The research

Senckenberg Research on early man

The Senckenberg Research Institute has a long tradition of research on Africa. Described below are some examples of projects that are of particular importance for the hominid research.

Hominid Corridor Research Project (HCRP) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

In 1983, the German-American and Malawian Hominid Corridor Research Project (HCRP) its research work in Malawi. To search for the remains of primitive man, the country offers ideal conditions. The study area lies on an imaginary, about 3000 kilometers long "line" between the sites in the East and those in southern Africa. The researchers assume that the trail of the ancients - the hominid corridor - had to have been in this area.

Thanks to the unique geology of the Malawi rift very abundant discoveries were opened up. Based on the fossils conclusions about the climate and landscape history as well as the evolution of mammals and hominids can be drawn and thus the habitat of the past can be reconstructed. Particularly spectacular is that both members of the genus Homo as well as those of Paranthropus, the robust nutcracker contemporary humans, were found in almost the same age strata. So, both groups existed there at the same time.

Northern Corridor Project Tanzania
Koobi Fora Research Project
Paleoanthropology and human evolution
Evolution of the genus Homo - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

About ten million years ago, global climate changes in Africa resulted in a decline of the tropical rain forest. A new habitat established in the border region, namely wooded savannas and shrublands, interspersed with rivers and lakes. This type of landscape not only existed in eastern Africa but all around, along the periphery of the tropical rain forest - an area of six million square kilometers. Here, the first step of the Incarnation took place, the development of the upright gait. To decipher such a development process, the project deals with the fossil remains of early hominids, their lifestyles and their environment.

Almost two million years ago, hominids first left the African continent and populated Europe and Asia. They had to learn to cope with completely different habitats. The origins and evolution of the genus Homo are investigated interdisciplinary. Areal research in Malawi, Tanzania and Kenya, and the application of analytical methods of high-resolution 3D-morphometry are the basis of this investigation.

CMCK - Cultural and Museum Centre Karonga - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Cultural and Museum Centre Karonga in northern Malawi was opened in November 2004. It is dedicated to researching, teaching and preserving the rich natural historical, natural and cultural heritage of Malawi. The center is funded by the European Union and the Society for Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Also German students in education are involved in this. In the future, educational materials for the mediation of that heritage will be created increasingly.

Human Origins Patrimony in SouthEast Asia (HOPSea) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

HOPSea (Human Origins Patrimony in Southeast Asia) is a multi-function internet portal that was developed in a European-Asian research network and is supported by the European Union. The network improves the exchange of scientific information between the European and Asian partners. The transfer of research results is also in the foreground, for example with exhibitions and student projects. Scientists at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, the Frankfurt Senckenberg Research Institute, the Institut Teknologi Bandung and the University of Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta (both Indonesia), from the Archaeological Research Center in Jakarta, from the University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, and scientists from Paris and Leiden are involved in this network of experts.