Thursday, January 20, 2011

J. Tyler Faith Doctoral Dissertation Defense

The Center for the Advanced Study of Hominid Paleobiology and The George Washington University Department of Anthropology present:

"Late Quaternary megafaunal extinctions in southern Africa's Cape Floral Region"

A Doctoral Dissertation Defense by J. Tyler Faith

Friday, January 21, 2:30 PM
2114 G. St. NW
Room 308

Research Summary:

The fossil record of southern Africa's Cape Floral Region documents the extinction of numerous grassland ungulates since the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. There is reason to believe that both human impacts and environmental processes contributed to the losses. This dissertation examines faunal remains from late Quaternary archaeological and paleontological sites to test environmental and anthropogenic extinction mechanisms. Temporal changes in herbivore dietary habits, ungulate community structure, and human predation pressure on terrestrial herbivore populations are explored using zooarchaeological and paleoecological methodologies.

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