Field Schools

Studying Human Origins with the Origins Field School

What makes us distinct as humans? Perhaps even the idea of questioning is unique to humans. Paleoanthropologists have been trying to reconstruct our evolutionary tree from the fossil record for many years. Evolution involves all those changes over time that bring about diversity and are influenced by factors such as natural selection, mutation, genetic drift, [...]

By |2019-11-04T09:05:45+03:00November 2nd, 2019|Fall 2019, Field Schools, Origins Field School|Comments Off on Studying Human Origins with the Origins Field School

Exploring Napudet Hills

A midweek road trip to Napudet for camping got students excited as they were ready to explore the rich deposits. Napudet hills lie on the Southwestern part of Turkana Basin, these Southwestern exposures present extensive fossiliferous Miocene and Plio-Pleistocene deposits.   Our camping site.Photo credit: Wambui Mbogo.   Keely, Hillary, and Margaret.Photo [...]

By |2019-10-28T09:05:54+03:00October 27th, 2019|Fall 2019, Field Schools, Origins Field School|Comments Off on Exploring Napudet Hills

Hello Turkwel!

On Saturday, we flew from Ileret to TBI-Turkwel campus on the west side of the lake. After settling down, we were treated to a lovely orientation of the campus by Acacia Leakey. For many years, researchers have been staying at the campus as it provides facilities for field expeditions, accommodation and modern laboratories for scientific [...]

By |2019-10-22T12:20:44+03:00October 22nd, 2019|Fall 2019, Field Schools, Origins Field School|Comments Off on Hello Turkwel!

Life forms through time

Our ongoing module is Vertebrate Paleontology which is instructed by Prof. Ellen Miller. Students have been learning about the evolution of various forms of life on earth. We learn from Prof. Miller that, fossils are the gold mines for paleontologists as they enable them to collect data on the extinct fauna, flora and their past [...]

By |2019-10-15T08:22:02+03:00October 13th, 2019|Fall 2019, Field Schools, Origins Field School|Comments Off on Life forms through time

Camping at Koobi Fora

On our way to Koobi Fora, we made a pit stop at the fossil elephant site which houses the skeleton of an extinct Elephas recki. The fossil lies in situ in silty-like sediments that have been dated to about 2 mya.  Later on, we headed to our campsite at the Koobi Fora Museum where we [...]

By |2019-10-11T10:09:59+03:00October 10th, 2019|Fall 2019, Field Schools, Origins Field School|Comments Off on Camping at Koobi Fora

Main Fish Beds Projects

We are in the last week of the Geology Module. Students have been busy in the field finalizing their projects on the Main Fish Beds which were later presented on Tuesday evening. Our next few days will be spent in Koobi Fora where we are headed on Wednesday morning for a two-day camp. Keely [...]

By |2019-10-02T10:03:33+03:00October 1st, 2019|Fall 2019, Field Schools, Origins Field School|Comments Off on Main Fish Beds Projects

Doing a geological walk!

The Geology module started on Monday with a quick introductory lesson on safety to prepare students for the field excursions. Our instructor, Dr. Greg Henkes, introduced the students to the geology of Ileret, a locality in the East of the Lake Turkana Basin, characterized by Plio-Pleistocene deposits. A mini-expedition in the afternoon to the Koobi [...]

By |2019-10-02T10:26:49+03:00September 30th, 2019|Fall 2019, Field Schools, Origins Field School|Comments Off on Doing a geological walk!
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