Fieldwork: Searching for Human Origins in the Afar

Closed Exhibit
that displayed from Summer, 2007 through February 23, 2008

The Woranso-Mille Paleontological Site was discovered in 2004 in the deserts of Ethiopia's Afar Region by a team co-led by Museum Curator Yohannes Haile-Selassie and Museum Director Bruce Latimer. This exhibition documents the most recent expedition in March of 2007.

The Woranso-Mille site is located in the Central Afar region, about 325 miles northeast of the capital Addis Ababa and 25 miles east of a small town called Mille. The multidisciplinary and multinational team focuses primarily on finding early human fossil remains dating back millions of years. The team has thus far collected more than 40 fossil specimens of early humans, including one partial skeleton and 1,900 fossil specimens of other animals representing more than 30 species useful in reconstructing the ancient environment in which our early ancestors lived.

The fossils collected at Woranso-Mille have been dated to between 3.5 and 3.8 million years ago. Little is known about early human fossils from this time period, sandwiched between two early species of human ancestors known as Australopithecus afarensis (the species of “Lucy”) and Australopithecus anamensis. New discoveries within this timeframe are critical to understanding both the relationship between these two species and the larger story of human origins. All of the collected fossil specimens from the Woranso-Mille study area are currently being curated for analysis and subsequent publication.

Museum photographer Liz Russell travelled to Ethiopia to document the 2007 field season. The exhibition of her photographs and video is on display at the Museum in the Lower Level gallery. You can view an online exhibition that highlights some of her photography and Dr. Haile-Salessie's field work.