Grantee Spotlight
Altayeb Abdalla Hassbrabo Mohammed is a Leakey Foundation Baldwin Fellow from Sudan who is working to become an expert in stone tool analysis. He’s a graduate student in the International Master in Quaternary and Prehistory program at the University of Ferrara, Italy.
After he completes his studies in Italy, he plans to continue his research at the National Museum of Natural History of Paris. His goal is to return to Sudan and become a professor at Al-Neelain University in Khartoum.
What is the focus of your research?
I study archaeology, and I focus on lithics, (stone tools). By analyzing use-wear on the tools, my research aims to better understand the environment where people lived as well as their behavior.
Determining the function of stone tools is one of the biggest questions currently in archeology because knowing their function enables us to examine many important aspects of human evolution. These aspects include the environment in which humans lived, the type of foods they ate, their behavior, and how they used and moved through the general landscape.
In my work, I’ll analyze use wear on quartz tools from the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. Quartz is the dominant raw material for lithic production in this region and is usually available locally. During this time span, from around 129,000 years ago to around 11,700 years ago, there was a considerable change in environmental conditions. Functional analysis of stone tools can help us identify the presence of new materials in this area (e.g., wood).
My goal in this research is to identify clear use wear traces and determine the function of the studied tools. Since the most probable functions are meat/hide processing and woodworking, we will prepare experimental control samples to compare traces on pieces where we know what they were used for, pieces which were not used at all, and archaeological finds. This study also raises the question of how ancient humans used precision tools. Did humans use them more than once? Did they use the tools for more than one function?
I also hope my work will shed light on the raw material quartz, which is widely available and has a unique property: it is sharp, but not like flint.
How did you become interested in science?
When I was young, I was very passionate about discovering things while we played with stones and mud in the agricultural fields. Because my father worked as a farmer, and because I grew up in the countryside and my village contained historical archaeological sites, my biggest motivation was to learn about the antiquities in our village, and I did not know at the time that there was such a thing as the Stone Age.
While I was in school, little by little, our tutor started talking to us about the Stone Age and ancient humans, and then my dream became to study archaeology. I worked hard, joined the Department of Archeology at Al-Nilein University and graduated with honors in 2016.
How will the Baldwin Fellowship impact your life and career?
When I learned that I had been awarded the Baldwin Fellowship, I felt incredibly honored and grateful. It validated the hard work and dedication I’ve put into my research on human evolution. This support not only allows me to further my studies but also reaffirms my commitment to contributing meaningful insights to the field. I am excited about the opportunities this funding will provide and eager to make significant contributions to our understanding of human evolution.
Receiving funding from The Leakey Foundation is truly a transformative opportunity for me, and I am incredibly grateful. This funding will allow me to conduct extensive fieldwork and lab experiments that are crucial for advancing our understanding of human evolution. Moreover, it will support my professional growth by providing resources for attending conferences, collaborating with experts in the field, and publishing findings in prestigious journals.
In the long term, this support will play a pivotal role in establishing myself as a leading researcher in evolutionary studies and contributing meaningful insights. I am excited about the doors this opportunity will open and am committed to making the most of this privilege to make a lasting impact in my field.
Why does research like yours matter so much?
Understanding evolution helps us understand where we come from, how we have evolved over millions of years, and our place in the natural world.
Human evolution shapes our cultural practices, social behaviors, and even our cognitive abilities. Understanding these evolutionary roots can provide context for why humans behave and think the way we do.
Evolutionary history also informs us about how humans have adapted to different environments over time. This knowledge is crucial for understanding how humans adapted to environmental changes in the past and continue to adapt now and in the future.
What is your favorite mind-blowing fact about human evolution?
One mind-blowing fact related to human origins and evolution is that modern humans (Homo sapiens) shared the planet with other human species like Neanderthals. Genetic evidence suggests that modern humans interbred with these other species, meaning many people today have some Neanderthal DNA in their genome. This interbreeding contributed to the genetic diversity of modern humans and challenges the notion of a linear evolution from one species to another.
