The evolution of grasses using C4 photosynthesis and their sudden rise to ecological
dominance 3 to 8 million years ago is among the most dramatic examples of biome …

Paleosols (fossil soils) are preserved throughout the geologic record in depositional settings
ranging from alluvial systems to between basalt flows. Until recently, paleosols were studied …

The oldest Oldowan tool sites, from around 2.6 million years ago, have previously been
confined to Ethiopia's Afar Triangle. We describe sites at Nyayanga, Kenya, dated to 3.032 …

It has long been believed that climate shifts during the last 2 million years had a pivotal role
in the evolution of our genus Homo,–. However, given the limited number of representative …

Human evolutionary scholars have long supposed that the earliest stone tools were made
by the genus Homo and that this technological development was directly linked to climate …

The evolution and subsequent ecological expansion of grasses (Poaceae) since the Late
Cretaceous have resulted in the establishment of one of Earth's dominant biomes, the …

The role of African savannahs in the evolution of early hominins has been debated for nearly
a century. Resolution of this issue has been hindered by difficulty in quantifying the fraction …

Current evidence suggests that all of the major events in hominin evolution have occurred in
East Africa. Over the last two decades, there has been intensive work undertaken to …

Investigations into how climate change shaped human evolution have begun to focus on
environmental dynamics, ie, the nature and tempo of climate and landscape variability, an …

The carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) of plant material is commonly used to reconstruct the
relative distribution of C3 and C4 plants in ancient ecosystems. However, such estimates …