Blue highways (John Kappelman at CASW 2009)

Among the most exciting questions in human evolution is how modern humans spread from Africa to the rest of the world. What routes did they take? When did the migration occur? And what behavioral adaptations facilitated the expansion? One theory suggests the migration moved northward along the Nile River toward the Mediterranean. Another suggests that the route wound eastward from the Horn of Africa, across or along the Red Sea, and around or across the Arabian peninsula. John Kappelman's latest fossil finds add details on humans living along the upper Blue Nile tributaries on the lowland slope of Ethiopia's northwestern plateau. The data suggest that these people kept close to waterholes and rivers where they could find food and water a journey along what he calls the "blue highways." John Kappelman, Ph.D. - Professor of Anthropology - University of Texas at Austin John Kappelman grew up on a family farm in southwestern Idaho and holds a joint Ph.D. in anthropology and earth and planetary sciences from Harvard University and a B.S. in geology and geophysics from Yale University. The primary focus of his research is hominoid evolution and human origins and evolution, with particular emphasis inpaleoecology and functional morphology, and stratigraphy and paleomagnetism. He has carried out field work in many parts of African and Asian and currently conducts field projects in Ethiopia and Turkey. He is also active in CT imaging of fossils and in 2008 headed the team that completed the first high-resolution imaging of the fossil Lucy. He is also active in producing digital educational materials that include www.eSkeletons.org, www.eLucy.org, and www.eFossils.org. http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/anthropology/faculty/profiles/kappelman/john/ http://casw.org/sites/casw.different.com/files/Kappelman--Nature%202003.pdf