratigraphic units with the most relevant being the Lake Bed deposits dated roughly 10 -- 0.1 million years ago. The objectives of the project are as follows 1) survey of the Rukwa Basin; 2) collection of hominin fossils; 3) collection of other fossils, and geological specimens, relevant to dating of the area, or reconstruction of the paleoenvironment.Human origin studies have thrived in the past few decades from a variety of advances in analytical approach, or from the application of technology including medical imaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT). Few advances, however, have as dramatic and immediate an impact as the announcement of new fossil finds. The past decade alone has seen one new genus and several new species of early hominin described. Equally important are reports expanding the known geographic distribution of some species (e.g., Australopithecus boisei in Ethiopia; Homo rudolfensis in Malawi). The proposed survey of the Rukwa basin hopes to add to the early hominin database by discovering new fossils and/or increasing the understanding of the ecological circumstances of human evolution.