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

埃塞俄比亚北部的瓦什地区以其丰富的早期南方古猿化石遗骸而闻名，以及我们自己的人属起源的证据和世界上最早的石器。然而，由于区域不整合，连接阿法尔人和人之间关键间隔的适当年龄的沉积沉积不幸地在北部的大部分洪水中消失了。这一研究项目建立在北部大浪淘沙的阿法勒迪-吉拉鲁(ALG)地区最近的古人类学工作的基础上，该地区发现了填补这一时间空白的古生物丰富的沉积物，为理解早期人的起源、进化和古环境背景以及作为人类谱系标志的石器技术提供了难得的窗口。这一实地考察项目还有助于我们理解250万至300万年前的时间间隔，这是人类进化史上最迷人的时期之一，包含了其他几个原始人类物种的第一次和最后一次出现的日期，以及整个非洲哺乳动物动植物的重大变化。ALG序列的独特保存使一个由古人类学家、古生物学家、考古学家和地质学家组成的多学科团队能够1)确定与阿法尔人的形态变化和最后出现以及随后在北部泛滥地区出现的早期人和石器直接相关的古环境背景；2)将相邻古人类学遗址的阿法尔人栖息地的空间分析扩展到ALG地区，以更好地了解古环境的横向变化；3)从ALG地区最早发展石片技术时存在的动物、人的修饰动物和人工制品中收集证据；4)利用发现潜在的人的修饰的骨骼的横断面发掘，进一步记录人类可能早期食肉的证据。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，包括女性、埃塞俄比亚人和其他非洲人，这些学生在这一领域的代表性通常较低。该项目的数据还将通过互联网从亚利桑那州立大学外展网站下载到为K-12教师开发的教材中。

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.