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SUMMARY:In Africa: Fossil hunting for human ancestors (King's/Cambridge-Af
 rica Seminar) - Dr Marta Mirazon Lahr (Director of the Duckworth Laborator
 y) &amp\; Professor Robert Foley (Director of the Leverhulme Centre for Hu
 man Evolutionary Studies). Both speakers are members of the Division of Bi
 ological Anthropology\, Dept. of Arch. and Anth.\, C
DTSTART:20140220T180000Z
DTEND:20140220T190000Z
UID:TALK49964@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Dr Pauline Essah
DESCRIPTION:It is now widely accepted that our species\, Homo sapiens\, ev
 olved in Africa in the last 200\,000 years. That is the date of the first 
 fossils from modern humans (found at the northern edge of the Turkana Basi
 n in Ethiopia)\, as well as of various genetic estimates of the age of our
  lineage. The archaeological record of that period in Africa is very patch
 y\, but what has been found suggests that those early human populations we
 re changing their behaviours in various ways. However\, the paucity of bot
 h fossils and archaeological sites in Africa at this critical period means
  that the processes that led to our evolution and shaped our diversity in 
 Africa through time remain elusive. Major advances in present and palaeo-g
 enomics are providing fascinating insights into the complexities of those 
 processes. Nevertheless\, it is the discovery of new well-contextualised f
 ossils and prehistoric tool sets that will really throw light onto our evo
 lutionary history. \n\nThe IN-AFRICA Project aims to discover such fossils
  in East Africa\, focusing on the evolution of human diversity in the regi
 on. \nSince 2009\, the project has been exploring ancient beaches formed w
 hen Lake Turkana was much larger than today during periods of intense prec
 ipitation in the tropics. This palaeoshores\, located in the southwestern 
 floodplain of the lake\, are one of the richest sediments in fossil and ar
 chaeological remains yet found. Among our discoveries are hominin and huma
 n fossils\, a rich fauna that includes extinct taxa\, and the remains of a
  fantastic fishing culture that manufactured barbed harpoons from bone and
  ivory. The fossils and prehistoric tools from the late Quaternary of West
  Turkana reveal the complex and dynamic nature of human populations throug
 h time\, throw light on prehistoric warfare\, and human adaptation\, and t
 hus help us reconstruct the evolutionary history of our species in Africa.
  
LOCATION:Wine Room\, King's College\, Cambridge\, CB2 1ST
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