The Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH), is spearheading an international research project focused on fossil sites from the Middle to Late Miocene near Lake Turkana, Kenya—a critical period for understanding the early stages of divergence between African great ape and human lineages.

“We are excited about the opportunity to delve into such a poorly represented yet fundamental period in our evolutionary history. It is one of the most significant mysteries in human evolution, understanding what the common ancestor between chimpanzees, our closest living relatives, and ourselves was like and what habitats it occupied”, says Ignacio A. Lazagaster, a paleontologist at CENIEH.

With $225,000 in funding from the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), researchers will work over the next three years at Lothagam and Napudet, two sites that have already yielded ancient hominid fossils, while also exploring lesser-known areas west of Lake Turkana.

The support from TBI, an institution founded by renowned paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey, ensures the continuation of research at one of the emblematic areas for the study of human evolution. As Lazagabaster notes, “This is a site of immense fossil richness that promises to unveil secrets about our most remote ancestors.”

Scientific Cooperation

The international team, led by Lazagabaster and co-directed by John Rowan (University of Cambridge, UK) and Gabrielle A. Russo (Stony Brook University, USA), includes experts from institutions such as Rutgers University and Wake Forest University in the United States, as well as the National Museums of Kenya.

The researchers not only expects to contribute paleontological and paleoecological data, but also to aid in the development of local scientists in Kenya, thereby strengthening the scientific capacity in the country in this African country