University of Arkansas Anthropologist Receives NSF Funding to Explore New Fossil Site in Kenya

University of Arkansas anthropologist J. Michael Plavcan will co-lead an international project focused on Natodomeri, a newly discovered fossil site in Kenya that will expand scientists’ understanding of the origins of modern humans around the time of their migration out of Africa.

“Natodomeri is possibly the best overall paleontological site ever discovered from this time period,” Plavcan said. “It is a truly extraordinary fossil site, yielding not only the remains of our immediate ancestors and the tools they made, but also information about the environments in which they lived. Our work there is critical for a deeper understanding of the origins of modern humans during this time.”

Plavcan, professor of anthropology in the Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences, received a $211,064, four-year award from the National Science Foundation for the project. He will collaborate with Kyalo Manthi of the National Museums of Kenya; Nick Blegen at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom; Carol Ward at the University of Missouri; Patrick Gathogo from Austin, Texas; and an international team of experts in paleontology, geology and archeology, including Amelia Villaseñor, assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Arkansas. Manthi will lead the field work, while Blegen will direct archeological work.

Read the full story from University of Arkansas here.