Paleoanthropological Survey of a Late Miocene-Early Pliocene Site

该项目将调查埃塞俄比亚的一个新遗址，该遗址可能包含大约500万至600万年前早期人类（古人类）祖先的化石和考古证据。此前，人们利用卫星图像数据确定该地点可能含有化石。一个具有多年古生物学和考古学经验的调查小组将调查100平方公里的区域，以识别和记录任何化石和人工制品，并收集地质数据。如果在这个地点发现新的化石和人工制品，它们可以扩大我们对环境和生物压力的理解，这些压力导致了人类进化出直立行走、使用石器和吃肉等关键适应性。该项目将支持当地社区以及美国和埃塞俄比亚学生、研究人员和美国公众的科学教育、培训和保护。该项目是响应生物人类学和考古学高风险研究（HRRBAA）征集而提交的，是对埃塞俄比亚阿法尔地区州达纳基尔洼地的一个名为Asale的以前未开发地区进行为期两周的实地调查，以记录古生物和考古遗迹的存在。调查人员是一群高素质的古人类学家，他们在埃塞俄比亚和更广泛的非洲有着悠久的成功工作历史。他们对阿法尔地区中新更新世动物群、古生态重建和同位素地球化学有较强的了解。他们将评估火山和沉积层的古人类学潜力，目的是记录人类进化的早期阶段及其背景，特别是中新世-上新世之间的界限，当时人类首次出现在化石记录中。该遗址的数据还可以为分类群的地理分布和古环境重建提供信息。该项目支持科学保护工作，如果该遗址包含古人类数据，那么后续更大的项目将支持对学生的培训，并通过大学的科学推广计划向公众传播研究结果。本项目由美国国家科学基金会生物人类学和考古项目联合资助。

This project will survey a new site in Ethiopia that may contain fossils and archaeological evidence of early human (hominin) ancestors around 5 to 6 million years ago. The site was previously identified as potentially fossil-bearing using satellite imagery data. A team of investigators with many combined years of paleontological and archaeological experience will survey a 100 square kilometer area to identify and document any fossils and artifacts and gather geological data. If new fossils and artifacts are found at this site, they could expand our understanding of the environmental and biological pressures that led to the evolution of key human adaptations like walking upright, stone tool use, and meat eating. The project will support science education, training, and conservation in the local community, and among US and Ethiopian students, researchers and the US public.This project, submitted in response to the High-Risk Research in Biological Anthropology and Archaeology (HRRBAA) solicitation, is a two-week field survey of a previously unexplored area, known as Asale, in the Danakil Depression in the Afar Regional State, Ethiopia, to document the presence of paleontological and archeological remains. The investigators are a highly qualified group of paleoanthropologists with a long history of successful work in Ethiopia and in Africa more broadly. They have a strong familiarity with the Mio-Pleistocene fauna of the Afar region, paleoecological reconstruction, and isotopic geochemistry. They will assess the paleoanthropological potential of volcanic and sedimentary deposits with the goal of documenting earlier stages of human evolution and its context, specifically the Miocene-Pliocene boundary when hominins first appear in the fossil record. Data from the site may also provide information about the geographic distribution of taxa and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. The project supports science conservation efforts, and if the site contains hominin data, the larger ensuing project would support training of students and communication of findings to the general public through university scientific outreach programs. The project is jointly supported by the Biological Anthropology and Archaeology Programs at NSF.