In our effort to produce fruit and green vegetables locally, to supply the Turkana Basin Institute field stations at Ileret and Turkwel, we set up two successful hydroponics gardens. Hydroponics is the process of growing plants in sand, gravel or liquid, with added nutrients but without soil. Michael Kibumba manages the gardens, and with [...]
One of the techniques we use to document a site that we excavate is to get an aerial view from above and so we take advantage of the good wind we have and suspend a camera from a kite. If we sent the camera up high enough you can get a wide area in quite [...]
We had a high profile visit a few weeks ago at TBI-Turkwel and TBI-Ileret by the Deputy President William Ruto, Dr. Hassan Wario, Minister for Cultural Heritage and Sports, the Governor of the Turkana County, Governor Nanok and several senior government officials. The visit was at the invitation of Richard Leakey. They visitors arrived by helicopter in [...]
Over the past year at Ileret there has been great progress with the building of the permanent facility. Three buildings are now completed and are being used, the power supply is in place and the current building is being focused on the large building for the laboratories as well as on the student dining area [...]
Last year much of a pig skeleton was recovered from a rugged and rocky hillside covered in a tumbling dark and broken slabs of sandstone including many foot bones. We revisited this site and during long rains earlier this year, more of the pig skeleton had eroded from the slope. We were able to collect [...]
The Koobi Fora Research Project is back in the field again this year.Its been busy and exciting so far so finally a few posts from the field season.With one good fossil coming out of the ground already it prompted a visit by Richard Leakey who came and watched the proceedings for a morning.We are [...]
As part of the 3D Printing for Science and Sustainable Development workshop, Louise Leakey was invited to speak about the African Fossils project in the context of 3D Printing for use in education. A small gathering of some 65 people from many different countries met at the The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, [...]
Another update from Ileret with images and text by Fraser Smith. This is the progress report on the water pipeline and the generator house that is being built near the borehole. We had decided it best to fill the ditch once we had pumped water through the pipe and checked for leaks. In [...]
Due to the remoteness of Ileret and the expense of transporting building materials is very costly. Therefore new techniques are to be employed in the buildings on this side of the lake to try to reduce costs. One approach is to use concrete waffles that are made from a mould for the roofing of the [...]
I have a few recent images of the large laboratory that is under construction at Turkwel. The basement which will be used as storage area, is now complete and the large slab has mostly been laid. The wall on the ground floor will be the constructed next. I have a few recent images of the [...]
The welding the 7m lengths of pipe into 351m rolls was completed last week. Now the laying of the pipes along the 8 km trench has begun. The rolls of pipe were transported to the trench and were be fed down the pipeline. The final welding together of the 351m pipe lengths is then done [...]
The TBI Ileret borehole is located some 8 kilometers from the camp. The water needs to be piped to the field center so that construction work can begin at the beginning of next year. This is a brief report of the work in progress from the Ileret water pipeline. The TBI Ileret borehole is located [...]
The laboratory at Turkwel now has some walls in place. Kyalo has just sent these images to me from the site. With a lot more construction to do on this building there will be several posts to follow. The laboratory at Turkwel now has some walls in place. Kyalo has just sent these images to [...]
Construction continues at Turkwel on the large laboratory. The basement slab has been laid and walls are going up. The foundations for the main part of the laboratory are being dug as the images sent this morning from the TBI Turkwel campus show. Construction continues at Turkwel on the large laboratory. The basement slab has [...]
The construction at TBI Turkwel continues and foundations are going in for the second large laboratory. The construction at TBI Turkwel continues and foundations are going in for the second large laboratory. The foundations of the second large laboratory currently under construction at TBI Turkwel. Work began on this at the beginning of August 2010, [...]
The excavation crew have completed the first excavation after four weeks of work. They have now moved to a new site where fossil hunter Robert Moru found a hominid femur last year. From the excavation site in Area 129. Unfortunately after four weeks of excavation no additional hominid fragmends were found from this excavation. The [...]
Final week of first excavation in progress for the Koobi Fora Research Project. The field crew at the first excavation Here are some images taken by Lawrence Nzuve who is at the site of the excavation, showing the progress as they work their way up the slope. Remember they are digging with delicate picks and [...]
While some of the crew have been wet sieving the sediments recovered from the last field season, others have been doing specimen preparation. There are numerous large specimens, most of them in plaster that were recovered from the field over that past few years. Christopher Kiarie, an expert preparator from the National Museums of Kenya [...]