Dissertation Improvement Research on the Vegetational       Environment of Evolving Homo Sapiens in Western Kenya
{'Code': '01090000', 'Directorate': {'Abbreviation': 'O/D', 'LongName': 'Office Of The Director'}, 'Division': {'Abbreviation': 'OISE', 'LongName': 'Office Of Internatl Science &Engineering'}}
{'SignBlockName': 'Gerald Edwards', 'PO_EMAI': None, 'PO_PHON': None}
This proposal requests funds to support the doctoral                            dissertation research of Mr. Joseph Mworia Maitima under the                    direction of Dr. Daniel A. Livingstone, Department of Zoology,                  Duke University.  Mr. Maitima is Head, Palynological Laboratory,                National Museum of Kenya.  He will do field research on the                     vegetational environment of evolving Homo sapiens in Western                    Kenya.  East African hominid fossil and human cultural sites                    span the known period of human cultural evolution.  They are                    close to lake and swamp deposits with a fossil record of the                    vegetation during many millions of years.  By coring the                        sedimentary deposits and studying their microfossil assemblages,                it is possible to record the changing environment to which human                species and human culture were adapted.  Previous research has                  emphasized the last 30,000 years, too short a time to include                   the evolution of Homo sapiens sapiens, or the early change from                 Early Stone Age to modern technologies.  The present project                    will extend the record far enough to reveal the vegetational                    environment of the immediately post-Acheulian Sangoan culture,                  the oldest known from presently-forested parts of Africa.                                                                                                       Pollen grains and grass leaf cuticles from sediment and swamp                   deposits will be used to reconstruct the vegetational history                   around Lake Simbi in western Kenya.  Through this research the                  hypothesis that the landscape was forested at the time of its                   Sangoan occupation will be tested.  The present project is                      unique in that while funds are requested for a dissertation                     improvement grant, Dr. Livingstone and Mr. Maitima have                         collaborated in the past; that collaboration has resulted in the                publication of their research; and future, postdoctoral                         collaboration is planned, using the items of equipment and                      supplies provided through this project.  This project is                        relevant to the objectives of the Science in Developing                         Countries Program which seeks to increase the level of                          cooperation between U.S. scientists and engineers and their                     counterparts in developing countries through the exchange of                    scientific information, ideas, skills, and techniques and                       through collaboration on problems of mutual benefit.
{'FirstName': 'Daniel', 'LastName': 'Livingstone', 'PI_MID_INIT': 'A', 'PI_SUFX_NAME': None, 'PI_FULL_NAME': 'Daniel A Livingstone', 'EmailAddress': 'livingst@duke.edu', 'NSF_ID': '000160441', 'StartDate': '06/01/1989', 'EndDate': None, 'RoleCode': 'Principal Investigator'}
{'Name': 'Duke University', 'CityName': 'DURHAM', 'ZipCode': '277054640', 'PhoneNumber': '9196843030', 'StreetAddress': '2200 W MAIN ST', 'StreetAddress2': None, 'CountryName': 'United States', 'StateName': 'North Carolina', 'StateCode': 'NC', 'CONGRESSDISTRICT': '04', 'CONGRESS_DISTRICT_ORG': 'NC04', 'ORG_UEI_NUM': 'TP7EK8DZV6N5', 'ORG_LGL_BUS_NAME': 'DUKE UNIVERSITY', 'ORG_PRNT_UEI_NUM': None}
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{'Code': '5928', 'Text': 'AFRICA AND ASIA,OTHER'}
{'url': 'https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/download?DownloadFileName=1988&All=true', 'xml': '8822036.xml'}