Article submitted by Mary Kocz, Spring River Gem & Mineral Club (SRGMC) program & publicity
Lucy is perhaps the world’s most famous ancestor. Her fossilized skeleton was found in Ethiopia in 1974.
The origins and development of early humans will be discussed in a presentation at the Spring River Gem & Mineral Club (SRGMC) at 10 a.m., Friday, Oct. 6, at Thunderbird Center, 62 N. Lakeshore Rd. in Cherokee Village.
How did hominins interact with their environment during the last 2.6 million years?
Dr. Gary Stinchcomb (pictured) will present his research with a case study from Gona, the Afar Depression (also called the Danakil Depression), and the Awash River in Ethiopia.
The Afar Depression is well known to be the cradle of hominids, with the oldest bones discovered in the world having come from that area. Gona is the site of the world’s oldest stone tools. The Middle Awash is the site of many fossil hominid discoveries.
Stinchcomb is an assistant professor at the University of Memphis. He is a sedimentary geologist and a soil geomorphologist. He combines geochemistry and mineralogy to tackle modern and paleo-soil problems in the U.S., Mexico, Kenya, and Ethiopia.
Stinchcomb’s talk will center his geological work in eastern Africa and its implications for human evolution. He works with others on human-environmental interaction, plant-soil nutrient cycling, and reconstructing past soil environments and nutrient cycles.
Dr. Stinchcomb earned a BA in anthropology from Penn State, an MS in geology from Temple University, and a Ph.D. in geology from Baylor University.
The meeting is free and open to the public.
The SRGMC holds monthly meetings and always gives presentations by experts in their fields. A Dutch treat lunch with the speaker will be held after the meeting.
Image: SRGMC
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