Human fossil and genetic data indicate that modern humans were first present in Africa, and 100,000-50,000 years ago they began to populate the rest of the world. Paleoanthropologists at UC Davis are investigating what was happening in Africa leading up to this demographic expansion, and what happened subsequently in Asia and Europe through archaeology and fossil morphology.
Dr. Teresa Steele is conducting research at the Middle Stone Age site of Varsche Rivier 003, South Africa as part of the Southern Namaqualand Archaeological Project (SNAP), a project co-lead with Dr. Alex Mackay (University of Wollongong, Australia). Today, southern Namaqualand is classified as a desert, but the area was likely more moist during the cooler Late Pleistocene. Nonetheless, the region is distinct from the well-studied Middle Stone Age sites of coastal South Africa. Five seasons of field work have revealed a rich sequence that includes Howiesons Poort (a distinct assemblage characterized by crescents), Still Bay (another distinct assemblage characterized by bifacial points), and even earlier assemblages. Surveys during our fieldwork located a bifacial-rich open-air site, Soutfontein 001, and further work at this site and other open-air occurrences will allow us to investigate landscape use during this time.
Dr. Tim Weaver is collaborating with Dr. Shara Bailey of New York University on ways to identify Neandertals vs. modern humans from teeth alone. This task is important for deciding whether Neandertals or modern humans made particular archaeological industries, because often the only human remains found in archaeological sites are teeth. Knowing the makers of different industries allows us to trace the migration routes of modern humans out of Africa and more easily identify any interactions with Neandertals. He is also using theory from population and quantitative genetics to investigate whether modern human origins could have been a lengthy process that lasted from the divergence of the modern human and Neandertal evolutionary lineages about 500,000 years ago to the expansion of modern humans out of Africa 100,000-50,000 years ago.
Dr. Nicolas Zwyns investigates scenarios of early modern human dispersal into Asia with a special focus on Central and Northeast Asia. He is leading the excavations at several sites in the Tolbor Valley, Mongolia, where he takes part in the Joined-Mongolia-Russian-American Expedition (JMRAE). He is also collaborating with the Insitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing for the excavations of Shuiddongou localities, Ningxia, China. During the Pleistocene, the Eurasian steppe belt was an important ecological corridor. Although, human populations could move between Central Europe and North China during temperate phases,they also had to face extreme continental climate. Nicolas Zwyns' excavation projects aim at a better understanding of the human responses to such climate changes. In collaboration with Steven L. Kuhn from the University of Arizona, he also works as a lithic specialist to investigates the definitions of Transitional and Initial Upper Paleolithic assemblages in Eurasia.
Dr. Teresa Steele is conducting research at the Middle Stone Age site of Varsche Rivier 003, South Africa as part of the Southern Namaqualand Archaeological Project (SNAP), a project co-lead with Dr. Alex Mackay (University of Wollongong, Australia). Today, southern Namaqualand is classified as a desert, but the area was likely more moist during the cooler Late Pleistocene. Nonetheless, the region is distinct from the well-studied Middle Stone Age sites of coastal South Africa. Five seasons of field work have revealed a rich sequence that includes Howiesons Poort (a distinct assemblage characterized by crescents), Still Bay (another distinct assemblage characterized by bifacial points), and even earlier assemblages. Surveys during our fieldwork located a bifacial-rich open-air site, Soutfontein 001, and further work at this site and other open-air occurrences will allow us to investigate landscape use during this time.
Dr. Tim Weaver is collaborating with Dr. Shara Bailey of New York University on ways to identify Neandertals vs. modern humans from teeth alone. This task is important for deciding whether Neandertals or modern humans made particular archaeological industries, because often the only human remains found in archaeological sites are teeth. Knowing the makers of different industries allows us to trace the migration routes of modern humans out of Africa and more easily identify any interactions with Neandertals. He is also using theory from population and quantitative genetics to investigate whether modern human origins could have been a lengthy process that lasted from the divergence of the modern human and Neandertal evolutionary lineages about 500,000 years ago to the expansion of modern humans out of Africa 100,000-50,000 years ago.
Dr. Nicolas Zwyns investigates scenarios of early modern human dispersal into Asia with a special focus on Central and Northeast Asia. He is leading the excavations at several sites in the Tolbor Valley, Mongolia, where he takes part in the Joined-Mongolia-Russian-American Expedition (JMRAE). He is also collaborating with the Insitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing for the excavations of Shuiddongou localities, Ningxia, China. During the Pleistocene, the Eurasian steppe belt was an important ecological corridor. Although, human populations could move between Central Europe and North China during temperate phases,they also had to face extreme continental climate. Nicolas Zwyns' excavation projects aim at a better understanding of the human responses to such climate changes. In collaboration with Steven L. Kuhn from the University of Arizona, he also works as a lithic specialist to investigates the definitions of Transitional and Initial Upper Paleolithic assemblages in Eurasia.