Ecosystem Evolution and Hominin Ecology between 2.0 and 1.4 Ma at East Turkana, northern Kenya

Understanding the relationship between ecosystem evolution and hominin paleobiology during the early Pleistocene of eastern Africa has been a longstanding goal of paleoanthropology. Unfortunately, however, creating confident linkages between hominin ecology and environmental dynamics during this period has been challenging (Behrensmeyer, 2006). Much of this uncertainty stems from disparities in the scale and type of paleoenvironmental data available for many eastern African hominin-bearing localities (Behrensmeyer, 2006). The relationship between hominin adaptation and environmental evolution in eastern Africa has been primarily discussed in terms of the extent of “open” grassland versus “closed” woodland environments. However, over the past half-century new fossil collections and techniques have allowed for a more precise characterization of these habitats across space and through time. This dissertation seeks to place hominin adaptation and evolution at East Turkana, northern Kenya, between 2.0 and 1.4 Ma within the context of the broader paleoecosystem.

Author

• Patterson, David Burch

Language

• en

Keyword

• Isotope
• Diet
• Ecosystem
• East Turkana
• Evolution
• Hominin

Date created

• 2016

Type of Work

• Dissertation

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Anthropology

Degree

• Ph.D.

Advisor

• Bobe, René

Committee Member(s)

• Barr, Andrew
• Behrensmeyer, Anna K
• Braun, David R
• Merritt, Stephen R
• Wood, Bernard A

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/8k71nh141