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2010 Speaker Series on Human Origins
Times Are A-Changin’: New Methods Tell a New Tale of Primate Evolution
Todd Disotell, New York University Center for the Study of Human Origins
The California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco
$12 general/$10 members
Tuesday, February 9 @ 6:30 pm
Houston Museum of Natural Science
$17 general/$12 members
Over the last few years, a wide range of dates have been put forth for the origins of the primates and the diversification of the major groups within them. However, recent advances in molecular genetics are radically changing ideas about when the emergence of primates took place and the subsequent branching of the major lineages. Scientists have proposed dates of over 80-90 million years for their emergence. A clearer idea of our lineage, provided by the fossil record, is now coming into focus thanks to new techniques in molecular analysis. It is an exciting moment in the story of humans and primates, as new data and methods suggest many divergences are more recent than traditionally thought.
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The Houston lecture is sponsored by The Brown Foudnation
Cosquer: The Cave Beneath the Sea -- Latest Discoveries
Jean Clottes, preeminent French prehistorian and Leakey Foundation Grantee
Saturday, April 10, 1:00 pm
The Field Museum, Chicago
This lecture is free and open to the public
Saturday, April 24 @ 7:00 pm
Buffalo Bill Historical Center - Coe Auditorium, Cody, Wyoming
This lecture is free and open to the public
When the paintings of the Cosquer Cave were discovered near Marseille, France, most of the chambers of the cave had flooded. Only works of art in the higher chambers were preserved. After initial studies were performed, Jean Clottes began his work at Cosquer in 2002, where he made numerous discoveries. In all, we now know of 187 animal figures, a strange image of a killed man, several representations of genital organs, 65 hand stencils and more than 200 geometric signs. The activities of the ancient visitors of this cave can be traced through evidence of wall scrapings and broken stalagmites, thought to be used for medicines. Radiocarbon dates show that the cave was frequented during two periods, first around 27,000 years ago and then around 19,000 years ago.
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The Chicago lecture is sponsored by The Segal Family Foundation II
The Evolution of Monetary Irrationality
Laurie Santos, Yale University
Thursday, April 29 @ 6:30 pm
The New Mexico History Museum Auditorium, Santa Fe
$5 general admission / Free for School for Advanced Research members
Are humans alone among species in exercising bad economic judgment? Perhaps not. Dr. Santos, “the Monkey Whisperer,” talks about her work in which she trained Capuchin monkeys to use currency and make economic choices in a financial market. This work has revealed that monkeys make “human” economic errors, and it seems some human financial errors are evolutionarily ancient. Understanding why such irrationalities emerge early in human evolution may provide insight into the psychological machinery that shapes human decision making today.
This lecture sponsored by The William H. Donner Fund of the Pikes Peak Community Foundation
Revealing Oldowan Technology: The West Turkana Evidence
Hélèn Roche, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris
Thursday, May 13 @ 7:00 pm
American Museum of Natural History, New York
This lecture is free and open to the public
First known for the discovery of the “Turkana Boy,” by Richard Leakey and his team, the West Turkana area also holds a unique series of archaeological sites, which appear to be located in different paleoenvironmental settings. The Nachukui Formation covers a time sequence of more than 4 million years. The lithic material these sites contain has given us insight into early hominins’ cognitive and motor abilities. The data display a great variability, which seems to go beyond natural contraints, and is linked to the skill involved in flintknapping. Evidence may suggest that this variability reflects different levels of competence in different groups of hominins who occupied the area over the course of more than 700,000 years.
*Oldowan is the earliest stone tool industry, dating from about 2.6 to 1.5 million years ago. Characterized by large tools with a sharp edge created by the removal, through direct percussion, of a few flakes (sometimes as few as 3) without much preconceived planning.
For more information: 415.561.4646
The Leakey Foundation appreciates the generosity of Wells Fargo, the National Sponsor of the Foundation's 2010 Speaker Series on Human Origins.
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