Sarah K Hlubik

I have been interested in archaeology since I was a small child. During my undergraduate years, this merged with my fascination with evolutionary theory and I began studying evolutionary archaeology. I have been looking at the ways in which the archaeological record can inform us about when and where human ancestors began using fire. This topic is so interesting because it is critical to understanding how humans have evolved; an early adoption of fire as a tool for cooking or warmth could explain why Homo erectus (~1.9 million years ago) looks so much like modern humans and how it was able to leave the African plains and colonize other places in the Old World. My research has taken me to Koobi Fora, Kenya, a beautiful and remote fossil and archaeological locality where many famous sites and human ancestors have been found. My work has given me the opportunity to work with the Koobi Fora Field school, helping to train the next generation of paleoanthropologists and archaeologists. This research is so fascinating to me because there are so many facets to studying it: traditional archaeology, experimentation, geology, and novel methods that look at microscopic residues of fire on stone, bone and sediment.

May 2014