West Africa's Role in Human Evolution

Información del proyecto

aWARE

Identificador del acuerdo de subvención: 794117

DOI

10.3030/794117

Proyecto finalizado el 31 Enero 2019

Fecha de la firma de la CE 19 Marzo 2018

Fecha de inicio 1 Agosto 2018

Fecha de finalización 31 Julio 2020

Financiado con arreglo a

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Coste total

€ 171 460,80

Aportación de la UE

€ 171 460,80

Coordinado por

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV
Germany

Objetivo

Recent evidence indicates that the roots of our species, Homo sapiens, do not trace back to a single population, but to morphologically diverse group living over an extensive geographic area from Morocco to South Africa. The range of environments and regions in Africa that played a role in shaping our species is therefore rapidly emerging as central to unravelling human origins. However, thanks to the lack of fieldwork in many regions of Africa, these important parameters are not well understood.

The aWARE project will therefore undertake a timely investigation into the role of Africa’s western forests, and their neighbouring ecozones, in modern human origins. Genetic and fossil studies have associated poorly known West Africa with complex evolutionary processes thought to have played a key role in shaping our species. Such processes include admixture between our species and late-surviving archaic humans, and long-term isolation of H. sapiens populations in forested zones. Significantly, research in West Africa by the applicant has also identified a unique late persistence of stone tool technology typical of much older periods, while at the same time demonstrating that human populations were present in currently forested regions close to the time of H. sapiens speciation.

aWARE builds on this pilot work and sets forth a series of explicit, testable hypotheses to explore the time depth and environmental context of human populations in West Africa as a window into our pan-African origins. To adequately address these hypotheses, an interdisciplinary approach is taken, combining information from archaeology and palaeoecology. By exploring major theories in recent human origins through Africa’s poorly known western region, the project offers an opportunity to radically change our understanding of recent human evolution. The results will be broadly communicated through open access resources, including an online database and targeted public outreach activities.

Ámbito científico (EuroSciVoc)

• ciencias naturales › informática y ciencias de la información › ciencia de datos
• ciencias naturales › informática y ciencias de la información › base de datos
• ciencias naturales › ciencias biológicas › biología evolutiva
• ciencias naturales › informática y ciencias de la información › ciencias de la computación
• ciencias naturales › ciencias de la tierra y ciencias ambientales conexas › paleontología › paleoecología

Palabras clave

• Middle Stone Age
• African Middle Pleistocene
• African Late Pleistocene
• West Africa
• Lithic Analysis
• Human Evolution
• Habitat Diversity

Programa(s)

• H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions PROGRAMA PRINCIPAL
  
• H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
  

Tema(s)

• MSCA-IF-2017 - Individual Fellowships
  

Régimen de financiación

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

Convocatoria de propuestas

H2020-MSCA-IF-2017

Coordinador

MAX-PLANCK-GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER WISSENSCHAFTEN EV

• Aportación neta de la UEn: € 171 460,80
• Dirección: HOFGARTENSTRASSE 8 ; 80539 Munchen ; Alemania
• Región: Bayern › Oberbayern › München, Kreisfreie Stadt
• Tipo de actividad: Research Organisations
• Coste total: € 171 460,80