La Fundación Palarq es una entidad privada y sin ánimo de lucro que se crea con la finalidad de apoyar las Misiones en Arqueología y Paleontología Humana Españolas en el extranjero, excluyendo Europa, dentro de una perspectiva que abarca desde la etapa paleontológica a las épocas prehistóricas y las históricas en interés monumental
Origin and cultural evolution of Homo erectus in East Africa
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
The disappearance of the earliest human culture, the Oldowan, and its substitution by a new technology, the Acheulean, is one of the main topics in modern Palaeolithic Archaeology. Recent research has established that the Acheulean emerged originally in East Africa around 1.7-1.6 million years ago, and from that area expanded across the rest of Africa, Europe and parts of Asia. However, despite the great relevance of the Oldowan- Acheulean transition, little is known about the biological and cultural evolutionary mechanisms underlying this process. Traditionally, it has been assumed that this major cultural change was ignited by the emergence of a new human species, Homo ergaster/ erectus, and that there was a steady technological evolution during the Oldowan that eventually led to the emergence of the Acheulean handaxes. However, these assumptions are not grounded in the current available evidence, but rooted in cultural-history paradigms that should now be superseded
3.5 Million-Year-Old Ancestors Found on Outskirts of Nairobi
Meet East Africa’s first woman paleoanthropologist Dr. Emma Mbua, learn about the surprising discovery of Australopithecus afarensis fossils at Kantis Fossil Site on the outskirts of Nairobi, and hear Emma’s story in this special Women’s History Month episode.