Martin Pickford

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Martin Pickford, 2011, identifying fossil Indonesian pig teeth from the Homo erectus layer in Sangiran

Martin Hubert Luke Pickford (born October 18, 1943 in Trowbridge , Wiltshire , England ) is a British paleontologist and an expert on the biostratigraphy and biogeography of the Neogene . Pickford discovered including the first fossil of orrorin , an extinct type of ape that in the upper Miocene in Kenya occurred and possibly to the sphere of the earliest Hominini belongs. Together with Brigitte Senut , he also defined the genus Ugandapithecus , a clade of fossil primates of the early and middle Miocene in Africa . Pickford is a Senior Lecturer at the Collège de France in Paris .

Life

Martin Pickford spent his youth in Kenya , where he attended elementary school in Kitale . He then attended the Duke of York School in Nairobi . From 1961 to 1966 he served in the British Army . After completing his military service, he worked for the National Museum of Kenya in 1966 , where he was employed again after completing his studies.

From 1967 to 1975 Pickford studied first geology and later, among other things, paleontology ; he obtained the Bachelor Accounts at Dalhousie University in Halifax ( Canada ) and the doctor -degree at the University of London with a study of Stratigraphy and Palaeoecology of five Late Cenozoic formations in the Kenya Rift Valley . After working for the National Museum of Kenya from 1978 to 1984, he taught at the University of Mainz in 1985 , but moved to the Collège de France in Paris the following year , where he has been researching and teaching ever since.

Martin Pickford is married and the couple have two children. In addition to their professional residence in Paris, the family resides in Badingham, Suffolk Coastal (England).

research

Martin Pickford charted many significant paleontological sites, including areas in the Siwaliks in Pakistan , in the Kenyan and Ugandan section of the Rift Valley , in the Namib-Naukluft National Park , in the Etosha National Park and in Farafra ( Egypt ). Some areas in Uganda and Namibia that Pickford mapped were found to be oil and diamond locations.

Pickford was involved in the discovery of the first fossils of Samburupithecus (1982 in Kenya), Otavipithecus (1991 in Namibia), Kogolepithecus (2007 in Uganda) and Iriripithecus and Karamojapithecus (2010 in Uganda). A special find was the first tooth of the genus Orrorin in 1974 and the discovery of other associated fossils in 2000.

About Pickford's expertise for the biostratigraphy and biogeography of Neogen he is considered an expert on fossil African Mammals from the Cenozoic , especially for aardvark (Orycteropodidae), mammoths (Proboscidea) Anthracotheriidae and chalicothere as well as Old World pigs (Suidae), often as Guide fossils are used in the context of biostratigraphic age determinations.

Pickford has led the Uganda Palaeontology Expedition since 1985 , in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Uganda , the Uganda Museum, and the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology. Since 1991 he has also led the Namibia Palaeontology Expedition , in collaboration with the Geological Survey of Namibia , the Namibian National Monuments Council and the Namdeb Diamond Corporation. He has also been co-organizer of the Kenya Palaeontology Expedition since 1997 , in cooperation with the Community Museums of Kenya, the Orrorin Community Organization and (since 2010) Egerton University .

The Kipsaraman Community Museum, which is dedicated, among other things, to the discovery of Orrorin tugenensis , supported Pickford in 2002 during its construction and with the production of the permanent exhibition. In a similar way, in 2010 he provided construction assistance for the Moroto Museum, which is dedicated to the discovery of Morotopithecus bishopi , among other things . As early as 1992 he set up a permanent exhibition in the Uganda Museum in Kampala , where numerous fossils discovered in Uganda are kept.

Fonts (selection)

  • Late Miocene sediments and fossils from the Northern Kenya Rift Valley. In: Nature , Volume 256, 1975, pp. 279-284, doi: 10.1038 / 256279a0
  • Uplift of the roof of Africa and its bearing on the evolution of mankind. In: Human Evolution. Vol 5, No. 1, 1990, pp. 1-20, doi: 10.1007 / BF02436472
  • with Brigitte Senut : Geology and palaeobiology of the Albertine Rift Valley, Uganda-Zaire. Vol. 2: Palaeobiology-Paleobiology. In: Occas. Publ. CIFEG , Vol. 29, 1994, pp. 1-424
  • with Brigitte Senut: Geology and Palaeobiology of the Namib Desert, Southwestern Africa. In: Memoir of the Geological Survey of Namibia , Volume 18, 1999, pp. 1–155
  • with Brigitte Senut et al .: A new genus of Early Miocene hominoid from East Africa: Ugandapithecus major (Le Gros Clark & ​​Leakey, 1950). In: Les Comptes Rendus Palevol de l'Académie des Sciences de Paris , Volume 331, 2000, pp. 227-233
  • with Brigitte Senut et al .: First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya). In: Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences - Series IIA - Earth and Planetary Science , Volume 332 (2), 2001, pp. 137-144, doi : 10.1016 / S1251-8050 (01) 01529-4
  • with Brigitte Senut (Ed.): Geology and Palaeobiology of the Central and Southern Namib, Vol. 2: Palaeontology of the Orange River Valley, Namibia. In: Memoir of the Geological Survey of Namibia , Volume 19, 2003, pp. 1–398
  • with Brigitte Senut: Geology and Palaeobiology of the Northern Sperrgebiet: general conclusions and summary. In: Memoir of the Geological Survey of Namibia , Volume 20, 2008, pp. 555-574
  • with Brigitte Senut et al .: Distinctiveness of Ugandapithecus from Proconsul. In: Estudios Geológicos , Volume 65, No. 2, 2009, pp. 183-241, doi: 10.3989 / egeol.39926.071
  • with Sarah Musalizi, Brigitte Senut et al .: Small apes from the Early Miocene of Napak, Uganda. In: Geo-Pal Uganda , Volume 3, 2010, pp. 1–111; ISSN  2076-5746

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Haviland, Dana Walrath, Harald Prins, Bunny McBride: Evolution and Prehistory. The Human Challenge. Cengage Learning 2007, p. 122. ( online )
  2. ↑ Brigitte Senut , Martin Pickford, Dominique Gommery, Pierre Mein, Kiptalam Cheboi, Yves Coppens : First hominid from the Miocene (Lukeino Formation, Kenya). In: Comptes Rendus Academie Des Sciences Paris. Series 2: Sciences De La Terre Et Des Planetes. Fascicule A. Volume 332, 2001, pp. 137–144, ( full text (PDF) , 145 kB)
personal data
SURNAME Pickford, Martin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pickford, Martin Hubert Luke (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British paleontologist and paleoanthropologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 18, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Trowbridge , Wiltshire , England