The project goal is to increase knowledge of early human evolution in South Africa, one of the centers of the emergence of humankind. In particular, the project is focused on excavation and analysis of paleontological and archaeological materials from Swartkrans Cave, one of the most important fossil human sites in the world, dated c. 1.8 - 1.0 million years old. From 1948 - 1986, work at Swartkrans: (1) established that Homo erectus, a direct ancestor of modern humans, was contemporaneous with another type of extinct human called Australopithecus robustus; (2) identified a unique type of bone tool culture that was used by Australopithecus robustus, a specialized vegetarian, to dig up edible roots; (3) identified burned bones, which are likely the earliest traces of humanly controlled fire in the world. Our goal is to build upon this pioneering research through a new program of excavation and analysis. By investigating additional morphological (gleaned from study of the fossils) and behavioral (gleaned from the study of the archaeological materials) differences between the two types of humans preserved at Swartkrans, we hope to suggest factors that might have been responsible for the extinction of Australopithecus robustus and the success of Homo erectus, which culminated in the evolution of our own species, Homo sapiens. Swartkrans has a long and proven record as one of the most productive sites of its age, and our initial re-investigation there, beginning in 2004, has confirmed this. Our work has documented the earliest evidence of hunting and meat-eating (in the form of butchery marks on fossil bone surfaces) in southern Africa, one of the fundamental adaptations we hypothesize was responsible for the evolutionary success of Homo erectus. Only new fossils and archaeological remains will allow us to test and refine this idea and other hypotheses, crucial to understanding the basic features that characterized the gradual materialization of our humanness.
Work at Swartkrans, which is an international collaborative effort, will provide local South Africans with employment. The project is also providing an American Ph.D. student with fulltime employment as the site supervisor. In addition, as part of an archaeological fieldschool run at the site, local and international students have the opportunity to excavate at Swartkrans. Finally, the research on new aspects of the paleoanthropology of Swartkrans will lead to an increase in our understanding of human evolution and behavior during the Pleistocene in Africa and beyond. On a local scale, this is important because Swartkrans is an integral part of the recently declared Gauteng Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site. On a broader scale, the scientific study of human origins continues to be assaulted by advocates of intelligent design. The Swartkrans fossil and archaeological data of early humans, in combination with others generated in like studies, are the most powerful weapons in meeting and surmounting this challenge to the advancement of the scientific understanding of human evolution.
