Geographical Areas of Specialization: Africa
Topical Interests: Archaeology, human evolution, paleoecology, primate ecology and diet
Current Courses: A105 Human Origins and Prehistory
Profile:
Investigating proto-human subsistence ecology is fundamental to
understanding human origins. The earliest archaeological record in
East Africa suggests that omnivorous diet and wide-ranging land-use
patterns were distinctive proto-human adaptations. My research on
this topic has led me out of the archaeological trenches and into
the savannas of East Africa. Curious to understand how ancient environmental
conditions would have influenced the dietary adaptations and ranging
patterns of our early hominid ancestors, I have studied modern savanna
environments analogous to early hominid habitats where sites have
been preserved.
Because plant food remains are not preserved in early archaeological
sites, the potential importance of plant foods in early hominid diet
can only be evaluated using indirect evidence from the archaeological
record. Knowing how modern plant food resources are patterned ecologically
and geographically can provide clues for interpreting the distribution
of archaeological materials across ancient landscapes. In Kenya and
in eastern Zaire I have surveyed vegetation in National Parks, to
measure the seasonal abundance and distribution of different types
of wild plant foods probably eaten by early hominids. Harvesting
these foods, and measuring their nutritional value, has provided
key data that I am using to develop alternative models of early hominid
foraging strategies.
Early archaeological evidence has often been compared to the behavior
of living chimpanzees because of chimps'
close evolutionary relationships to humans, their omnivorous diets,
large ranges in savanna habitats, and their intelligence and technological
skills. My current research is using field data on chimpanzee diet
and ranging behavior to help interpret the early hominid archaeological
record. In eastern Zaire I was able to study the diet and nesting
distribution patterns of wild savanna chimpanzees along the Ishasha
River , and show that these animals frequently nested in the
same locations along a riverine galley forest. These results provide
archaeologists with a possible behavioral explanation for how artifacts
and feeding remains could have become concentrated along stream margins
and formed archaeological sites before hominids had evolved the patterns
of camping together and sharing food that are so typical of humans
today. My latest project, in collaboration with Jim Moore (UC San
Diego), is a multi-disciplinary study of savanna chimpanzees in the Ugalla
region of western Tanzania, using both field survey and an analysis
of remote sensing data at ACT to
understand chimpanzee ranging and subsistence ecology in one of their
driest habitats, analogous to environments in which early hominids
evolved.
More about Dr. Sept can be found at her
Origins Website and Personal
Site.
Selected Publications:
| 1994 |
(with G. Brooks) Reports
of chimpanzee natural history, including tool-use,
in 16th and 17th century Sierra Leone. International
Journal of Primatology .15 (6): 867-878. |
| 1994 |
Beyond bones: archaeological
sites, early hominid subsistence, and the costs
and benefits of exploiting wild plant foods in
east African riverine landscapes. Journal of
Human Evolution 27: 295-320. |
| 1994 |
Bone distribution in
a semi-arid chimpanzee habitat in eastern Zaire:
implications for the interpretation of east African
faunal assemblages. Journal of Archaeological
Science 21:217-235. |
| 1992 |
Was there no place like
home? A new perspective on early hominid archaeological
sites from the mapping of chimpanzee nests. Current
Anthropology 33(2):187-207. |
| 1992 |
Archaeological evidence
and ecological perspectives for reconstructing early
hominid subsistence strategies. In Archaeological
Method and Theory Volume 4: 1-56 M.B. Schiffer
(ed) U. Arizona Press. |
