Uncovering the Secrets of Our Past: Geologist Discusses Human Ancestor Fossils Discovered in Ethiopia at Free Public Lecture

WHAT: Prominent scientist Dr. Giday WoldeGabriel, lead geologist of the team that recently made international headlines with the discovery of fossils nearly 6 million years old, thought to be the remains of the oldest human ancestor yet discovered, will give a free public lecture at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego.
(Please note: seating is limited)

WHEN: Thursday, August 23, at 7 p.m.

WHERE: Sumner Auditorium, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
8602 La Jolla Shores Drive (one half block north of El Paseo Grande)

WHO: Giday, a geologist at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, played a key role on a team with University of California at Berkeley researchers that recently announced the discovery of fossilized remains of what may be humanity's earliest known ancestor. During "Africa Holds the Secrets of Our Past: A Geological Perspective," he will discuss the methods used to discover the fossil-rich patches in eastern Ethiopia's Middle Awash region. He also will discuss the geology of the important fossil sites, the discovery of the hominid fossils, and the ancient environments inhabited by these ancestors.

WHY: The discovery is thought to be the first evidence of forest-dwelling hominids who lived between 5.2 and 5.8 million years ago. The ancient bones and teeth are challenging assumptions of early human evolution and views of the environment in which human ancestors evolved from walking on four legs to two, and moved from forests to grasslands.

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Giday's geological research in Ethiopia is supported by the University of California's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics through the University Collaborative Research Program at Los Alamos.