Renewed Paleoanthropological Research in the Laetoli Area, Tanzania

对人类进化的古人类学研究对于记录起源和进化步骤产生我们自己的物种至关重要。科学界和公众对这一研究领域有着浓厚的兴趣，因为人们对人类起源有着持久的兴趣。对理解人类进化最重要的贡献之一是发现了重要的新化石。它们为记录人类进化的各个阶段提供了至关重要的信息，但同样重要的是，它们提供了背景证据来解释重大进化事件是如何以及为什么发生的。该项目将更新非洲最重要的古人类学遗址之一拉托利的古生物和地质调查，目的是为更好地了解人类进化的早期阶段提供新的证据。这项研究的主要目标是解决人类进化中的几个关键问题：(1)对下拉托利层(距今385万到500万年前)的探索有可能产生早期原始人(人类进化谱系中已灭绝的成员)，这可能为人类谱系中最早的代表的多样性和进化关系提供重要的新证据；(2)从上拉托利层(3.6-385万年前)发现的新的原始人化石将有助于更好地了解早期原始人物种--非洲南方古猿的解剖学、古生物学和关系；(3)来自上Ndolanya海床(266万年前)的额外人种将增加我们对已灭绝的人类谱系中最早的一个分支--非洲拟人猿的有限欣赏，并为理解与南方古猿灭绝以及拟人猿和人(人类所属的属)分化相关的时间和环境因素提供重要线索；以及(4)对古生态的详细评估将使我们更好地了解Laetoli人的栖息地偏好和生态背景，并为更广泛地评估东非栖息地多样性和环境变化提供基础。该项目为坦桑尼亚的古人类学学生培训、研究和教育基础设施支持提供了独特的机会，为美国研究人员提供了将他们的学术联系网络扩展到不同学科和国家的科学家和机构的重要机会，并为向更广泛的公众促进人类进化研究提供了一种工具。

The paleoanthropological study of human evolution is critical for documenting the origins and evolutionary steps that gave rise to our own species. This area of research is of profound interest to the scientific community and to the general public because of the enduring fascination with human origins. One of the most significant contributions to understanding human evolution is the discovery of important new fossils. These provide crucial information to document the various stages of human evolution, but equally importantly provide contextual evidence to explain how and why major evolutionary events took place. This project will renew paleontological and geological investigations at Laetoli, one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in Africa, with the goal of contributing new evidence towards a better understanding of the early stages of human evolution. The main goal of the research is to address several critical issues in human evolution: (1) exploration of the Lower Laetolil Beds (3.85 million to older than 5.0 million years ago) has the potential to yield early hominins (extinct members of the human evolutionary lineage) that could contribute important new evidence on the diversity and evolutionary relationships of the earliest representatives of the human lineage; (2) new hominin fossils from the Upper Laetolil Beds (3.6-3.85 million years ago) will lead to a better understanding of the anatomy, paleobiology and relationships of the early hominin species, Australopithecus afarensis; (3) additional hominins from the Upper Ndolanya Beds (2.66 million years ago) will add to our limited appreciation of Paranthropus aethiopicus, the earliest member of an extinct side-branch of the human lineage, and offer important clues to understanding the timing and environmental factors associated with the extinction of Australopithecus and the divergence of Paranthropus and Homo (the genus to which humans belong); and (4) a detailed assessment of the paleoecology will allow a better understanding of the habitat preferences and ecological context of the Laetoli hominins, as well as providing a building block in a broader assessment of habitat diversity and environmental change in East Africa. The project provides unique opportunities for paleoanthropological training of students, research and educational infrastructural support in Tanzania, important opportunities for US researchers to extend their network of academic links to scientists and institutions in different disciplines and countries, and provides a vehicle for the promotion of the study of human evolution to the broader public.