Did Ekembo (formally Proconsul - an early ape) live in a forest?
I am interested in the relationship between ecological/climate change and primate evolution. The aim of this the majority of my dissertation research is to obtain detailed paleoenvironmental reconstructions of the Early Miocene (~15-20 Ma) fossiliferous sediments on Rusinga Island, Kenya, in order to clarify our knowledge of the habitats that supported some of the earliest fossil apes. The fossil deposits on Rusinga Island contain some of the richest samples of Early Miocene floral and faunal communities, including many partial skeletons of the putative hominoid Ekembo (Proconsul), fossils from the less well-known catarrhines Limnopithecus and Nyanzapithecus, and three strepsirhine genera Komba, Progalago, and Mioeuoticus. These sites provide an excellent setting to examine the adaptation and diversification of catarrhines and early hominoids, which is a necessary foundation for our understanding of the evolutionary history of all apes including humans.
The fossil deposits on Rusinga and Mfangano Islands provide an excellent setting to examine the adaptation and diversification of catarrhines and early hominoids, which is a necessary foundation for our understanding of the evolutionary history of all apes including humans. A detailed paleoenvironmental reconstruction will allow for future morphological analyses to address questions regarding habitat preferences, feeding ecologies, and spatial/temporal ranges of the Rusinga and Mfangano catarrhines. These studies may also help resolve some of the taxonomic and phylogenetic questions surrounding the early hominoids. The environments and related adaptations of the Early Miocene apes will provide information regarding the characteristics that define the ape and human lineage. |
R1 fossil locality (Hiwegi Formation).
Photo credit: Niki Garrett |
What types of ecosystems did Middle Stone Age humans inhabit?Rusinga Island not only contains Early Miocene deposits, but also those from the Late Pleistocene (~100-45 ka). In addition to numerous faunal remains, Middle Stone Age tools have been recovered indicating the habitation of the area by early modern Homo sapiens.
For this early portion of my dissertation, I analyzed the carbon and oxygen isotope composition of mammalian tooth enamel, pedogenic carbonates, and paleosol organic matter. The results of this study can be found in the following Journal of Human Evolution publication. |
Wakondo fossil locality.
Photo credit: Niki Garrett |