Research Gallery
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| Zeresenay Alemseged Dr. Alemseged's research program focuses on the discovery and interpretation of hominin fossil remains and their environments with emphasize on fieldwork designed to acquire new and much needed data on early hominin skeletal biology, environmental context, and behavior. |
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| Figure 1. Dr. Alemseged, head of the Dikika Research Project (DRP), at the site where “Selam,” the earliest juvenile human ancestor was discovered. (Click image for larger view.) | Figure 2. Dr. Alemseged and Getu Assefa examining a freshly discovered foot of Selam. (Click image for larger view.) | Figure 3. Members of the DRP screening sediments a the DIK-1 locality where Selam was found. (Click image for larger view.) |
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| Figure 4. DRP members of Dr. Denne Reed and Hassan examining a hominin discovery at the site of Dikika. (Click image for larger view.) | Figure 5. A fragment of an elephant hipbone from Dikika showing the femur head still in articulation with the acetablum. (Click image for larger view.) | Figure 6. Dr. Jonathan Wynn, geologist of the DRP, examining a volcanic ash dated to over 3 million years ago at Dikika. (Click image for larger view.) |
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| Andy Herries Dr. Herries co-directs excavations at a number of Early Pleistocene to Holocene sites with Darren Curnoe (UNSW). In the Northern Cape of South Africa, he is excavating a series of Later Stone Age rockshelters and Middle Pleistocene archaeological and fossil bearing localities. Along with Australian colleagues, he is conducting detailed multi-disciplinary comparative dating studies on these deposits using C14, U-series and ESR methods. Much of his work deals with exploring, sampling and excavating logistically challenging sites. At Pinnacle Point in South Africa, he runs excavations at the Middle Stone Age site of Cave 9 as part of the SACP4 project directed by Prof. Curtis Marean (Institute of Human Origins.) |
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| Figure 1. Dr Herries running excavations of an LSA Ostrich Eggshell Production site in the Northern Cape of South Africa. (Click image for larger view.) | Figure 2. Taking OSL samples from calcified dunes 20m up a cliff face in the Western Cape of South Africa. (Click image for larger view.) | Figure 3. Aerial view of the Pinnacle Point caves, including the large entrance of Cave 9. (Click image for larger view.) |
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| Figure 4. Dr. Herries exploring Cave 9 Upper for the first time in 2006 after a 12m rock climb. (Click image for larger view.) | Figure 5. Excavations taking place in Cave 9 Upper in 2006. (Click image for larger view.) | Figure 6. Excavations taking place in the narrow, dark section at the rear of Cave 9. (Click image for larger view.) |
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| Figure 7. Multi-dimensional model of anthropogenic alteration at Pinnacle Point Cave 13b (~90-180 ka) using magnetic mineralogy of cave sediments. Large spheres represent in situ hearths, small spheres the spread of anthropogenically altered material into the deposits and the very small spheres indicates no anthropogenic alteration and so areas not utilised by humans within the cave. (Modelling by Erich Fisher, University of Florida). | Figure 8. Complex magneto-biostratigraphic studies of the Paranthropus bearing Gondoiln Palaeocave in South Africa, undertaken with Justin Adams, Glen Conroy and Kevin Kuykendall (Herries et al, 2006 [JHE]; Adams et al., 2007 [QSR]). | Figure 9. Sitting inside a zero field cage at the University of Liverpool Geomagnetism Laboratory, U.K., holding a cast of Sts 5 (Mrs Ples) from Sterkfontein Cave in South Africa. |
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Susan Larson Dr. Larson's research focuses on the functional interpretation of musculoskeletal morphology of humans and nonhuman primates. Most of her work involves using laboratory methods to test hypothesized form/function relationships in order to more confidently reconstruct the behaviors of extinct primate species. |
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| Figure 1. At the Indonesian Centre for Archaeology (ARKENAS) in Jakarta: I have recently had the opportunity to analyze the upper limb elements of the recently discovered diminutive hominin, Homo floresiensis, from the Island of Flores in Indonesia. | Figure 2. Video-grabbed images of a baboon research subject walking on a branch showing raw EMG of its forearm rotator muscles to demonstrate how their recruitment is coordinated with tail motions to help the subject maintain balance (figure from Larson and Stern, 2005). (Click image for larger view.) | Figure 3. Assembled skeleton of Liang Bua hominin 1 (LB1), most complete fossil representative of H. floresiensis. (Click image for larger view.) |
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| Figure 4. Quantified EMG activity patterns for three humeral retractor muscles from eleven nonhuman primate species during quadrupedal walking to show differences in patterns of muscle use between primates and nonprimates (figure from Larson and Stern, 2007). (Click image for larger view.) |
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Fredrick Kyalo Manthi Dr. Manthi's main research interests are in the analysis of Pliocene and Pleistocene micromammals from Africa and their implications for reconstructing paleoenviroments during the course of hominid evolution. |
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| Figure 1. Standing at one of the sites I have been excavating at Kanapoi (Nzube's Mandible Site). | Figure 2. Shows an excavation we were undertaking at Kanapoi. | Figure 3. Taking notes during the fossil prospecting process. |
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| Figure 4. Taking notes during the fossil prospecting process. | Figure 5. Taking notes during the fossil prospecting process. | Figure 6. Group photo showing all the field crew. |
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