9414474 MacFadden Forbears of New World Monkeys reached South America some time in the early Cenozoic, but because of an inadequate fossil record there are only indirect lines of evidence about when or from where - direct from Africa remains a distinct possibility. The first record of them in South America occurs at Salla, Bolivia, and dates to about 25 million years ago. The goal of this collaborative field project is to collect and date accurately more material of the earliest South American primates at Salla and possibly elsewhere in Bolivia and to explore Argentina strata of similar age, and earlier, where it is very likely ancestral forms should be found. This project will shed much needed light on the origins of these primates who evolved in parallel with our own ancestors in Africa. ***
