In 1973, David Pilbeam, Henry Ford II Professor of Human Evolution, Emeritus, initiated a project with the Geological Survey of Pakistan to find fossils of early hominins in Pakistan. The project quickly expanded in scope and attracted scientists and students with diverse backgrounds and interests from a broad array of universities and institutions, in the U.S., Pakistan, and other countries. Pilbeam, himself at Yale at the time, would move to Harvard in 1981, bringing the U.S. base of the project here with him. The American School of Prehistoric Research became an important and generous supporter of the project.