Constructing robust climate proxies to explore human and primate evolution

This project will build the requisite foundation to resolve whether variable climate change sparked the origins ofhumans and our great ape forebears. Scientists endeavor to recover ancient environmental records to examinethis influential idea, but have lacked the means to do so at the scale of a human lifespan. This multidisciplinaryeffort will harness groundbreaking advances pioneered by our collaborative team to produce the first fine-scaledclimate proxies from the teeth of humans closest living relatives. Documenting climate variation across diverselandscapes promises to transform studies of prehistoric ecosystems and past behaviour from omnipresentfossilised teeth, providing further insight into humanitys unprecedented success.