| PI: | Prof. Dr. Martin Trauth | Geologist, U Potsdam |
| PI: | Prof. Dr. Frank Schäbitz | Geographer, U Köln |
| Members: | Dr. Verena Förster | Geographer, U Köln |
| | Dr. Markus Fischer | Geographer, U Potsdam |
| | Prof. Dr. Stefanie Kaboth-Bahr | Geoecologist, FU Berlin |
| Partners | Prof. Dr. Henry Lamb | Aberystwyth University, UK |
| | Prof. Dr. Asfawossen Asrat | University of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia |
| Funding: | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft GRK 1364, TR419/9-1 since April 2013 |
| Summary: | The overall goal of the six-year project is to test hypothesized linkages between climate and mammalian (including hominin) evolution in tropical-subtropical eastern Africa by the acquisition and analysis of long sediment core records of environmental change from the Chew Bahir basin. The anticipated time interval to be investigated by analysis of the cores is at least the last 500,000 yrs. This time interval includes the episodic presence of archaic[nbsp]Homo sapiens[nbsp]([lt]500 ka BP, including[nbsp]H. heidelbergensisand[nbsp]H. rhodesiensis), anatomically modern humans (AMH, since [lt]200 ka BP), and[nbsp]H. sapiens sapiens[nbsp](the subspecies including all modern humans, since ~100 ka BP). It also includes the first (apparently failed) dispersal of AMH from Africa (125-100 ka BP) and the successful "Out of Africa II (or III)" expansion at around 80-40 ka BP.[nbsp]We plan to obtain long (minimum 400 m) continuous drill core records of mostly lacustrine deposits spanning the full time interval of the evolution of our own species and its direct ancestors. All investigations of these cores are based on comprehensive experience in the analysis of short cores obtained in the same locality (see Chew Bahir Coring Project), provenance and remote sensing studies in the southern Ethiopian Rift, and precipitation statistics. This project contributes to the Hominin Sites and Paleolake Drilling Program led by A. Cohen (U Arizona). |
| Publications: | Trauth, M.H., Asrat, A., Fischer, M.L., Hopcroft, P.O., Foerster, V., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Kindermann, K., Lamb, H.F., Marwan, N., Maslin, M.A., Schaebitz, F., Valdes, P.J. (2024) Early Warning Signals of the Termination of the African Humid Period(s), Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47921-1. |
| | Trauth, M.H., Asrat, A., Fischer, M. L., Foerster, V., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Lamb, H., Marwan, N., Roberts, H. M. & Schaebitz, F. (2024) Combining orbital tuning and direct dating approaches to age-depth model development for Chew Bahir, Ethiopia. Quaternary Science Advances. |
| | Fischer, M.L., Munz, P.M., Foerster, V., Schaebitz, F., Marwan, N., Schwanghart, W., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Trauth, M.H. (2024) Spatio-temporal variations of climate along possible African-Arabian routes of H. sapiens expansion. Quaternary Science Advances, doi.org/10.1016/j.qsa.2024.100174 |
| | Foerster, V., Asrat, A., Bronk Ramsey, C., Brown, E.T., Chapot, M.S., Deino, A., Duesing, W., Grove, M., Hahn, A., Junginger, A., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Lane, C.S., Opitz, S., Noren, A., Roberts, H.M., Stockhecke, M., Tiedemann, R., Vidal, C.M., Vogelsang, R., Cohen, A.S., Lamb, H.F., Schaebitz, F., Trauth, M.H. (2022) Pleistocene climate variability in eastern Africa influenced hominin evolution, Nature Geoscience, DOI: 10.1038/s41561-022-01032-y. |
| | Lupien, R.L., Russell, J.M., Pearson, E.J., Castañeda, I.S., Asrat, A. Foerster, V., Lamb, H.F., Roberts, H.M., Schäbitz, F., Trauth, M.H., Beck, C.C., Feibel, C.S., Cohen, A.S. (2022) Orbital controls on eastern African hydroclimate in the Pleistocene. Scientific Reports. |
| | Cohen, A.S., Campisano, C J., Arrowsmith, J.R., Asrat, A., Beck, C., Behrensmeyer, A.K. Deino, A.L. Deocampo,D.M., Feibel, C.S., Foerster, V., Kingston, J.D., Lamb, H.F., Lowenstein, T.K., Lupien, R., Muiruri, V., Olago, D.O., Owen, R.B.,Potts, R., Russell, J.M., Russell, J.L., Schäbitz, F., Stone, J.R., Trauth, M.H., Yost, C. (2022) Reconstructing the Environmental Context of Human Origins in Eastern Africa through Scientific Drilling. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences. |
| | Duesing, W., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Asrat, A., Cohen, A.S., Foerster, V., Lamb, H.F., Schaebitz, F., Trauth, M.H., Viehberg, F. (2021). Changes in the cyclicity and variability of the eastern African paleoclimate over the last 620 kyrs. Quaternary Science Reviews. |
| | Trauth, M.H., Asrat, A., Berner, N., Bibi, F., Foerster, V., Grove, M., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Maslin, M., Mudelsee, M., Schaebitz, F. (2021) Northern Hemisphere Glaciation, African Climate and Human Evolution. Quaternary Science Reviews. |
| | Brovkin, V., Brook, E., Williams, J., Lenton, T., Barton, M., Bathiany, S., DeConto, R., Donges, J., Ganoposki, A., McManus, J., Praetorius, S., de Vernal, A., Abe-Ouchi, A., Cheng, H., Claussen, M., Crucifix, M., Gallopin, G., Iglesias, V., Kaufman, D., Kleinen, T., Lambert, F., van der Leeuw, S., Liddy, H., Loutre, M.F., McGee, D., Rehfeld, K., Rhodes, R., Seddon, A., Trauth, M.H., Vanderveken, L., Yu, Z., 2021, Past abrupt changes, tipping points and cascading impacts in the Earth system. Nature Geoscience. |
| | Fischer, M.L., Bachofer, F., Yost, C., Bludau, I.E., Schepers, C., Foerster, V., Lamb, H., Schäbitz, F., Asrat, A., Trauth, M.H., Junginger, A. (2021) A Phytolith supported Biosphere-Hydrosphere Predictive Model for southern Ethiopia: insights into paleoenvironmental changes and human landscape preferences since the Last Glacial Maximum. Geosciences. |
| | Krueger, J., Foerster, V., Trauth, M.H., Hofreiter, M., Tiedemann, R. (2021) Exploring the past biosphere of Chew Bahir/southern Ethiopia: Cross-species hybridization capture of ancient sedimentary DNA from a deep drill core. Frontiers in Earth Science. |
| | Schaebitz, F., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Cohen, A.S., Foerster, V., Duesing, W., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Opitz, S., Viehberg, F.A., Vogelsang, R., Dean, J., Leng, M.J., Junginger, A., Bronk Ramsey, C., Chapot, M.S., Deino, A., Lane, C.S., Roberts, H.., Vidal, C., Tiedemann, R., Trauth, M.H., 2021, Hydroclimate changes in eastern Africa over the past 200,000 years may have influenced early human dispersal. Communications Earth and Environment. |
| | Kaboth-Bahr, S., Gosling, W.D., Vogelsang, R., Bahr, A., Scerri, E.M.L, Asrat, A., Cohen, A.S., Düsing, W., Foerster, V.E., Lamb, H.F., Maslin, M.A., Roberts, H.M., Schäbitz, F., Trauth, M.H., 2021. Paleo-ENSO influence on African environments and early modern humans, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, accepted. |
| | Roberts, H., Bronk Ramsey, C., Chapot M., Deino A., Lane C., Vidal C., Asrat A., Cohen A., Foerster V., Lamb H., Schäbitz F., Trauth, M.H (2021). Using multiple chronometers to establish a long, directly-dated lacustrine record: constraining >600,000 years of environmental change at Chew Bahir, Ethiopia. Quaternary Science Reviews. |
| | Arnold, G.E., Foerster, V., Trauth, M.H., Lamb, H., Schaebitz, F., Asrat, A., Szczech, C., Günter, C. (2021) Advanced hyperspectral analysis of sediment core samples from the Chew Bahir Basin, Ethiopian Rift, in the spectral range from 0.25 to 17 µm: support for climate proxy interpretation. Frontiers in Earth Science. |
| | Gebregiorgis, D., Deocampo, D.M., Foerster, V.E., Longstaffe, F.J., Schaebitz, F., Junginger, A., Markowska, M., Trauth, M.H., Asrat, A. (2021) Modern sedimentation and authigenic mineral formation in the Chew Bahir Basin, southern Ethiopia: implications for interpretation of Late Quaternary paleoclimate records. Frontiers in Earth Science. |
| | Duesing, W., Berner, N., Deino, A.L., Foerster, V., Kraemer, H., Marwan, N., Trauth, M.H. (2021) Multiband wavelet age modeling (MUBAWA) for a ~293 m (~600 kyr) sediment core from Chew Bahir basin, southern Ethiopian Rift. Frontiers in Earth Science. |
| | Trauth, M.H., Asrat, A., Cohen, A., Duesing, W., Foerster, V., Kaboth-Bahr, S., Kraemer, H., Lamb, H., Marwan, N., Maslin, M., Schaebitz, F. (2021) Recurring types of variability and transitions in the ~620 kyr record of climate change from the Chew Bahir basin, southern Ethiopia, Quaternary Science Reviews. |
| | Trauth, M.H., Asrat, A., Duesing, W., Foerster, V., Kraemer, K.H., Marwan, N., Maslin, M.A., Schaebitz, F. (2019) Classifying past climate change in the Chew Bahir basin, southern Ethiopia, using recurrence quantification analysis. Climate Dynamics, 53(5), 2557-2572. |
| | Trauth, M.H., Foerster, V., Junginger, A., Asrat, A., Lamb, H., Schaebitz, F. (2018) Abrupt or Gradual? Change Point Analysis of the Late Pleistocene-Holocene Climate Record from Chew Bahir, Southern Ethiopia.[nbsp]Quaternary Research, 90, 321-330. |
| | Foerster, V., Vogelsang, R., Junginger, A., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Schaebitz, F., Trauth, M.H. (2016) Reply to comment on "Environmental Change and Human Occupation of Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya during the last 20,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews 129:333-340", Quaternary Science Reviews, 141, 130-133. |
| | Cohen, A., Campisano, C., Arrowsmith, R., Asrat, A., Behrensmeyer, A.K., Deino, A., Feibel, C., Hill, A., Johnson, R., Kingson, J., Lamb, H., Lowenstein, T., Noren, A., Olago, D., Owen, R.B., Potts, R., Reed, K., Renaut, R., Schäbitz, F., Tiercelin, J.-J., Trauth, M.H., Wynn, J., Ivory, S., Brady, K., O’Grady, R., Rodysill, J., Githiri, J., Russell, J., Foerster, V., Dommain, R., Rucina, S., Deocampo, D., Russell, J., Billingsley, A., Beck, C., Dorenbeck, G., Dullo, L., Feary, D., Garello, D., Gromig, R., Johnson, T., Junginger, A., Karanja, M., Kimburi, E., Mbuthia, A., McCartney, T., McNulty, E., Muiruri, V., Nambiro, E., Negash, E.W., [nbsp]Njagi, D., Wilson, J.N., Rabideaux, N., Raub, T., Sier, M.J., Smith, P., Urban, J., Warren, M., Yadeta, M., Yost, C., Zinaye, B. 2016 The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project: Inferring the Environmental Context of Human Evolution from Eastern African Rift Lake Deposits. Scientific Drilling, 21, 1-16 [nbsp]doi:10.5194/sd-21-1-2016 |
| | Foerster, V., Vogelsang, R., Junginger, A., Asrat, A., Lamb, H.F., Schaebitz, F., Trauth, M.H. (2015) Environmental Change and Human Occupation of Southern Ethiopia and Northern Kenya during the last 20,000 years. Quaternary Science Reviews, 129, 333-340. |
| | Trauth, M.H., Bergner, A.G.N., Foerster, V., Junginger, A., Maslin, M.A., Schaebitz, F. (2015) Episodes of Environmental Stability and Instability in Late Cenozoic Lake Records of Eastern Africa. Journal of Human Evolution, 87, 21-31. |
| | Maslin, M.A., Shultz, S., Trauth, M.H. (2015) A synthesis of the theories and concepts of early human evolution. Philosophical Transactions B, 370, 20140064. |
| | Maslin, M.A., Brierley, C.M., Milner, A.M., Shultz, S., Trauth, M.H., Wilson, K.E. (2014) East African climate pulses and early human evolution, commissioned review paper. Quaternary Science Reviews, 101, 1-17. |
| | Trauth, M.H. (2014) A new probabilistic technique to build an age model for complex stratigraphic sequences. Quaternary Geochronology, 22, 65-71. |
| | Förster, V., Junginger, A., Langkamp, O., Gebru, T., Asrat, A., Umer, M., Lamb, H., Wennrich, V., Rethemeyer, J., Nowaczyk, N., Trauth, M.H., Schäbitz, F. (2012) Climatic change recorded in the sediments of the Chew Bahir basin, southern Ethiopia, during the last 45,000 years, Quaternary International, 274, 25-37. |
