Palaeontological and palaeoanthropological exploration of the Pleistocene Lake Manyara deposits at Makuyuni, Northern Tanzania

拟议的项目将探索坦桑尼亚的曼亚拉湖地区，在南部非洲和东部非洲之间的“原始人走廊”中寻找新的上更新世化石遗址。它的目标是找回有充分记录的化石材料，以及可能由人类产生的动物群组合和原始人遗骸。20世纪90年代初和中期对该地区的初步调查表明，该地区具有很强的古生物和古人类学潜力。在这项早期的研究中，发现了丰富的、保存完好的化石遗骸，包括两个潜在的原始人碎片。初步地质研究表明，Manyara层对应于Olduvai(中部)II层和III层，因此其年龄大致在1.7-0.4 Ma之间。这一时期的开始恰逢直立人的早期进化和东非干旱的加剧，而这一时期的后期标志着非洲智人血统多样化的开始。拟议的研究将旨在：1.记录这些事件的生物地理和古生态背景，2.潜在地从这一相对贫乏的代表时期恢复原始人化石。

The proposed project will explore the Lake Manyara region, Tanzania, for new fossil sites of the Plio-Pleistocene in the "Hominid-Corridor" between Southern and Eastern Africa. It will aim to retrieve well-documented fossil material, and potentially hominidproduced faunal assemblages and hominid remains. Preliminary investigation of the region in the early and mid-1990s, demonstrated the strong palaeontological and palaeoanthropological potential of the region. During this earlier research, rich, wellpreserved fossil remains were recovered, including two potential hominid fragments. Initial geological study indicates that the Manyara beds correspond to Olduvai (middle) Bed II and Bed III and thus are roughly dated to between 1.7 and 0.4 ma. The beginning of this period coincides with the evolution of early H. erectus and with increased aridity in East Africa, while its latter part marks the beginning of the diversification of the H. sapiens lineage in Africa. The proposed research will aim to: 1. document the biogeographic and palaeoecological background of these events, and 2. to potentially recover hominid fossils from this relatively pooriy represented time period.