Craig Feibel

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Faculty Member

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Papers by Craig Feibel

Relevance of the eastern African coastal forest for early hominin biogeography

Journal of Human Evolution, 2019

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A Geological History of the Turkana Basin

Evolutionary Anthropology, Nov 1, 2011

The Turkana Basin preserves a long and detailed record of biotic evolution, cultural development,... more The Turkana Basin preserves a long and detailed record of biotic evolution, cultural development, and rift valley geology in its sedimentary strata. Before the formation of the modern basin, Cretaceous fluvial systems, Paleogene lakes, and Oligo-Miocene volcano-sedimentary sequences left fossil-bearing strata in the region. These deposits were in part related to an early system of rift basins that stretched from Sudan to the Indian Ocean. The present-day basin has its origins in Pliocene tectonic developments of the modern rift, with subsidence making room for more than one kilometer of Plio-Pleistocene strata. Much of this sequence belongs to the Omo Group, richly fossiliferous sediments associated with the ancestral Omo River and its tributaries. Modern Lake Turkana has a record stretching back more than 200 thousand years, with earlier lake phases throughout the Plio-Pleistocene. The geologic history of the basin is one of dynamic landscapes responding to environmental influences, including tectonics, volcanic activity and climate. Craig Feibel is a geologist at Rutgers University, where he teaches sedimentology, geoarcheology, and the environmental context of evolution. His fieldwork in the Turkana Basin is currently focused on linking modern and ancient depositional systems, and understanding the controls on local environmental change

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Geospatial Analysis of the Geology and Faunal Communities of the Topernawi Locality in Northern Turkana, Kenya

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs

New palaeontological discoveries from the Middle Miocene site of Napudet, west Turkana, Kenya

Searching for stone tools older than 2.6 Ma: how do we know what we are looking for?

ABSTRACT

Mid-Pleistocene volcano-tectonic fragmentation of the Turkana-Suguta Megalake

The East African Rift System (EARS) is a key location for studying Plio-Pleistocene paleoclimate ... more The East African Rift System (EARS) is a key location for studying Plio-Pleistocene paleoclimate and hominin inhabitance. The region experienced profound reorganization during this interval as a response to volcanism, tectonics and climate change, and arguably detailed spatiotemporally coherent climate datasets could provide evidence of causal links between geologic change and hominin evolution. However, continued tectonism, erosion, burial and volcanism obscures much of this information. Despite its rich fossil record, the Turkana basin in the northern Kenya Rift is no exception. It has been hypothesized that Lake Turkana and paleo-Lake Suguta to its south formed one 530-650 km long mega-lake before 221 ka ago, and was a major barrier for E-W dispersal of hominids and other terrestrial fauna. Here we present new information on basin development based on paleolandscape modeling and 87Sr/86Sr analysis on microfossils of newly discovered paleo-lake sequences in the Suguta Valley, per...

The Natoo Tuff at Kaitio, West Turkana, Kenya: A Stratigraphic Key for Early Pleistocene Fossil and Archaeological Records

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, 2021

Reply to Domínguez-Rodrigo and Alcalá: Interpretation Without Accurate Evidence Is Fantasy

Journal of African Archaeology, 2019

International audienc

Early hominid stone tool production and technical skill 2.34 Myr ago in West Turkana, Kenya

Nature, 1999

Well-documented Pliocene archaeological sites are exceptional. At present they are known only in ... more Well-documented Pliocene archaeological sites are exceptional. At present they are known only in East Africa, in the Hadar and Shungura formations of Ethiopia and in the Nachukui formation of Kenya. Intensive archeological survey and a series of test excavations conducted in the Nachukui formation since 1987 have led to the discovery of more than 25 archaeological sites whose ages range from 2.34 to 0.7 million years before present (Myr), and to the extensive excavation of two 2.34-Myr sites, Lokalalei 1 in 1991 and Lokalalei 2C in 1997. Lokalalei 2C yielded nearly 3,000 archaeological finds from a context of such good preservation that it was possible to reconstitute more than 60 sets of complementary matching stone artefacts. These refits, predating the Koobi Fora refits by 500 Kyr, are the oldest ever studied. Here we describe a technological analysis of the core reduction sequences, based on these refits, which allows unprecedented accuracy in the understanding of flake production processes. We can thus demonstrate greater cognitive capacity and motor skill than previously assumed for early hominids, and highlight the diversity of Pliocene technical behaviour.

The top of the Olduvai Subchron in a high-resolution magnetostratigraphy from the West Turkana core WTK13, hominin sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP)

Quaternary Geochronology, 2017

One of the major challenges in understanding the evolution of our own species is identifying the ... more One of the major challenges in understanding the evolution of our own species is identifying the role climate change has played in the evolution of hominin species. To clarify the influence of climate, we need long and continuous high-resolution paleoclimate records, preferably obtained from homininbearing sediments, that are well-dated by tephro-and magnetostratigraphy and other methods. This is hindered, however, by the fact that fossil-bearing outcrop sediments are often discontinuous, and subject to weathering, which may lead to oxidation and remagnetization. To obtain fresh, unweathered sediments, the Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) collected a~216-meter core (WTK13) in 2013 from Early Pleistocene Paleolake Lorenyang deposits in the western Turkana Basin (Kenya). Here, we present the magnetostratigraphy of the WTK13 core, providing a first age model for upcoming HSPDP paleoclimate and paleoenvrionmental studies on the core sediments. Rock magnetic analyses reveal the presence of iron sulfides carrying the remanent magnetizations. To recover polarity orientation from the near-equatorial WTK13 core drilled at 5 N, we developed and successfully applied two independent drill-core reorientation methods taking advantage of (1) the sedimentary fabric as expressed in the Anisotropy of Magnetic Susceptibility (AMS) and (2) the occurrence of a viscous component oriented in the present day field. The reoriented directions reveal a normal to reversed polarity reversal identified as the top of the Olduvai Subchron. From this excellent record, we find no evidence for the 'Vrica Subchron' previously reported in the area. We suggest that outcrop-based interpretations supporting the presence of the Vrica Subchron have been affected by the oxidation of iron sulfides initially present in the sediments-as evident in the core record-and by subsequent remagnetization. We discuss the implications of the observed geomagnetic record for human evolution studies.

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The Lorenyang Lake at Kaitio: Outcrop and Core Perspectives on an Early Pleistocene Lake Margin

A Pleistocene palaeovegetation record from plant wax biomarkers from the Nachukui Formation, West Turkana, Kenya

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 2016

Reconstructing vegetation at hominin fossil sites provides us critical information about hominin ... more Reconstructing vegetation at hominin fossil sites provides us critical information about hominin palaeoenvironments and the potential role of climate in their evolution. Here we reconstruct vegetation from carbon isotopes of plant wax biomarkers in sediments of the Nachukui Formation in the Turkana Basin. Plant wax biomarkers were extracted from samples from a wide range of lithologies that include fluvial–lacustrine sediments and palaeosols, and therefore provide a record of vegetation from diverse depositional environments. Carbon isotope ratios from biomarkers indicate a highly dynamic vegetation structure (ca5–100% C4vegetation) from 2.3 to 1.7 Ma, with an overall shift towards more C4vegetation on the landscape after about 2.1 Ma. The biomarker isotope data indicateca25–30% more C4vegetation on the landscape than carbon isotope data of pedogenic carbonates from the same sequence. Our data show that the environments of earlyParanthropusandHomoin this part of the Turkana Basin we...

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Contour map of Ngandong (modified from [ 38 ] ) with locations of previous excavations [Dutch, Gadjah Mada University (GMU), and Indonesian-Japanese (IJ)], geological trenches (squares) and sample locations of pumice samples (P; this study)

The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project: inferring the environmental context of human evolution from eastern African rift lake deposits

Scientific Drilling, 2016

The role that climate and environmental history may have played in influencing human evolution ha... more The role that climate and environmental history may have played in influencing human evolution has been the focus of considerable interest and controversy among paleoanthropologists for decades. Prior attempts to understand the environmental history side of this equation have centered around the study of outcrop sediments and fossils adjacent to where fossil hominins (ancestors or close relatives of modern humans) are found, or from the study of deep sea drill cores. However, outcrop sediments are often highly weathered and thus are unsuitable for some types of paleoclimatic records, and deep sea core records come from long distances away from the actual fossil and stone tool remains. The Hominin Sites and Paleolakes Drilling Project (HSPDP) was developed to address these issues. The project has focused its efforts on the eastern African Rift Valley, where much of the evidence for early hominins has been recovered. We have collected about 2 km of sediment drill core from six basins in Kenya and Ethiopia, in lake deposits immediately adjacent to important fossil hominin and archaeological sites. Collectively these cores cover in time many of the key transitions and critical intervals in human evolutionary history over the last 4 Ma, such as the earliest stone tools, the origin of our own genus Homo, and the earliest anatomically modern Homo sapiens. Here we document the initial field, physical property, and core description results of the 2012-2014 HSPDP coring campaign.

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Potential 1.5 million year old phantom hearth at FxJj20 AB, Koobi Fora, Kenya

3.3-million-year-old stone tools from Lomekwi 3, West Turkana, Kenya

Nature, 2015

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Climate variability in the Upper Jordan Valley around 0.78 Ma, inferences from time-series stable isotopes of Viviparidae, supported by mollusc and plant palaeoecology

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 2009

The Early–Middle Pleistocene lacustrine sediments at Gesher Benot Ya&amp;amp;amp;#x27;aqov (G... more The Early–Middle Pleistocene lacustrine sediments at Gesher Benot Ya&amp;amp;amp;#x27;aqov (GBY) in the Upper Jordan Valley span ca. 100 Ka across the Matuyama–Brunhes Boundary (MBB) at 780 Ka and oxygen isotope stages (OISs) 20 to 18, provide a continuous record of their sedimentary history and prevailing climate. The lacustrine environment is investigated using ecological and stable isotope characteristics of gastropods belonging to the

Changing patterns of land use by Plio-Pleistocene hominids in the Lake Turkana Basin

Journal of Human Evolution, 1994

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Pedogenic carbonate stable isotopic evidence for wooded habitat preference of early Pleistocene tool makers in the Turkana Basin

Journal of Human Evolution, 2013

This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the a... more This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues. Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. In most cases authors are permitted to post their version of the article (e.g. in Word or Tex form) to their personal website or institutional repository. Authors requiring further information regarding Elsevier's archiving and manuscript policies are encouraged to visit: http://www.elsevier.com/authorsrights

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Raising up African paleoanthropologists: An innovative Master's program at Turkana University College, Kenya

Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 2021

Kenya is world-renowned for its extraordinary fossil and archeological collections that have disp... more Kenya is world-renowned for its extraordinary fossil and archeological collections that have disproportionately contributed to our understanding of human origins and evolution. Although Kenya boasts a small cadre of trained scientists at its universities and museums, relatively few Kenyan citizens have benefitted from advanced scientific training commensurate with the country's world-renowned scientific heritage. This inequity stems, in part, from a lack of relevant graduate programs in paleoanthropology (broadly defined, including the geological, fossil, and archeological records relevant to understanding human origins) at many eastern African institutions. Decades of research projects led by Western scientists favoring exploitative ‘data-mining’ approaches to field and laboratory studies over those that aimed to engage with and train local Kenyan researchers is another contributing factor. The consequences of exclusionary research practices are further amplified by the fact that most major conferences and almost all graduate programs in paleoanthropology are presently hosted in North America or Europe, where the expense of international travel, visa procurement, cultural barriers, and other issues present additional impediments to Kenyan participation. The legacy of minimal investment in paleoanthropological research and training at Kenyan institutions is evinced by the small number of the country's citizens that have obtained doctoral degrees in paleoanthropology. This will be harmful to paleoanthropology as a whole in the long run, as Kenya's museum network is expected to greatly expand following the devolution of museums to the countylevel as mandated by the 2010 Kenyan Constitution. Thus, there is a pressing need to train local scientists and heritage managers who will be tasked with the conservation and curation of thousands of irreplaceable fossils and artifacts that, while legally owned by Kenya, are internationally significant pieces of human history and prehistory. Generating a pool of heritage stewards who are scientifically and culturally knowledgeable will help to prevent inefficient or short-sighted curatorial practices and to advocate for governmental and popular support of the country's museum network. This will be key for safeguarding Kenya's fossil and archeological records and ensuring that these treasures are preserved for all future generations. With these factors in mind, in early 2018 a Master's of Science (M.Sc.) program in Human Evolutionary Biology (MHEB) was

Craig Feibel

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