A multidisciplinary study of early Homo sapiens and anatomical modernity

大多数关于人类进化的研究都是基于欧洲和非洲的化石。该项目通过分析印度次大陆的早期人类，扩大了古人类学研究不足地区的代表性。 研究人员将分析来自联合国教科文组织世界遗产印度Bhimbetka的墓葬，那里的彩绘岩石庇护所可以追溯到大约4万年前。 他们将分析这些人的骨骼遗骸，古代DNA和石器，以重建他们的祖先，并建立他们与其他早期人类的关系。了解人类进化在这个相对知之甚少的地区将有助于我们的生物和行为的多样性，因为我们作为一个物种的起源更大的认识。该项目还将支持研究生培训和国际研究合作，以及现代人类起源研究中的不同声音和地区。一个由古人类学家、考古学家和遗传学家组成的多学科小组将检查来自Bhimbetka和印度另一个地点Jwalapuram岩石避难所的骨骼和考古遗迹，在那里，从一个岩石避难所的晚更新世地层中挖掘出了碎片和部分火化的遗迹。该项目将1）直接确定遗骸的年代，并为人类和旧石器时代的文物建立一个坚实的年代框架; 2）分析骨骼遗骸，以确定它们是否与同时代的亚洲，欧洲或非洲人口最相似; 3）从标本中提取和分析古代DNA; 4）将遗传学和形态学数据与石器遗迹相关联，以确定何种技术与印度早期智人有关。研究结果将有助于阐明南亚晚更新世时期的骨骼形态、基因组和物质文化的演化过程。 这种综合性的方法来理解人类进化在一个相对知之甚少的地区将有助于更好地认识区域变量模式的特点早期H。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Most studies of human evolution have been based on fossils from Europe and Africa. This project broadens the representation of understudied regions in paleoanthropology by analyzing early humans from the Indian subcontinent. Researchers will analyze burials from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Bhimbetka in India, where painted rock shelters date back to approximately 40,000 years ago. They will analyze the skeletal remains, ancient DNA and stone tools of these people to reconstruct their ancestry and establish their relationship to other early human populations. Understanding human evolution in this relatively poorly understood region will contribute to a greater awareness of our biological and behavioral diversity, since our inception as a species. The project will also support graduate student training and international research collaborations, as well as diverse voices and regions in research on modern human origins. A multidisciplinary team of paleoanthropologists, archaeologists and geneticists will examine the skeletal and archaeological remains from Bhimbetka and another site in India, Jwalapuram rock shelter in South India, where fragmentary and partially cremated remains were excavated from securely-dated Late Pleistocene levels of a rock shelter. This project will 1) directly date the remains and establish a solid chronological framework for both hominins and Paleolithic artifacts; 2) analyze the skeletal remains to determine whether they are most similar to contemporaneous Asian, European, or African populations; 3) extract and analyze ancient DNA from the specimens; and 4) correlate the genetic and morphological data with the stone tool remains to determine what technology is associated with early Homo sapiens in India. The results will help to clarify the evolutionary processes that shaped the skeletal morphology, genomes and material culture in South Asia in the Late Pleistocene. This integrative approach to understanding human evolution in a relatively poorly understood region will contribute to a greater awareness of the regionally variable patterns that characterized early H. sapiens throughout the Old World.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.