Charles M Musiba

Human origins in Tanzania and South Africa covering the following areas: taphonomy and paleoecology of Laetoli, evolution of hominin upright and bipedalism with focus on Laetoli bipeds, hominin behavior ecology at Olduvai Gorge, conservation of hominin footprints and other animal trackways at Laetoli, and the evolution of the genus Homo (Laetoli and Olduvai Gorge) in Eastern and Southern Africa (Rising Star Cave). I am interested in research questions that link human evolution with climate change, especially the reconstruction of ancient landscapes using multiple sources of data (from fossil faunal remains to stable isotopes, pollen remains, and animal prints) at Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli paleoanthropological sites in northern Tanzania. My work at Laetoli and Olduvai Gorge combines research and field-based teaching and explores the question of whether combined paleontological data can successfully be used to tease out ecological interpretations of past landscapes and their impact on human evolution in East Africa. Since 2006, I have been co-directing a collaborative International Field School in Anthropology at Isimila, Laetoli, and Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania. Through the field school, we are currently defining two hominin mandibles from Laetoli.

Fellowships, Gifts, and Supported Research

Hominin Recovery, Conservation, and Documentation of Animal Trackways at Localities 7, 7E, and 7SW at Laetoli, Tanzania · January 2024 - October 2025 PI · Awarded by: National Geographic Society · $70,000.00 Renewed and expanded paleoanthropological research and conservation at Laetoli in northern Tanzania that seeks to: (a) systematically recover additional hominin remains at Localities 7, 7E, and 7SW that will allows us to establish the taxonomic status of two nearly complete mandibles recovered from the Upper Laetolil Beds below the Yellow Marker Tuff at Locality 7SW, (b) carry out a ground penetrating radar (GPR) to recover additional hominin footprints at Site A that will allow us to establish whether more than one species of Australopithecus left their prints at Laetoli 3.56 million years ago, and (c) to use photogrammetry technics to document and establish conservation procedures for the preservation of animal trackways at Site A.

Hominin Recovery, Conservation, and Documentation of Animal Trackways at Localities 7, 7E, and 7SW at Laetoli, Tanzania. · June 2023 - December 2024 PI · Awarded by: National Geographic Society · $25,769.00 Continued paleoanthropological research at Laetoli focusing on: (a) recovering additional fossil hominin remains at Localities 7, 7 East, and 7 Southwest, (b) prospecting for new hominin footprints at Site A using cutting age three-dimensional Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), and (c) photogrammetry documentation animal footprints and establishment of conservation operational guidelines for the preservation of the fast-eroding exposed animal trackways and Site A.

Montgomery Fellowship · 2020 - 2021 Fellow · Awarded by: Dartmouth College, USA · $8,000.00

Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship · 2018 - 2019 Fellow · Awarded by: IIE in collaboration with the United States International University-Africa and funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York · $18,000.00 Fellowship to develop a graduate program in anthropology at Saint Augustine University of Tanzania.

External Relationships

University of Cape Town

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