Spring 2017

A family tree of Caminalcules

Families are considered functional units of a typical human society. Depending on the geographic and cultural origin, families can come in different shapes and sizes. The most straightforward way to relate all the members of an extended family is to draw a family tree. Most people know their immediate relatives such as a parent or [...]

By |2017-03-26T12:44:25+03:00March 22nd, 2017|Field Schools, Spring 2017|Comments Off on A family tree of Caminalcules

The Beginning of Our Origins

The moment we have all been waiting for has arrived, the human evolution module.  For the module, Dr. Matthew Borths from the University of Ohio joins us to tell the story of our own evolutionary origins.  Dr. Borths studies changes in African ecosystems, particularly as they relate to ape evolution, throughout the Miocene.  He was [...]

By |2017-03-22T12:47:53+03:00March 21st, 2017|Field Schools, Spring 2017|Comments Off on The Beginning of Our Origins

The Power of Paleontology

As paleontology neared the end, students were able to demonstrate what they learned throughout the course by designing research experiments. These projects focused on a wide array of paleontological methods and topics including excavation, tooth wear, and how an animal's chewing rate correlates with its body size. The students worked quite hard on these projects [...]

By |2017-03-15T09:35:41+03:00March 15th, 2017|General, Spring 2017|Comments Off on The Power of Paleontology

Nom nom nom…

Origins Field School students don’t have to worry about what's for dinner, as we are provided with healthy and delicious food every day. But what is on the menu for other animals? How can we use them to infer the diet of their fossil relatives?

By |2017-03-13T14:03:24+03:00March 12th, 2017|Spring 2017|Comments Off on Nom nom nom…

Earth’s history unrolled

Where does the world come from is one of the most fascinating questions people have asked for thousands of years. Needless to say, the Earth came a long way before it took the shape that we can recognize today. How do we know about major Earth history events such as splitting up of continents, appearance [...]

By |2017-03-08T08:21:37+03:00March 8th, 2017|Spring 2017|Comments Off on Earth’s history unrolled

In search of old bones

In the Geology module of the Origins field school, student learned about the earth’s history and how this history is recorded in the layers of sediment in the Turkana Basin. Now it is time to decipher the enigma of different plants and animals that lived in the history of the Turkana Basin millions of years [...]

By |2017-03-03T04:54:03+03:00March 3rd, 2017|Spring 2017|Comments Off on In search of old bones

“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”

To put their geology skills to the test, students set out to make a geological map of area 1, which is near our home in Ileret.  This map not only included essential features such as a key, a compass showing where north is, and a scale, but also important geological features including tuffs, ancient river [...]

By |2017-02-24T22:07:14+03:00February 24th, 2017|Spring 2017|Comments Off on “Where we’re going, we don’t need roads”

How muddy business turns into discoveries

In our last episode of geologic endeavor, students learned about the two dominating sedimentary systems of the Turkana Basin: the river system and the lake system. They are the integral forces that laid down layers of rocks in the basin, together with important fossils of early mammals and hominins. To understand the differences between the [...]

By |2017-02-19T01:15:22+03:00February 19th, 2017|Spring 2017|Comments Off on How muddy business turns into discoveries
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