L'Université de Montréal, Département d’anthropologie

Conférence présentée par Dr. Rick Potts,
Director, Human Origins Program, Smithsonian Institution

A synthesis of East African environmental data suggests that significant events in human origins occurred during long eras of strong climate fluctuation. As explored in this lecture, the origin of the major hominin lineages, critical transitions in stone technology, and the main geographic milestones in human origins all coincided with
intense environmental variability. The first long climate sequence obtained by drilling in the East African Rift Valley, at the site of Olorgesailie, Kenya, will help test ideas about how adaptability evolved in the human lineage.