Article Index

Lupo received an NSF grant of approximately $181,701 for “Late Holocene Paleoecology and Archaeology in the Northern Central African Rainforest” to build a longitudinal record from fossil and subfossil evidence, that maps how the rainforest environment has evolved over time.

The project includes archaeologists, anthropologists, ethnoarchaeologists and palynologists from WSU and from CURDHACA (Centre Universitaire de Recherche et de Documentation en Histoire et Archéologie Centrafricaines), the University of Bangui and the Boganda Museum in the Central African Republic.
Researchers will use information gathered to study the transition of native inhabitants to a horticultural society 2,300 to 2,500 years ago and the impact of that human activity on rainforest habitat and on the human populations that occupied the forest.
“The multi-institutional and multi-national partnerships funded by this NSF grant, with an outstanding WSU scholar in the lead role, will do much more than help us understand an important chapter of early human history,” said Paul Whitney, senior associate dean in WSU’s College of Liberal Arts. “This work has significant implications for understanding the relationship between rainforests and human activity, an issue that remains critically important today as we face continuing threats to these vital ecosystems.”

WSU undergraduate students will be involved with the project as well, helping to develop new curriculum for use in introductory anthropology courses.

Lupo said, “Our plan is to have undergraduates create a Web-based learning module which demonstrates the value of multi-disciplinary studies and especially highlights how prehistory can shed light on current practical issues.”

The project will also include outreach activities with local Central African communities to promote stewardship and protection of heritage and environmental resources.

The basis for the rainforest project was established in May 2007, when the National Geographic Society funded Lupo to lead a small team of researchers in the excavation of a Late Holocene–aged archaeological site in the Ngotto Forest, Central African Republic. It was the first project ever to collect data in the area.

Lupo earned a doctoral degree from the University of Utah and specializes in the use of zooarchaeological analysis to explore questions about human–animal interactions.

Lupo is the author of numerous refereed publications. Her previous awards include a Fulbright Senior Specialist Grant and grants from the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation, the NSF and the NSF’s IGERT program.

 Share

	email
	digg
	del.icio.us
	google
	newsvine
	reddit
	yahoo!
	Release
	back