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While you get those proposals submitted, I thought I would share with you a few pointers based on some of the questions we have received.

Marie-Hélène Moncel is a director of research at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “Early evidence of Acheulean bifacial technology in Europe. New fieldwork at Notarchirico (Italy).”

Rachna Reddy is a PhD candidate from the University of Michigan. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “The development of male reproductive strategies in wild chimpanzees.”

Laurence Dumouchel is a PhD candidate from George Washington University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant in the spring of 2016, and she was kind enough to send us an update on her progress as well as an insight into how she works.

My work takes place in the lab where bone samples are prepared for isotopic analysis. To reconstruct diet, carbon-13 and nitrogen-15 are measured to establish the origin of the dietary proteins. Collagen, the main protein in bone, is extracted from the bone sample after several steps of cleaning and purification.

Rachel Perlman is a PhD candidate from Stony Brook University. She was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant during our spring 2016 cycle for her project entitled “The energetics of male reproductive strategies in geladas (Theropithecus gelada).”

When I stood in the dimly lit overhang at Abri de Cap Blanc in the Dordogne region of France and my eyes beheld the carved horse in sandstone (15,000ya) I was reminded that the capabilities to imagine and create lie deep in our species’ DNA.

Sharon Metzler Dow is a Leakey Foundation Fellow. She traveled to France with The Leakey Foundation and wrote this poem inspired by her experiences on the trip.

Now is the perfect time to make a gift to The Leakey Foundation in support of science. Two generous donors have offered the foundation a matching challenge! Every donation made to The Leakey Foundation will be matched 1:1 up to one million dollars.

Jason E. Lewis is a Research Assistant Professor wth the Turkana Basin Institute and Department of Anthropology at Stony Brook University. He was awarded a Leakey Foundation research grant for his project entitled “Pleistocene & Holocene archaeological assemblages from Kisese II Shelter, Tanzania.”