Two lectures on human evolution this week will feature Dr. FK Manthi, Director of Antiquities, Site and Monuments at the National Museums of Kenya.

Both talks are free and open to the public.

Students are also welcome to attend a free dinner with Dr. Manthi on Thurs evening. Please contact Dr. Patricia Princehouse for details: patricia.princehouse@oswego.edu; or text 440-478-5292

Thurs 10/17

New Homo sapiens Fossils from Kenya show Human Evolution Unites Us All

Lanigan 105

11:10-12:30

Fri 10/18

Exciting New Fossils of Early Human Ancestors from the 3-million-year-old site of Lomekwi

Lanigan 107

3-4:30pm

In his Thursday talk, Dr. Manthi will discuss the emergence of our own species. Fossils of early human ancestors millions of years old, such as Lucy -Australopithecus afarensis, and the Turkana Boy -Homo erectus, are familiar to experts and enthusiasts alike. But what about the final step that produced Homo sapiens? Dr. Manthi’s team has discovered the earliest representatives of our species near Kenya’s border with Ethiopia. Africa is where we emerged, took on our modern form, invented art and complex tool technologies, and spent our first 200,000 years, before a few small bands ventured into Europe, Asia, and eventually the Americas. Striking new fossils demonstrate that all human beings on Earth today -despite our minor differences- are truly brothers and sisters.

In his Friday talk, Dr. Manthi will discuss new fossils of human ancestors who lived over 3 million years ago that his team discovered in the Lomekwi area near Kenya’s Lake Turkana, site of the earliest stone tools ever found. Are these the toolmakers? An excellent specimen of a juvenile individual reveals tantalizing secrets of how our ancestors lived just as the brain began to expand.