WKU Geologist Researching
Early Human Migration
August 13, 2003
Bowling Green, Ky. - Dr. Andrew Wulff of the Department of Geography and Geology at Western Kentucky University recently returned from a field project in Central Java, Indonesia, as part of a multidisciplinary team investigating when early humans (Homo erectus) first reached Asia.
The team focused on the fossil-rich sediments of the Solo Basin in central Java, and the nature of the physical environment at the time of human arrival, estimated to be about 1.5 million years ago.
Dr. Wulff worked with investigators from the University of Iowa and Indonesian researchers from the Institute of Technology and the Geological Research and Development Centre in Bandung, Indonesia, to apply new geological, paleoecological, and paleoanthropological research techniques to the earliest fossils of Homo erectus in the Solo basin of central Java.
"Research such as this is a critical part of the Department's international agenda and is paving the way for future student involvement in this exciting area of study," said Dr. David Keeling, head of the Department of Geography and Geology.
The project seeks to generate a variety of data that will significantly increase the understanding of the physical environments that received the earliest humans, and to place these past environments in a detailed historical framework. Investigators also are focusing on ways to determine ambient climatic conditions and seasonal variations during the period of Homo erectus occupation.
Many of the human fossils have been found in two formations with well-preserved volcanic material.
Dr. Wulff, a volcanologist, collected samples of this volcanic material, primarily ashfall and pumice, with the goal of matching them to specific eruptive events of several nearby volcanoes.
He will be using the Scanning Electron Microscope at WKU, in addition to the Electron Microprobe at University of Kentucky, to determine specific mineral compositions, and will be using the X-Ray Fluorescence machine located in the Materials Characterization Center to analyze the nature of ash samples.
For information, contact Andrew Wulff at (270) 745-4555 or andrew.wulff@wku.edu. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.
