Meet Our New Wadsworth Fellows: Christina Mutinda
With the support of the Wadsworth African Fellowship, Christina Mutinda will continue her training in paleoanthropology at the University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa, hosted by Rebecca Ackermann.
I am a female anthropologist from Kenya who seeks to improve current understandings of human evolution and the environmental contexts in which it has occurred. After completing my bachelor’s degree at Moi University (Kenya) in 2020, I was offered a volunteer position in the Department of Earth Sciences at the National Museums of Kenya (NMK). This opportunity aroused my interest in pursuing a career in palaeoanthropology and helped me secure admission at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, where I graduated with a degree in Archaeology (MA Archaeology) in 2024.
My studies and experiences at the NMK, which included participation in numerous field expeditions and serving as the program’s coordinator of the Prehistory Club of Kenya, all contributed towards the successful completion of my MA project. My MA research focused on fossil bovids from Todenyang in the Turkana Basin, Kenya, and employed dental calculus to infer the environments in which Pleistocene hominins lived.
The aforementioned training, knowledge and experiences have equipped me for pursuing a doctorate degree by focusing on Pleistocene fauna from Chesowanja in Baringo Basin, Kenya, and the insights it holds for understanding Pleistocene faunal diversity and its ecological contexts. Chesowanja is best known for the discovery of one of the latest appearances of Paranthropus boisei. I have been admitted to the PhD program at the University of Cape Town (UCT) under the joint supervision of Prof. Rebecca Ackermann (UCT) and Dr. Fredrick Manthi (NMK).
My professional goal after graduation is to work at the NMK where I currently hold a position of Research Associate in the Department of Earth Sciences. I aim to collaborate with local and international researchers by focusing on the palaeoecological contexts in which early humans lived and exploring how these contexts shaped their evolution. Additionally, I seek to develop new proxies to enhance our understanding of human evolution and create awareness among the public about prehistory and human evolution through the Prehistory Club of Kenya.