Anthropogeny: The Perspective from Africa

Summary:
Darwin and Huxley first predicted that we humans shared a common ancestor with the African great apes and it is now abundantly clear that Africa was the “cradle of humanity,” with multiple waves of hominins arising on that continent and spreading across the old world, eventually being effectively displaced by our own species, which also arose in Africa. As Svante Paabo put it, “we are all Africans, either living in Africa or in recent exile from Africa." Given these facts, it is not surprising that the strong emphasis of anthropogeny is on the continent of Africa with studies ranging from genetic to paleontological to archeological to primatological to climatological to sociocultural. This CARTA symposium focuses on the contributions of scientists and scholars of anthropogeny who live and work in Africa.

Event Sessions

Media for each talk can be played by clicking on icons in the "Media" column, or by clicking on the individual talk titles below and then the attachment file at the bottom of the page.

Talk summaries written by graduate students enrolled in the Anthropogeny Specialization Track can be viewed by clicking on the image in the "Student Summary" column, or by clicking on the individual talk titles below.

Date	Media	Session Title	Speakers
Fri 5/31		Welcome & Opening Remarks	Margaret Schoeninger, University of California, San Diego Berhane Asfaw, National Museum of Ethiopia
Fri 5/31		Australopithecus in East and South Africa	Job Kibii, National Museums of Kenya
Fri 5/31		The Chad Basin	Likius Andossa, University of N’Djamena
Fri 5/31		The Archaeology of Konso-Gardula	Yonas Beyene, Association for Research and Conservation of Culture; French Center for Ethiopian Studies
Fri 5/31		The Origin and Development of Fire Technology in Africa	Lyn Wadley, University of the Witwatersrand
Fri 5/31		So, Where Do We Come From?	Himla Soodyall, National Health Laboratory Service (Johannesburg); University of the Witwatersrand
Fri 5/31		Assessing Claims for the “Earliest” Homo sapiens	Berhane Asfaw, National Museum of Ethiopia
Fri 5/31		Klasies River as a 120,000-Year-Old Archive of Human Behavior in South Africa	Sarah Wurz, University of the Witwatersrand
Fri 5/31		The View from West Africa	Abdoulaye Camara, Institut fondamental d'Afrique noire (IFAN), Université de Dakar (Sénégal)
Fri 5/31		Behavior and Settlement Patterns in Coastal Stone Age Communities – Evidence from Stable Isotopes	Judith Sealy, University of Cape Town
Fri 5/31		Wrap-up, Question and Answer Session, Closing Remarks	Lyn Wadley, University of the Witwatersrand All Speakers Ajit Varki, UC San Diego School of Medicine

Event Glossary

A glossary for this event is available as a Searchable List and a PDF.