New evidence from early fossil humans suggests that, in some respects, these hominins more closely resembled the earliest fossil apes than any modern ape. While such findings substantially impact our understanding of early hominin adaptive morphology, their precise implications remain unclear because the original ecological conditions in which these features evolved is poorly documented. To address this problem, this project will answer the following three research questions: What are the regional patterns of environmental change and the site-specific habitats associated with the earliest fossil apes? How does the morphology of early apes relate to the environmental contexts in which they lived? How do early ape adaptations inform our understanding of later ape and human evolution? These questions will be answered by establishing a multi-disciplinary, multi-national collaboration to initiate new paleontological field research at all of the early fossil ape localities in East Africa. For the first time, new fossil and data collection will be coordinated across nearly a dozen Kenyan sites near Kisingiri, Tinderet, West Turkana, and Buluk, and a similar number of Ugandan sites at Napak, Moroto, and Bukwa. In addition to surveys and excavation, a series of geological, ecological, and taphonomic analyses will be used to understand the age, environment, and setting of each locality. New fossils will be subjected to rigorous morphological analyses to determine their evolutionary and adaptive significance. Unlike previous studies, which have focused on individual localities, this regional approach to understanding ancient ecosystems will track environmental variations over the time and space of early ape evolution, making it possible to relate specific habitat types with primate adaptive morphology.
The origin and early diversification of the ape-human lineage represents a fundamental shift in primate body plans, and is therefore an integral resource for interpreting the later evolution of apes and humans. For decades, most researchers have studied human origins through the lens of modern ape and human characteristics, marginalizing a large and diverse body of evidence from their ancient ape predecessors. This project represents an important and substantive step toward fully integrating our knowledge of living and fossil apes and humans. Moreover, coordinating a project of this breadth - using the same methods and protocols across all of the relevant fossil sites - will allow data to be synthesized on a scale not previously possible, setting new benchmarks for conducting future field projects. This project will thus model a collaborative approach that will be more productive and beneficial to the discipline of paleoanthropology.
This project also generates substantial broader impacts. A critical component of the grant is the training of US and East Africa graduate and US undergraduate students in the discipline of paleoanthropology. The project also includes the National Museums of Kenya as a full collaborative scientific partner in the proposed research. A well-established partnership between University of Michigan, Makerere University and the National Museum (Uganda) will be fostered by this grant, helping to train staff and students in Uganda on field and analytical techniques. Finally, a digital database cataloging all the fossils and data collected from all of the localities will be made freely available after the conclusion of the project.
