Cara Roure Johnson

In May of 2007 I received my doctorate in anthropology from the University of Connecticut, where I am now serving as adjunct faculty. My dissertation is titled "Paleoenvironments and Archaeological Traces in the Early Middle Pleistocene of the Kapthurin Formation, Kenya." My major research interests include: human evolution, geoarchaeology, Paleolithic archaeology, human osteology, lithic technology and site formation processes.

At Uconn I am currently teaching Anthropology 267, Lithic Technology, and during the summer session I plan to be teaching my short course, MCBYY-396, Human Forensic Osteology for the Professional Masters Program in Mollecular and Cellular Biology.

I first visited Kenya in 2002, with Dr. Sally McBrearty. During this time my interest in behavioral adaptations of African hominins during the Middle Pleistocene grew, and I began developing an independent research project.

Very little is understood about the behavioral adaptations of hominins during the early Middle Pleistocene, the time period just preceding the appearance of H. sapiens. What was the technological repertoire of these hominins, and what resources were they able to exploit effectively? Answering these questions will require building our knowledge of variation in Middle Pleistocene habitats and documenting hominin activities within them.

My research is focused around the detailed reconstruction of micro-environments within a small paleo-lake basin, located in the Middle Pleistocene, Kapthurin Formation situated in the rift valley of Central Kenya. The time interval being examined dates between 509 - 545 ka and is known to contain fossils of both Homo and Pan as well as several archaeological sites. To date, some of the more interesting results of this fieldwork include the identification and exploration of a large fresh water spring and associated wetland and the discovery of the earliest known occurrence of blade technology.

Cara Roure Johnson, Cara R. Johnson, Cara Johnson