Emma Mbua

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Emma Mbua (born 1961) is a Kenyan Paleoanthropologist and a curator, who is the first East African woman to work as a paleoanthropologist.

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Career

Mbua was born in 1961. Her career began in 1979 when she began work at the National Museums of Kenya. [1] She applied for a role there after finishing her A-Levels at Lugulu High School. [2] While at the National Museum of Kenya, Emma was stationed at palaeontology laboratory for two years before she was moved to the human origins section. [3]

In 1985, she began an MPhil qualification at the University of Liverpool in 1993. She completed her doctorate at the University of Hamburg with Günter Bräuer in 2001, in which she studied the transition of homo erectus to modern humans. She is the first woman from East Africa to have a career as a paleoanthropologist. [2]

Mbua has worked at a number of different sites during her career including at Turkana and Sibiloi National Park. [4] She is principal investigator on the Kantis Fossil Site, which she was awarded grants from the Leakey Foundation and the Wenner-Gren Foundation, as well as the National Geographic Society, (2018) and Paleontological Scientific Trust (PAST) in 2011, to run excavations at. [5] [6] There Mbua and her team excavated a carnivore hotspot as well a canine tooth and a forearm bone from Australopithecusafarensis . [5] This discovery was the furthest east of the Rift Valley that remains of Austrolopithecus afarensis had been found. [7] In 2002 she became the Head of and Principal Research Scientist in the Department of Earth Sciences at National Museums Kenya. In 2005 she co-founded the East African Association of Palaeoanthropology and Palaeontology (EAAPP), to strengthen prehistoric research in the region and unite scholars. As a lecturer at the University of Nairobi she has many students; she also spent a year as a Senior Lecturer at Mount Kenya University in 2015. [1]

In her role at National Museums of Kenya, she gave author Bill Bryson a behind-the-scenes tour of the collections, which featured in his book African Diary. [8]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<i>Homo habilis</i> Archaic human species from 2.1 to 1.5 mya

Homo habilis is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East and South Africa about 2.31 million years ago to 1.65 million years ago (mya). Upon species description in 1964, H. habilis was highly contested, with many researchers recommending it be synonymised with Australopithecus africanus, the only other early hominin known at the time, but H. habilis received more recognition as time went on and more relevant discoveries were made. By the 1980s, H. habilis was proposed to have been a human ancestor, directly evolving into Homo erectus which directly led to modern humans. This viewpoint is now debated. Several specimens with insecure species identification were assigned to H. habilis, leading to arguments for splitting, namely into "H. rudolfensis" and "H. gautengensis" of which only the former has received wide support.

<i>Paranthropus</i> Contested extinct genus of hominins

Paranthropus is a genus of extinct hominin which contains two widely accepted species: P. robustus and P. boisei. However, the validity of Paranthropus is contested, and it is sometimes considered to be synonymous with Australopithecus. They are also referred to as the robust australopithecines. They lived between approximately 2.6 and 1.2 million years ago (mya) from the end of the Pliocene to the Middle Pleistocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Leakey</span> Kenyan conservationist (1944–2022)

Richard Erskine Frere Leakey was a Kenyan paleoanthropologist, conservationist and politician. Leakey held a number of official positions in Kenya, mostly in institutions of archaeology and wildlife conservation. He was Director of the National Museum of Kenya, founded the NGO WildlifeDirect and was the chairman of the Kenya Wildlife Service.

<i>Homo ergaster</i> Extinct species or subspecies of archaic human

Homo ergaster is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Africa in the Early Pleistocene. Whether H. ergaster constitutes a species of its own or should be subsumed into H. erectus is an ongoing and unresolved dispute within palaeoanthropology. Proponents of synonymisation typically designate H. ergaster as "African Homo erectus" or "Homo erectus ergaster". The name Homo ergaster roughly translates to "working man", a reference to the more advanced tools used by the species in comparison to those of their ancestors. The fossil range of H. ergaster mainly covers the period of 1.7 to 1.4 million years ago, though a broader time range is possible. Though fossils are known from across East and Southern Africa, most H. ergaster fossils have been found along the shores of Lake Turkana in Kenya. There are later African fossils, some younger than 1 million years ago, that indicate long-term anatomical continuity, though it is unclear if they can be formally regarded as H. ergaster specimens. As a chronospecies, H. ergaster may have persisted to as late as 600,000 years ago, when new lineages of Homo arose in Africa.

<i>Homo rudolfensis</i> Extinct hominin from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa

Homo rudolfensis is an extinct species of archaic human from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2 million years ago (mya). Because H. rudolfensis coexisted with several other hominins, it is debated what specimens can be confidently assigned to this species beyond the lectotype skull KNM-ER 1470 and other partial skull aspects. No bodily remains are definitively assigned to H. rudolfensis. Consequently, both its generic classification and validity are debated without any wide consensus, with some recommending the species to actually belong to the genus Australopithecus as A. rudolfensis or Kenyanthropus as K. rudolfensis, or that it is synonymous with the contemporaneous and anatomically similar H. habilis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkana Boy</span> Fossil hominin skeleton

Turkana Boy, also called Nariokotome Boy, is the name given to fossil KNM-WT 15000, a nearly complete skeleton of a Homo ergaster youth who lived 1.5 to 1.6 million years ago. This specimen is the most complete early hominin skeleton ever found. It was discovered in 1984 by Kamoya Kimeu on the bank of the Nariokotome River near Lake Turkana in Kenya.

<i>Proconsul</i> (mammal) Extinct genus of primates

Proconsul is an extinct genus of primates that existed from 21 to 14 million years ago during the Miocene epoch. Fossil remains are present in Eastern Africa including Kenya and Uganda. Four species have been classified to date: P. africanus, P. gitongai, P. major and P. meswae. The four species differ mainly in body size. Environmental reconstructions for the Early Miocene Proconsul sites are still tentative and range from forested environments to more open, arid grasslands.

<i>Australopithecus anamensis</i> Extinct hominin from Pliocene east Africa

Australopithecus anamensis is a hominin species that lived approximately between 4.2 and 3.8 million years ago and is the oldest known Australopithecus species, living during the Plio-Pleistocene era.

<i>Paranthropus aethiopicus</i> Extinct species of hominin of East Africa

Paranthropus aethiopicus is an extinct species of robust australopithecine from the Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.7–2.3 million years ago. However, it is much debated whether or not Paranthropus is an invalid grouping and is synonymous with Australopithecus, so the species is also often classified as Australopithecus aethiopicus. Whatever the case, it is considered to have been the ancestor of the much more robust P. boisei. It is debated if P. aethiopicus should be subsumed under P. boisei, and the terms P. boisei sensu lato and P. boisei sensu stricto can be used to respectively include and exclude P. aethiopicus from P. boisei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alan Walker (anthropologist)</span> British anthropologist

Alan Cyril Walker was the Evan Pugh Professor of Biological Anthropology and Biology at the Pennsylvania State University and a research scientist for the National Museum of Kenya.

<i>Australopithecus garhi</i> Extinct hominid from the Afar Region of Ethiopia 2.6–2.5 million years ago

Australopithecus garhi is a species of australopithecine from the Bouri Formation in the Afar Region of Ethiopia 2.6–2.5 million years ago (mya) during the Early Pleistocene. The first remains were described in 1999 based on several skeletal elements uncovered in the three years preceding. A. garhi was originally considered to have been a direct ancestor to Homo and the human line, but is now thought to have been an offshoot. Like other australopithecines, A. garhi had a brain volume of 450 cc (27 cu in); a jaw which jutted out (prognathism); relatively large molars and premolars; adaptations for both walking on two legs (bipedalism) and grasping while climbing (arboreality); and it is possible that, though unclear if, males were larger than females. One individual, presumed female based on size, may have been 140 cm tall.

<i>Paranthropus boisei</i> Extinct species of hominin of East Africa

Paranthropus boisei is a species of australopithecine from the Early Pleistocene of East Africa about 2.5 to 1.15 million years ago. The holotype specimen, OH 5, was discovered by palaeoanthropologist Mary Leakey in 1959, and described by her husband Louis a month later. It was originally placed into its own genus as "Zinjanthropus boisei", but is now relegated to Paranthropus along with other robust australopithecines. However, it is also argued that Paranthropus is an invalid grouping and synonymous with Australopithecus, so the species is also often classified as Australopithecus boisei.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eliye Springs</span>

Eliye Springs, also known as Ille Springs, is a remote village on the western shore of Lake Turkana in Kenya, near the mouth of River Turkwel. It is located 50 kilometres east of Lodwar and 40 kilometres south of Kalokol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KNM-ER 1813</span> Hominin fossil

KNM ER 1813 is a skull of the species Homo habilis. It was discovered in Koobi Fora, Kenya by Kamoya Kimeu in 1973, and is estimated to be 1.9 million years old.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Proconsulidae</span> Extinct family of primates

Proconsulidae is an early family of primates that lived during the Miocene epoch in Kenya, and was restricted to Africa. Members of the family have a mixture of Old World monkey and ape characteristics, so the placement in the ape superfamily Hominoidea is tentative; some scientists place Proconsulidae outside of Hominoidea in a separately superfamily Proconsuloidea, before the split of the apes and Old World monkeys.

<i>Homo gautengensis</i> Name proposed for an extinct species of hominin from South Africa

Homo gautengensis is a species name proposed by anthropologist Darren Curnoe in 2010 for South African hominin fossils otherwise attributed to H. habilis, H. ergaster, or, in some cases, Australopithecus or Paranthropus. The fossils assigned to the species by Curnoe cover a vast temporal range, from about 1.8 million years ago to potentially as late as 0.8 million years ago, meaning that if the species is considered valid, H. gautengensis would be both one of the earliest and one of the longest lived species of Homo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkana Basin</span> Large endorheic basin mainly in Kenya and Ethiopia

The greater Turkana Basin in East Africa determines a large endorheic basin, a drainage basin with no outflow centered around the north-southwards directed Gregory Rift system in Kenya and southern Ethiopia. The deepest point of the basin is the endorheic Lake Turkana, a brackish soda lake with a very high ecological productivity in the Gregory Rift.

<i>Ekembo</i> Genus of mammals

Ekembo is an early ape (hominoid) genus found in 17- to 20-million-year-old sediments from the Miocene epoch. Specimens have been found at sites around the ancient Kisingiri volcano in Kenya on Rusinga Island and Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria. The name Ekembo is Suba for "ape" or "monkey".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allia Bay</span>

The Allia Bay is a region on the east side of Lake Turkana in Kenya. The site is known for yielding its first hominid fossils in 1982, with further findings to this day, all of which have been identified as part of Australopithecus anamensis but possibly related to Australopithecus afarensis. Notable people with findings at Allia Bay include: Richard Leakey, Meave Leakey, Craig Feibel, Ian McDougall, Alan Walker.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mzalendo Kibunjia</span> Archeologist

Kibunjia Nyagah Mzalendo is a Kenyan Archeologist trained in Nairobi and the United States — Rutgers. He was formerly the Director General National Museums of Kenya.(NMK), leading a multi-disciplinary state corporation. He was appointed as the first chairman of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) a government agency intended to address and reduce inter-ethnic conflicts. He chaired the Nakuru Peace Accord agreement between the Agikuyu and the Kalenjin communities.

References

  1. 1 2 "Emma Mbua | TrowelBlazers" . Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  2. 1 2 Thang'wa, Josephine. "The evolution of East Africa's first African woman palaeoanthropologist." Kenya Past and Present 32.1 (2001): 72-75.
  3. ↑ Josephine Thangwa. "The evolution of East Africa's first African woman palaeoanthropologist". Sabinet African Journals: 72–75 – via Sabinet African Journals.
  4. ↑ Mutu, Kari (2015). "Kenya: Scientist Finds Early Human Fossils Near Nairobi".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. 1 2 "Grantee Spotlight: Emma Mbua". The Leakey Foundation. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  6. ↑ "Mbua, Emma Nguvi | The Wenner-Gren Foundation". www.wennergren.org. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  7. ↑ "Emma Mbua – Antrocom". www.antrocom.net. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  8. ↑ "Bill Bryson's African Diary". B&N Readouts. 2018-01-05. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  9. ↑ Mbua, Emma; Kusaka, Soichiro; Kunimatsu, Yutaka; Geraads, Denis; Sawada, Yoshihiro; Brown, Francis H.; Sakai, Tetsuya; Boisserie, Jean-Renaud; Saneyoshi, Mototaka; Omuombo, Christine; Muteti, Samuel (2016-05-01). "Kantis: A new Australopithecus site on the shoulders of the Rift Valley near Nairobi, Kenya". Journal of Human Evolution. 94: 28–44. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2016.01.006. hdl: 2433/209815 . ISSN   0047-2484. PMID   27178456.
  10. ↑ Cerling, T. E.; Manthi, F. K.; Mbua, E. N.; Leakey, L. N.; Leakey, M. G.; Leakey, R. E.; Brown, F. H.; Grine, F. E.; Hart, J. A.; Kaleme, P.; Roche, H. (2013-06-25). "Stable isotope-based diet reconstructions of Turkana Basin hominins". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 110 (26): 10501–10506. Bibcode:2013PNAS..11010501C. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1222568110 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   3696807 . PMID   23733966.
  11. ↑ Bräuer, Günter; Mbua, Emma (1992-02-01). "Homo erectus features used in cladistics and their variability in Asian and African hominids". Journal of Human Evolution. 22 (2): 79–108. doi:10.1016/0047-2484(92)90032-5. ISSN   0047-2484.
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