The earliest definitive members of the human lineage are Australopithecus anamensis, which first appeared at the Kanapoi, Kenya, 4.2 million years ago. It is well established that later Australopithecus species were bipedal, with strong teeth and jaws, a slightly larger brain than apes, and inhabited more open country. Australopithecus anamensis is similar to later species in its teeth and jaws, and a single leg bone suggests it was also bipedal, but it is poorly known in the fossil record. Determining which traits were present in A. anamensis is key for understanding why and how Australopithecus evolved.
This international collaborative effort (USA, Kenya, Sweden) renews fieldwork at Kanapoi to recover more A. anamensis fossils, and to test the hypothesis that they appeared in the context of open habitats. Paleontologists will map distribution of microfauna (rodents, frogs, etc.) and larger animals to explore variation in local habitats, a unique opportunity because sites preserving microfauna are rare. Geologists will refine the dating of the deposits, and analyze carbon isotopes trapped within the soils to reconstruct vegetation in the area. Anatomists will analyze microscopic tooth wear and isotopes trapped in the teeth of all fauna to explore their diets, which provides additional evidence about environments. These collaborative research foci will contribute to determining which traits characterized the origin of Australopithecus, and how these relate to environmental context - key for understanding why and how humans evolved.
This project creates a new international collaborative team, and is a field project led by a female anthropologist (Ward) and Kenyan paleontologist (Manthi). Kenyan and American students will receive training through their joint participation in the field research; Kenyan students will train under a Kenyan mentor, and female students with a woman scientist. The project's substantial outreach and educational activities will take place in the local Kanapoi area, at the National Museums of Kenya-Lodwar, and at schools in Nairobi, Kenya. This outreach will be broadened further through dissemination of results via the project's website.
