Human Evolution
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Last modified 15/05/2008
Featured research: human evolution
Excavation of Plio-Pleistocene sites in the Makapansgat Valley
Kevin Kuykendall, Department of Archaeology, University of Sheffield, UK
At roughly 3 million years old, the Makapansgat Limeworks is the earliest securely-dated fossil hominin locality in Southern Africa. Prior to the 1960s, work by Raymond Dart, Phillip Tobias, and Alun Hughes recovered some 30 fragmentary fossils of Australopithecus africanus.
Inside the main entrance of the Makapansgat Limeworks
fossil hominin locality, South Africa (credit: Kevin Kuykendall)
Recently, excavation and sampling by Kevin Kuykendall and colleagues at the Makapansgat Limeworks and Buffalo Cave has focused on palaeoecological reconstruction, stratigraphy and geological dating, and isotopic palaeoclimate analysis, in addition to recovery of fossil hominids and other fauna. Future plans involve a large-scale landscape survey and reconnaissance project to locate and sample new Plio-Pleistocene palaeo-cave fossil localities.
New imaging technologies are increasingly being used in palaeoanthropology. Kuykendall and colleagues use computed tomography(CT) for imaging and analysis to reconstruct growth and developmental differences between Australopithecus and Paranthropus. A recent offshoot of this research has been the comparative examination of the maxillary sinus in extinct hominids and other primates using CT.
Further information
Click here for more information about these research interests and links to Kevin Kuykendall's colleagues and publications.