LGRP, Afar Region, Ethiopia

The Ledi-Geraru Research Project began in 2002, and focuses on fossil evidence for the disappearance of Australopithecus afarensis and the appearance of the earliest member of the genus Homo. Deposits mostly range in age from 2.95-2.4 Ma. Lab members reconstruct both Australopithecus and early Homo paleoenvironments to assess their ecological needs and investigate their evolutionary fates.

The Ledi-Geraru Research Project is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF BCS-2419597, NSF BCS-1853362), The Leakey Foundation, the Institute for Human Origins, and the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Recent work from the Ledi-Geraru team:

Villmoare, B., Delezene, L.K., Rector, A.L., DiMaggio, E.N., Campisano, C.J., Feary, D.A., Ali, B.M., Chupik, D., Deino, A.L., Garello, D.I., Hayidara, M.H., Locke, E.M.,Omar, O.A., Robinson, J.R., Scott, E., Smail, I.E., Terefe, K.G., Werdelin, L., Kimbel, W.H., Arrowsmith, JR., Reed, K.E. 2025. New discoveries of Australopithecus and Homo from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09390-4

Smail, I.E., Rector, A.L., Robinson, J., Reed, K.E., 2025. Pliocene climatic change and the origins of Homo at Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia. Annals of Human Biology 52:1, 2462255. "Human Biology, Climate Change, and Sustainability" invited special issue. https://doi.org/10.1080/03014460.2025.2462255