|
Dr. de Ruiter is a paleoanthropologist specializing in the early hominins of South Africa . He has been involved in excavations at several sites in South Africa such as Swartkrans, Kromdraai, Makapansgat, Coopers, Plovers Lake and Gondolin, as well as from the Koro Toro and Kossum Bogoudi regions of Chad. He has recovered numerous hominin fossils, including cranial, dental and post-cranial remains of Australopithecus , Paranthropus and early Homo . Current field activities include excavations at the sites of Coopers and Plovers Lake in Gauteng Province , as well as fossil exploration in the Free State of South Africa.
His research focuses on the faunal communities the early hominins belonged to, concentrating on variation in faunal composition over time, and how such fluctuations were impacted by climatic and environmental instability. The goal of this work is to examine the ecology and environments of the hominins through zooarchaeological analysis of the faunal remains, isotopic analysis of both fossil and modern animal communities, and spatial analysis of the fossil caves utilizing GIS.
|
