General | Turkana Basin Institute

TBI joins CONFMAP to improve public prehistory education in Kenya

The Turkana Basin Institute has joined the project Consolidating the Future through Mastering the Deep Past (CONFMAP), led by archaeologist Sonia Harmand of Stony Brook University and TBI. The project is funded by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, and aims to improve access to paleosciences for marginalized populations while raising awareness in Kenyan of the value of the prehistoric archaeological heritage of Turkana County in northern Kenya.

By Scott Bjelland|2021-12-29T11:19:37+03:00May 14th, 2021|Featured, General|Comments Off

Local knowledge informs conservation efforts in Sibiloi National Park

A new study highlights the dramatic biodiversity loss of carnivores in the Turkana Basin's Sibiloi National Park by examining both ecological sampling methods and observations of wildlife by local pastoralists. Sibiloi National Park is located on the north-eastern shore of Lake Turkana and is well known for its paleontological record of human evolution. Historically, Sibiloi [...]

By Scott Bjelland|2021-01-15T08:38:23+03:00January 15th, 2021|General|Comments Off

Local youth outreach through football

TBI has been organizing a number of football tournaments in Ileret to keep the youth engaged and active during this long school hiatus due to COVID-19. With schools closed indefinitely, students were sent back to their villages with little opportunity for engagement and activity, leaving them vulnerable to early marriages, teenage pregnancies, and drug [...]

By Scott Bjelland|2021-12-29T11:21:35+03:00November 23rd, 2020|Featured, General, Local Community Outreach|Comments Off

Last week of the TBI Spring 2019 Field School Adventures!

The final week of the field school arrived and it started with a lesson in stone tool making! Students had the chance to do some flint knapping and quickly understood the complexities involved in having to produce quality stone tools. It was clear after a couple of hours that making useful stone tools is something [...]

By Lucía Nadal|2019-04-06T09:45:23+03:00April 6th, 2019|General|Comments Off

Can You Dig It?

The students started off the Archaeology module with Dr. Elisabeth Hildebrand in Lodwar; the biggest town in the northwestern part of Kenya. Accompanied by Justus Erus Edung, who works with the National Museums of Kenya and has extensive knowledge about Lodwar, the students were escorted to three cultural and historical sites within Lodwar. Justus explained [...]

By Petra Peretin|2019-03-29T23:05:14+03:00March 29th, 2019|Field Schools, General, Origins Field School, Spring 2019|Comments Off

Turkwel here we come!

On our last week of the Human Evolution module Professor Tracy Kivell led the students out to Area 13 where they would be tracking down two hippo humeri to plaster and they would see the site where hominin fossils were found in 2015! The students also go to partake in a hill crawl; which consists [...]

By Petra Peretin|2019-03-20T21:53:18+03:00March 20th, 2019|Field Schools, General, Origins Field School, Spring 2019|Comments Off

A journey through human evolution

During the past week the field school has been tracing back the origins of our own species with the Human Evolution module led by Dr. Tracy Kivell! Our days have been divided into morning lectures and afternoon lab sessions and so far we’ve covered skeletal anatomy, origins of bipedalism, and the very intricate story of [...]

By Lucía Nadal|2019-03-12T10:56:36+03:00March 12th, 2019|Field Schools, General, Origins Field School, Spring 2019|Comments Off

The World Through the Eyes of a Paleontologist

The students started off the week being introduced to their newest professor, Dr. Mikael Fortelius, a professor at the University of Helsinki, who will be teaching the Vertebrate Paleontology module. Dr. Mikael Fortelius! (Photo: Petra Peretin) They were introduced to the research labs at Illeret and had the opportunity to look at the [...]

By Petra Peretin|2019-03-03T22:42:11+03:00March 3rd, 2019|Field Schools, General, Origins Field School, Spring 2019|Comments Off