Paleoanthropological Survey of the Gobaad Basin, Djibouti

扩大我们对更深层次的人类生物和技术史的理解，在很大程度上取决于恢复更多的化石和石器。这些材料检验了现有的假说，并为开发早期人类进化的新模型提供了基础。恢复更多的化石和石器依赖于找到含有这些材料的矿藏。将对吉布提阿法尔的戈巴德盆地进行调查，以评估该地区产生古人类学遗址的潜力(例如，具有上更新世化石和/或石器的沉积物)。阿法尔洼地横跨埃塞俄比亚东北部和吉布提西南部，可以说是已知的最丰富的人类化石和石器储藏库。埃塞俄比亚阿法尔地区的古人类学调查导致了许多发现，记录了过去600万年的人类史前。相比之下，吉布提的阿法尔却鲜为人知。据报道，吉布提阿法尔地区仅发现约150件化石和一组出土的石器，而在埃塞俄比亚阿法尔地区发现了数千件化石和石器。然而，这两个地区是同一整个阿法尔盆地系统的一部分，因此应该具有相同的开采石器和化石的总体潜力。以前在吉布提阿法尔戈巴德盆地的工作记录了至少一些化石和石器的普遍存在，广泛地归因于下更新世和中更新世。通过对地质和遥感数据的分析，确定了戈巴德的26个目标区。该项目的重点是调查这些目标区域，以检查是否存在岩屑、化石和/或可测定日期的材料(凝灰岩)。这将提供关于吉布提阿法尔地区古人类资源分布的第一个空间数据。这项调查将由美国、法国和吉布提联合团队完成。

Expanding our understanding of deeper human biological and technological history depends, in large part, on recovering more fossils and stone tools. Such materials test existing hypotheses and provide the basis for developing new models of early human evolution. Recovering additional fossils and stone tools depends on locating deposits containing such materials. A survey of the Gobaad Basin in the Djibouti Afar will be carried out to evaluate the potential of this area for yielding paleoanthropological sites (e.g., deposits with Plio-Pleistocene fossils and/or stone tools). The Afar Depression spans northeastern Ethiopia and southwestern Djibouti, and is arguably the richest known repository of human fossils and stone tools. Paleoanthropological surveys in the Ethiopian Afar have led to numerous discoveries documenting the last six million years of human prehistory. The Djibouti Afar, in contrast, is poorly known. Only some 150 fossils and one excavated assemblage of stone tools have been reported from the Djibouti Afar, whereas thousands of fossils and stone tools have been recovered from the Ethiopian Afar. Yet both areas are part of the same overall Afar basin system, and thus should have the same general potential for yielding stone tools and fossils. Previous work in the Gobaad Basin of the Djibouti Afar has documented the general presence of at least some fossils and stone tools, broadly attributable to both the Lower and Middle Pleistocene. An analysis of geological and remote sensing data has led to the identification of 26 target areas in the Gobaad. The focus of this project is to survey these target areas to check for the presence of lithics, fossils, and/or datable materials (tuffs). This will provide the first spatial data on the distribution of paleoanthropological resources in the Djibouti Afar. The survey will be done by a joint US, French, and Djiboutian team.