Several past projects have yielded insightful results regarding Pleistocene hominins and their environments. The projects aims and results illustrate the importance of these studies.
Last Neanderthal and early Homo sapiens occupations in the Bawa Yawan Rockshelter, Kermanshah, West-Central Zagros Mountains (Iran)
2019 – 2023
This DFG funded project is led by Principal Investigator Dr. Saman Heydari-Guran (Neanderthal Museum & University of Cologne). It aims to investigate the site of Bawa Yawan Rockshelter in the Zagros mountains of Iran, which has yielded Middle and Upper Palaeolithic artefacts as well as a Neanderthal tooth. Dr. Michaela Ecker is collaborating with the project using faunal stable isotopes for environmental reconstruction.
Results
Ecker, M., Hariri, N., Heydari-Guran, S., Ghasidian, E., Tuross, N., Zeder, M., Makarewicz, C. 2023. Herbivore enamel carbon and oxygen isotopes demonstrate both Homo sapiens and Neandertals exploited similar habitats in the Zagros Mountains. Journal of Quaternary Science. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3561
Mid-Pleistocene environments of the lower Vaal river (MINERVA), Marie Sklodowska-Curie Project
2019 – 2021
The Marie Sklodowska-Curie project ‘Mid-Pleistocene environments of the lower Vaal river‘ (MINERVA) explored the adaptation of early Homo sapiens to changing environment and prey choices in the arid interior of southern Africa through synthesis of isotopic, zooarchaeological, geomorphological and lithic data sets recovered from excavations at Pniel, and comparison to archaeological sites of similar age in the region.
Modelling of climatic drivers in the summer rainfall zone of southern Africa during the Mid-Pleistocene
2016 – 2020
Together with Hiromitsu Sato (University of Toronto, Canada) and Douglas Kelley (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK) we were exploring the possible drivers (CO2, rainfall seasonality, fire) leading to the signals we see in palaeoenvironmental records using climate models.
Results
Ecker, M., Kelley, D. & Sato, H. Modelling the effects of CO2 on C3 and C4 grass competition during the mid-Pleistocene transition in South Africa. Sci Rep 10, 16234 (2020). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-72614-2
Ostrich eggshell: preservation, dating and environmental analyses
Ostrich eggshell is abundant in archaeological sites in southern Africa. It is easily recognisable and can be used for palaeoenvironmental analsyis as well as for dating by various methods.
Results
Demarchi et al. 2016 in eLife. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.17092
Project lead by Julia Lee-Thorp (University of Oxford) and Kirsty Penkman (University of York) on amino acid dating and protein diagenesis of ostrich eggshell.
Ecker et al. 2015 in Palaeoecology of Africa. PDF
Excavations at Pniel, lower Vaal River, South Africa
2017 – 2019
Principal Investigators
Michaela Ecker & David Morris (McGregor Museum).
Funded
by the Quaternary Research Association (QRA) Quaternary Research Fund; Rust Family Foundation & The Palaeontological Scientific Trust (PAST), Johannesburg, South Africa.
Results
Ecker, M., Bank. C.-G., Chazan, M., Chen, Y., Green, C., Morris, D., Stoikopoulos, N., Shadrach, K., Stratford, D., Duke, H. 2021, Revisiting Pniel 6: the 2017-2019 excavations. South African Archaeological Bulletin 76(214), 57-69.
Kgalagadi Human Origins 