Under the National Science Foundation's SBER Instrumentation competition, Dr. Stanley Ambrose will purchase a four wheel drive Toyota Landcruiser to facilitate his paleoanthropological fieldwork in the Kenyan Rift Valley. Because the sites he studies are located in isolated areas away from main roads a four wheel drive vehicle is necessary. Dr. Ambrose and his colleagues have located a ca. 25 x 50 km. region on the western shoulder of the southern Rift Valley which, on the basis of a very brief examination was shown to contain over 20 fossil and archaeological sites. Previous geological survey indicates that the region contains three superimposed paleolakes. The oldest is Late Miocene in age and the younger are probably Pliocene and Pleistocene. The exposed stratigraphic sections are up to 185 meters thick and contain abundant datable volcanic ashfalls. The area's rich fossil and archaeological record is likely to produce important new discoveries for at least a decade. Dr. Ambrose has initiated a long term project to determine the detailed geological sequence, obtain absolute dates and reconstruct changing environments over time. Paleontological and archaeological sites will be located and excavated and on this basis it should be possible to examine hominid adaptation over a possible 6 million year time span. The vehicle will also be used by graduate students and thus serve an important educational function. - À- v- +- ±@ + _ Ûª? ÑOh ª' +'ª?0 à + Õ $ H l + ¢ ? D h + S u m m a r y I n f o r m a t i o n ( ++++++++++++ % Û ++++++++++++ ++++++++++++ ++++++++++++ R:WWUSERTEMPLATENORMAL.DOT
