The 9th biennial Eastern African Association of Paleoanthropology and Paleontology (EAAPP) conference, “Celebrating the Golden Anniversary of Lucy”, was held earlier this summer in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; the program can be found here. Zeray, Yared, and Maddie were in attendance.

Many of the presentations were themed to review our field’s knowledge since the discovery of Lucy. Zeray presented a talk co-authored with René Bobe, Denis Geraads, Shannon McPherron, Denné Reed, and Jonathan Wynn, titled “Lucy’s children: the impact of a great discovery on a subsequent discoveries”. The abstract reads, “Pioneering scientists including Maurice Taieb and John Kalb discovered the fossil rich sites of the Lower and Middle Awash Valley. Combined, the sites represent an unmatched and continuous sedimentary sequence spanning the last 6 million years. A great deal of fossil and archeological data relevant to the biological and cultural evolution of the hominin lineage has been recovered, and the A.L.288-1 skeleton, popularly known as Lucy, occupies a special place. Lucy was discovered 50 years ago at Hadar and has inspired many generations of paleoanthropologists to conduct research in the broader Afar basin. One such project is the Dikika Research Project (DRP), which has yielded a wealth of fossil evidence pertaining to some of the most prominent issues regarding the paleobiology of Australopithecus. The discovery and analysis of the Dikika Child, also known as Selam, has played a key role in advancing our knowledge of ontogeny, patterns of brain development, locomotion, etc., in Australopithecus. Tantalizing evidence from cutmarked bones dated to 3.4 Ma has triggered and also inspired renewed discussions on the role of stone tool use and meat consumption in our lineage. The DRP has also taken the issues of generational continuity seriously, offering training opportunities to both international and local students and young researchers both in the field and at various international institutions. In this presentation a short summary of DRP’s contribution to science and training is provided.”

Yared gave a podium presentation co-authored with Phillip Gunz and Zeray. Titled “Facial development and variation in Australopithecus afarensis: new evidence and reevaluation fifty years after Lucy”, the abstract reads, “After the discovery of Lucy and the naming of Australopithecus afarensis in the 1970s, the Pliocene hominin fossils discovered at Hadar, Ethiopia, and Laetoli, Tanzania were assigned to a single but highly variable and sexually dimorphic species. As more fossils are discovered, morphological evidence shows that A. afarensis (ca. 3.7-3.0 Ma) evolved from A. anamensis (4.2-3.8 Ma), anagenetically, and A. afarensis is potentially ancestral to both the robust australopith and Homo clades owing to its generalized craniodental morphology and temporal placement. Yet, the extent and patterns of variation in this long-lived species remain highly debated. Fortunately, new fossils coupled with the employment of virtual reconstruction and new analytical techniques allow us to explore intraspecific variations in-depth. Here, we reexamined the intraspecific variability of the diagnostic facial traits of A. afarensis and their distribution across ontogeny. Using linear measurements, we quantified the extent of variation in facial forms, and using 3D geometric morphometrics, we explored shape variation and the role of allometric scaling within the context of great apes. We found that some of the taxonomically diagnostic facial traits are intraspecifically variable, and most of the diagnostic features are established at the juvenile stage, but with the presence of intraspecific variability mirroring the pattern noted in adults. Furthermore, the coefficient of variation we noted in A. afarensis is comparable to that seen in gorillas but exceeds that of chimpanzees—all subspecies included. Shape variation within the A. afarensis is mainly explainable by allometric scaling, but there are some non-allometric shape differences, both within the adults and juveniles. This multipronged approach will offer new insight into the taxonomic significance of facial features and intends to disentangle how the observed patterns of variation relate to temporal depth, ontogeny, and sexual dimorphism.”

Maddie presented a poster co-authored with Sahleselasie Melaku, Maryse Biernat, Amanda McGrosky, W. Andrew Barr, Frances Forrest, David R. Braun, Emmanuel Ndiema, and Zeray titled “Reconstructing hominin paleoenvironments in the upper Burgi Member (Koobi ForaFormation, Kenya) using Bayesian modeling and 3D shape variation of the bovid astragalus.” The abstract reads, “It is widely accepted that hominins evolved in a complex, variable paleoecological context. Many existing paleoenvironmental reconstructions conclude that hominins inhabited heterogeneous, mosaic habitats composed of woodlands and grasslands. However, this mosaic generalization makes it challenging to tie changes in specific aspects of the environment to behavioral and morphological shifts along the hominin lineage. Therefore, more nuanced reconstructions of hominin paleoenvironments are needed to develop more precise and testable hypotheses regarding the role of environmental variability as a catalyst of hominin evolution. Here, we present a novel method for reconstructing tree cover across diverse hominin paleoenvironments, using ecomorphological traits of bovids. As a case study, we apply this method to the fossil record of the upper Burgi Member (~2.0- 1.88 million years ago) of the Koobi Fora Formation, which encompasses a transitional period in hominin evolution, including the first appearance of Homo erectus in the Turkana Basin. To achieve this, shape variation in extant and fossil bovid astragali is examined using 3D geometric morphometrics and quantified through a principal components (PC) analysis. PC scores of extant astragali are subsequently used as predictor variables in a Bayesian multi-level regression model to reconstruct percent woody cover in modern African habitats. The model is then applied to fossil astragali (n = 19) from five upper Burgi Member collecting areas to reconstruct percent woody cover variation across space. By doing so, this project explores the degree of habitat variability during the upper Burgi Member, thereby providing more detailed insight into the range of habitats which hominins inhabited during this important transitional period.”

Maddie also co-authored a poster titled “Paleoenvironmental reconstruction via ecomorphology in the Upper Burgi, KBS, and Okote members of the Koobi Fora Formation, Kenya” alongside Ephrem Assefa, Magdalena Palisson-Kramer, Frances Forrest, Megan G. Malherbe, Sahleselasie Melaku, Niguss Gitaw Baraki, Emmanuel Ndiema, Jonathan Reeves, and David R. Braun.

The Eastern African Association of Paleoanthropology and Paleontology honored Zeray with a plaque “in recognition of his role in co-founding the EAAPP, his visionary leadership, and his commitment to fostering collaboration to advance human origins research and heritage conservation.”

Zeray co-founded the EAAPP with Emma Mbua; they published an article with René Bobe about the inaugral event in 2007 which can be read here.

The conference was a great opportunity to connect and reconnect with colleagues from around the world, particularly those from East Africa, as well as to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Lucy. Our team looks forward to the next conference!