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.
