Looking for Human Origins in Southern Africa – LHOSA

One of the most challenging questions to address in human evolutionary studies is probably the following: ‘where do we come from?’. In this respect, the Plio-Pleistocene transition ca. 2.8 million years ago is considered as a key-period in human evolution. Because of the exceptional degree of preservation of the fossil record and the density of the remains, the southern African Plio-Pleistocene paleontological sites play a major role in the search for human origins. The general aim of LHOSA is to shed new light on the taxonomic and evolutionary context of the southern African fossil hominins, and more particularly those from the prolific site of Sterkfontein, to further explore this long-standing conundrum. In this perspective, LHOSA will collect and combine direct (i.e., fossil hominins) and indirect (i.e., nonhominin primates) evidence to test two evolutionary scenarios: the presence of one evolving lineage of Australopithecus at Sterkfontein (H1), or a speciation event responsible for two co-existing Australopithecus species in southern Africa (H2). In particular, the present project will (i) conduct a high-resolution geospatial and morphometric analysis of the hominin remains from Sterkfontein to test the hypothesis of diachronic changes (population scale), (ii) reconstruct the locomotor and postural strategies and habitat preferences of fossil monkeys that co-existed with the hominins at Sterkfontein for identifying evidence of primate taxic diversity (community scale), and (iii) clarify the geochronological context and initiate preliminary excavations at a contemporaneous site in southern Africa to test the hypothesis of a speciation event occurring within the hominins (regional scale). Through a multidisciplinary and multiscale approach, LHOSA will provide further evidence on the evolutionary processes involved during that critical time period.