| NSF Org: |
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | June 14, 2005 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | June 14, 2005 |
| Award Number: | 0530405 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
H. Richard Lane
EAR Division Of Earth Sciences GEO Directorate for Geosciences |
| Start Date: | July 1, 2005 |
| End Date: | June 30, 2006 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $25,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $25,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
3 RUTGERS PLZ NEW BRUNSWICK NJ US 08901-8559 (848)932-0150 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
3 RUTGERS PLZ NEW BRUNSWICK NJ US 08901-8559 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
Biological Anthropology, Sedimentary Geo & Paleobiology |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
Intellectual Merit
A workshop to examine the paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental framework of human
evolution is being planned for fall 2005. Co-convenors are Gail Ashley, Anna K.
Behrensmeyer, Andrew Cohen, Craig Feibel, Richard Potts, and Jay Quade. We believe
the time is ripe to bring anthropologists, archaeologists, geologists and climatologists,
currently involved in the human evolution debate, together with the continental scientific
drilling community. We propose to hold a workshop with a) paleoanthropologists,
archaeologists and paleontologists, b) geologists who have worked closely with the
paleoanthropological community, and c) paleoclimatologists involved in collecting and
interpreting sediment records. This workshop will integrate the record of hominin
evolution and their ecological communities, local and regional climate change history
and paleoenvironmental records from outcrop and deep drilling, We would focus this
workshop primarily on the African record, where the longest and most continuous
records of human evolution is found.
The hominin fossil record reaches back in time to >6 million years ago and stone tools
>2.6 million years, but the details of paleoenvironmental framework particularly on the
continents are not well known. Traditional geological studies of hominin-bearing
deposits have focused on correlation and chronology of sites, with usually only local sitebased
descriptions accompanying each find. There have been few attempts to
synthesize within regions or to place key sites within a broader temporal and spatial
context. With the growing realization and understanding of astronomic climate forcing
during the Plio-Pleistocene, there is an opportunity to integrate what is known about the
paleoclimate and paleoenvironment from the continental geologic record and the
evolutionary history from archaeological and paleoanthropological records.
Broader Impacts
Up to six advanced graduate students whose research involves an aspect of the
Workshop topic will be active participants in the discussions. The experience they gain
as members of different disciplines with different vocabularies, as well as seeing the
variety of approaches to, and perhaps different interpretations of, the same data set will
guide them in developing a consensual working hypothesis.
The results from this workshop will be widely disseminated electronically hoping to reach
a broad audience. The importance of the interdisciplinary approach and specifically
utilizing "geoscience" in paleoanthropological research was highlighted by WoldeGabriel
et al., in the July 2004 issue of EOS, a publication not normally read by
paleoanthropologists. The article describes the need of groups that have not
traditionally worked together to collaborate on problems that neither group are likely to
solve on their own.
The goal is to bring together researchers with a variety of perspectives on the role that
climate and climate change might have played in human evolution. Topics such as these
are interdisciplinary and often fall through the 'cracks' between normal funding
programs. They are also short-changed by scientific societies in terms of critical mass at
conferences and by publishing outlets. Extra effort must be made to get groups together
who would not normally attend the same scientific meeting. This Workshop will help
address this need.
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