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SUMMARY:T.H.E. G.A.P.P.P\, i.e. (re) Thinking Human Evolution: Gorongosa A
 frican Paleo-Primate Project - Dr. Susana Carvalho
DTSTART:20181128T163000Z
DTEND:20181128T173000Z
UID:TALK111373@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Laura van Holstein
DESCRIPTION:A major puzzle in human origins research is the question of wh
 ere in Africa our lineage originated\, and under what environmental condit
 ions\, but answers to these questions are hampered by major gaps in the ge
 ographic distribution of Mio-Pliocene paleontological sites and by the abs
 ence of holistic approaches to the study of human evolution. To help fill 
 these gaps\, we initiated in 2016 a multi-disciplinary long-term research 
 project on human origins at Gorongosa National Park\, Mozambique\, which i
 s located at the southern end of the East African Rift System. The main ob
 jective is to integrate paleontological evidence with studies of modern be
 havioural ecology to test key hypotheses in human evolution. We aim to fin
 d and analyse new fossil sites\, and to use the behavioural repertoire of 
 extant primates ranging in a complex mosaic environment as a model to unde
 rstand key behavioural innovations in our lineage. Primatologists\, palaeo
 ntologists\, geologists\, archaeologists and ecologists are working daily 
 side-by-side\, collecting data that converge on a single over-arching goal
 : to integrate palaeontological evidence with studies of extant primates t
 o finally mind the (Rift) gap of human evolution. I will discuss our first
  results indicating that a) The Urema Rift is a key fossiliferous area\, b
 earing both open air and cave sites\, b) The extant primates of Gorongosa 
 are uniquely relevant as behavioural models\, due to their quasi-experimen
 tal ecological conditions\, c) Gorongosa modern ecosystem is an analogue w
 ithout parallel for the environments where hominins evolved\, and d) The e
 merging fossil record from the Urema Rift may allow us to test\, for the f
 irst time\, key paleobiogeographic hypotheses during critical periods of h
 ominoid evolution.
LOCATION:Seminar Room\, Henry Wellcome Building\, Division of Biological A
 nthropology\, Fitzwilliam Street\, Cambridge\, CB2 3QG
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