East Africa is the birthplace of humanity, and fossils from this remote region have informed human origin studies and excited popular interest for decades. In 2013, an international team of scientists working at the Ledi-Geraru site in Ethiopia uncovered the oldest-known human-like remains ever discovered. Earlier this year, the team returned to Ledi-Geraru, and discovered numerous fossils of horses, antelopes, hippos, crocodiles, and other animals. San Bernardino County Museum paleontologist Eric Scott was a volunteer on the team at Ledi-Geraru, and will share some of his exciting adventures in his presentation, “Horses and Hominins from Hadar” on Saturday, April 25, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. The lecture at the County Museum in Redlands is included with paid museum admission.

 

Scott’s lecture will review discoveries from the Afar region, including “Lucy” and other early treasures at Hadar, as well as more recent finds at Ledi-Geraru, both hominin and horse. He will show pictures from his time in Africa – finding fossils, seeing wildlife, and living alongside international scientists, students, and local Ethiopian peoples.

 

Scott spent a month in the field in Ethiopia as part of an international team of geoscientists headed by the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University (ASU). The team included paleoanthropologists, paleontologists, geologists, and archaeologists, each group of experts exploring different facets of the Ledi-Geraru site. As part of the paleontology team, Scott was especially interested in fossils from his own specialty, extinct horses. “The horses at Ledi-Geraru are a completely separate lineage from the ancestors of living horses,” he said. “Our discoveries let us explore how this side branch evolved, as well as potentially providing clues as to why they died out after ancestors of today’s living zebras first appeared in Africa.”

 

“Horses and Hominins from Hadar” and the County Museum’s other exciting programs and exhibits reflect the effort by the Board of Supervisors to achieve the Countywide Vision by celebrating arts, culture, and education in the county, creating quality of life for residents and visitors.