Field missions

Missions Ethiopia Omo Group Research Expedition Shungura Formation, Lower Omo Valley, southwestern Ethiopia Contact: Jean-Renaud Boisserie General research question Based on a continuous record spanning 3.6 Ma to 1 Ma, the OGRE research programme aims to unravel the interactions between environmental changes and the evolution of vertebrate inhabitants of a Rift Valley, in the context of the emergence of the genus Homo and the development of the earliest stone tool industries. Selected results Since 2006, this research has led to the discovery of thousands of vertebrate remains at Shungura, including several dozen hominin fossils, as well as numerous occurrences of stone tools. Our analyses of the ecology of Shungura’s fossil vertebrates suggest contrasting evolutionary responses to different environmental factors: limited responses to an aridification sequence associated with Northern Hemisphere glaciations, but more pronounced responses correlated with a shift in the hydrological regime. Mission structure OGRE is a multidisciplinary research mission (paleontology, prehistory, geology, and paleoenvironmental studies) led by PALEVOPRIM in close partnership with the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa, and involving, among others, the PACEA and IPGS research units, the Leibniz Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity Science, the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, and the Human Evolution Research Center. Funding OGRE has received support from the French National Research Agency (ANR), the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (Paleoanthropological Mission in the Omo), the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region, the Fyssen Foundation, the CNRS, the LaScArBx LabEx, Total, and the France-Berkeley Fund. OMO site Yellow flags are placed nextto each fossil discovered. Addis-Abeba museum The collected fossils are catalogued,numbered, and placed in bags. OMO site Sediment sorting OMO site Scientific expedition field camp OMO site Setting up the field camp. OMO site Initial identificationof the collected fossils OMO site On-site fossil casting.