Extinct hominins and early humans on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. This project aims to research the archaic hominins of Sulawesi and discover when and why they became extinct. Recent discoveries of ancient stone tools on Sulawesi show that an archaic and as-yet unidentified hominin species inhabited this remote Indonesian island before modern humans arrived around 50,000 years ago. This project will search for the earliest traces of habitation, attempt to uncover the Sulawesi hominins’ fos ....Extinct hominins and early humans on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. This project aims to research the archaic hominins of Sulawesi and discover when and why they became extinct. Recent discoveries of ancient stone tools on Sulawesi show that an archaic and as-yet unidentified hominin species inhabited this remote Indonesian island before modern humans arrived around 50,000 years ago. This project will search for the earliest traces of habitation, attempt to uncover the Sulawesi hominins’ fossil record, and look for evidence of hominin-modern human interaction on this island. This project is expected to illuminate a previously unknown chapter in the human story.Read moreRead less
Size matters: elephantoid dispersal, evolution, paleoecology and extinction in Asia. This project will investigate the natural history of the once widespread elephant lineages in Asia by studying their fossils and unlocking chemical archives from their teeth. It will provide new insights into their adaptive responses to climate change and life on islands, interactions with humans and the factors that eventually led to their demise.
A new chronological framework to access regional variability in mid-Pleistocene archaeological, palaeoecological and palaeoclimatic data from Africa. This project will enable us to understand, for the first time, the contribution of South Africa to human origins between 1.8 and 0.6 million years ago. It will help us understand how major changes in climate have influenced our evolutionary history, the animals around us and how our behaviour and tools have changed to adapt to such changes.