Archaeology Lecture Videos
Lee R. Berger
The Leakey legacy and the new "greatest age of exploration" - our ever-expanding understanding
of human origins
Richard Leakey's impact on the field of paleoanthropology has been profound, perhaps no more so than in the field of exploration for human origins. In this talk, Lee Berger will discuss Richard's personal impact on his career and discuss recent discoveries and the future of discovery and exploration into human origins in this new 'greatest age of exploration'.
Ignacio de la Torre
The transition from the Oldowan to the Acheulean: where do we stand?
When and how the Oldowan was replaced by the Acheulean are key questions in the archaeology of human evolution, and will be discussed in the context of biological and ecological change in East Africa.
Sonia Harmand & Hélène Roche
Human origins written in stone. The Early Stone Age of West Turkana, Kenya
Hélène Roche and Sonia Harmand will present, past and new evidence on the Early Stone Age of the Turkana basin since Richard Leakey noticed the first stone tools on the west side of the lake while excavating the Turkana Boy in 1984. They will discuss the evidence in light of biological and environmental changes in East Africa and will present future research directions.
Curtis W. Marean
How did modern humans evolve into modern humans?
Modern humans have a unique psychological and cognitive machinery that evolved in the late Middle Pleistocene. Paleoanthropologists have focused on climate and environmental change as the driver for much of human evolution. While this might be a productive paradigm for explaining earlier phases of human evolution, it fails to explain the final steps to the evolution of modern humans. The evolution to modern humans involved a shift out of the high mobility-light technology niche to one focused on dense and predictable resources with a consequent reduction in mobility and increased complexity of technology and human social relations.
Emmanuel K. Ndiema
Pastoralists’ resilience and mitigation to climate change: insights from the southeastern
Turkana Basin
Today, thousands of households in east Africa depend on the widespread subsistence practice of pastoralism. However, in recent years, unpredictable climatic conditions, such as prolonged droughts and floods, have put thousands of lives at risk, especially those living in drier, more arid environments. Understanding how early herders and foragers coped with environmental transformation will clarify the issues of long-term pastoral resilience and provide lessons that can be applied to modern issues of climate change. These mechanisms are as relevant today as they were in the past, and will contribute to the well-being of an increasingly multicultural and globally connected modern society.
John J. Shea
How ancestral Africans survived the Pleistocene
This lecture surveys the survival challenges ancestral Africans faced and the survival skills they used to overcome those challenges. It proposes a new hypothesis about how early humans became so widely dispersed in Africa before launching their global diaspora.