Workshop Proposal: Paleoclimates and human evolution: Integrating continental drilling research with paleoanthropology and other geological records

研究人类进化的古气候和古环境框架的知识分子梅里塔研讨会正计划于2005年秋季举行。共同召集人是Gail Ashley， Anna K.Behrensmeyer, Andrew Cohen, Craig Feibel， Richard Potts和Jay Quade。我们认为，将目前参与人类进化辩论的人类学家、考古学家、地质学家和气候学家与大陆科学钻探界联合起来的时机已经成熟。我们建议举办一个研讨会，参与者包括：a)古人类学家、考古学家和古生物学家，b)与古人类学界密切合作的地质学家，以及c)参与收集和解释沉积物记录的古气候学家。本次研讨会将整合人类进化及其生态群落的记录、当地和区域气候变化历史以及来自露头和深层钻探的古环境记录，我们将主要关注非洲的记录，在那里发现了最长和最连续的人类进化记录。人类化石记录可以追溯到600万年前，石器记录可以追溯到260万年前，但关于古环境框架的细节，尤其是大陆上的环境框架，我们还不太清楚。传统的古人类矿床的地质研究主要集中在遗址的对比和年代学上，通常每个发现都只有基于当地遗址的描述。很少有人尝试在区域内进行综合，或将关键地点置于更广泛的时间和空间背景中。随着对上新世-更新世天文气候强迫的认识和理解的加深，整合大陆地质记录和考古和古人类记录的进化史对古气候和古环境的了解成为可能。更广泛的影响多达六名高级研究生，他们的研究涉及研讨会主题的一个方面，将积极参与讨论。他们作为拥有不同词汇的不同学科的成员所获得的经验，以及看到对同一数据集的各种方法和可能的不同解释，将指导他们形成一个共识性的工作假设。这次讲习班的成果将以电子方式广泛传播，希望能接触到广泛的受众。WoldeGabrielet等人在2004年7月出版的《地球科学》（EOS）上强调了跨学科方法的重要性，特别是在古人类学研究中利用“地球科学”。这篇文章描述了传统上没有在一起工作的群体在任何一个群体都不可能单独解决的问题上进行合作的需求。会议的目标是把对气候和气候变化在人类进化中可能发挥的作用持不同观点的研究人员聚集在一起。诸如此类的课题是跨学科的，并且经常在正常的资助项目之间的“裂缝”中被遗漏。在会议的临界数量方面，他们也被科学协会和出版机构亏欠了。必须作出额外的努力，把通常不会参加同一科学会议的小组聚集在一起。本次研讨会将有助于解决这一需求。

Intellectual MeritA workshop to examine the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental framework of humanevolution is being planned for fall 2005. Co-convenors are Gail Ashley, Anna K.Behrensmeyer, Andrew Cohen, Craig Feibel, Richard Potts, and Jay Quade. We believethe time is ripe to bring anthropologists, archaeologists, geologists and climatologists,currently involved in the human evolution debate, together with the continental scientificdrilling community. We propose to hold a workshop with a) paleoanthropologists,archaeologists and paleontologists, b) geologists who have worked closely with thepaleoanthropological community, and c) paleoclimatologists involved in collecting andinterpreting sediment records. This workshop will integrate the record of homininevolution and their ecological communities, local and regional climate change historyand paleoenvironmental records from outcrop and deep drilling, We would focus thisworkshop primarily on the African record, where the longest and most continuousrecords of human evolution is found.The hominin fossil record reaches back in time to 6 million years ago and stone tools2.6 million years, but the details of paleoenvironmental framework particularly on thecontinents are not well known. Traditional geological studies of hominin-bearingdeposits have focused on correlation and chronology of sites, with usually only local sitebaseddescriptions accompanying each find. There have been few attempts tosynthesize within regions or to place key sites within a broader temporal and spatialcontext. With the growing realization and understanding of astronomic climate forcingduring the Plio-Pleistocene, there is an opportunity to integrate what is known about thepaleoclimate and paleoenvironment from the continental geologic record and theevolutionary history from archaeological and paleoanthropological records.Broader ImpactsUp to six advanced graduate students whose research involves an aspect of theWorkshop topic will be active participants in the discussions. The experience they gainas members of different disciplines with different vocabularies, as well as seeing thevariety of approaches to, and perhaps different interpretations of, the same data set willguide them in developing a consensual working hypothesis.The results from this workshop will be widely disseminated electronically hoping to reacha broad audience. The importance of the interdisciplinary approach and specificallyutilizing "geoscience" in paleoanthropological research was highlighted by WoldeGabrielet al., in the July 2004 issue of EOS, a publication not normally read bypaleoanthropologists. The article describes the need of groups that have nottraditionally worked together to collaborate on problems that neither group are likely tosolve on their own.The goal is to bring together researchers with a variety of perspectives on the role thatclimate and climate change might have played in human evolution. Topics such as theseare interdisciplinary and often fall through the 'cracks' between normal fundingprograms. They are also short-changed by scientific societies in terms of critical mass atconferences and by publishing outlets. Extra effort must be made to get groups togetherwho would not normally attend the same scientific meeting. This Workshop will helpaddress this need.