Collaborative Research: Paleoanthropological investigation of the Ledi-Geraru hominin site (Afar, Ethiopia)

埃塞俄比亚的北方阿瓦什地区以其丰富的早期人类南方古猿阿法种化石遗迹而闻名（例如，“露西”），以及我们自己的属，人属和世界上最早的石器的起源的证据。 然而，由于区域性不整合，形成了跨越A.不幸的是，阿法人种和人属在阿瓦什北方的大部分地区都消失了。 该研究项目建立在最近在阿瓦什北方的阿法尔勒迪-杰拉鲁（ALG）地区进行的古人类学工作的基础上，该工作已经确定了填补这一时间空白的古生物丰富的沉积物，为了解早期人属的起源和进化及古环境背景提供了一个难得的窗口，以及石器技术，这是人类谱系的标志。 这个实地项目也有助于我们了解250万年前到300万年前之间的时间间隔，这是人类进化史上最迷人的时期之一，其中包括其他几个人类物种的首次和最后出现日期，以及整个非洲哺乳动物群和植物群的重大变化。ALG序列的独特保存使多学科团队能够古人类学家、古生物学家、考古学家和地质学家的任务是：1）确定与A. afarensis，以及随后在北方阿瓦什地区出现的早期人属和石器;（3）从化石技术发展初期的动物群、古人类改造动物群和人工制品中收集证据;以及4）利用可能的人类改良骨被回收的横断面挖掘，该项目包括为不同的研究生群体提供相关领域和实验室技术的培训，包括妇女、非洲人和其他非洲人，这些学生在这一领域的代表性通常不足。 该项目的数据也将被纳入为K-12教师开发的教材，这些教材可以通过互联网从亚利桑那州立大学推广网站下载。

The northern Awash region of Ethiopia is famous for its abundant fossil remains of the early hominin Australopithecus afarensis (e.g., "Lucy"), as well as evidence for the origins of our own genus, Homo, and the world's earliest stone tools. Due to a regional unconformity, however, appropriately aged sedimentary deposits that bridge the critical interval between A. afarensis and Homo unfortunately are missing from most of the northern Awash. This research project builds upon recent paleoanthropological work in the Afar Ledi-Geraru (ALG) region of the northern Awash that has identified paleontologically-rich sediments that fill this time gap, providing a rare window into understanding the origins and the evolutionary and paleoenvironmental contexts of early Homo, and of lithic technology, a hallmark of the human lineage. This field project also contributes to our understanding of the interval between 2.5 and 3.0 million years ago, one of the most fascinating periods in human evolutionary history, and one which encompasses both the first and last appearance dates of several other hominin species as well as significant changes in mammalian fauna and flora throughout Africa.The unique preservation of the ALG sequence enables a multidisciplinary team of paleoanthropologists, paleontologists, archaeologists, and geologists to 1) determine the paleoenvironmental context directly relevant to the morphological change and last appearance of A. afarensis, and the subsequent appearance of early Homo and stone tools in the northern Awash region; 2) extend spatial analyses of A. afarensis habitats from adjacent paleoanthropological sites into the ALG region to better understand the lateral variation in paleoenvironments; 3) collect evidence from fauna, hominin-modified fauna, and artifacts that existed in the ALG region during the earliest development of lithic technology; and 4) utilize transect excavations where potential hominin-modified bones were recovered, to document further evidence of possible early carnivory among hominins.This project includes training in relevant field and lab techniques for a diverse group of graduate students, including women, Ethiopians, and other Africans, students typically under-represented in this field. Data from this project also will be incorporated into teaching materials developed for K-12 teachers via internet download from the Arizona State University Outreach website.