In our final week of Geology, Dr. Gathogo took the students out in the field to explore the Miocene and Pliocene sediments in the Turkana Basin. This provided an opportunity for the students to apply their sedimentology skills. An early morning excursion to Lothagam on Tuesday had students practice their geological skills, which [...]
The students spent their weekend at Mpala Research Centre taking part in a unique community science research project. The Grevy’s zebra is a distinctive and endangered species of zebra found in Kenya, but its exact population size is unknown. As a threatened species, knowing how many Grevy’s zebra remain, and their distribution and movements [...]
The first week of the semester kicked off with the ecology module at Mpala Research Centre (MRC) led by Dr Dino Martins, who is one of the world’s leading experts in East African ecology. The plants and animals found across the MRC are highly diverse and give students the opportunity to understand how topography, [...]
Happy new year! I hope you all had peaceful holidays. The spring 2024 TBI field school is off to a great start. The students arrived in Nairobi on the 18th of January and we spent the first two nights at the amazing Wildebeest Eco camp in Nairobi. There the students had a chance to [...]
Jambo! Welcome to the TBI Origins Field School blog for Fall 2022! My name is Medina Lubisia, the Resident Academic Director for the Fall Field School. I will be accompanying students throughout the field school as they undertake five modules that will be credited for their Fall semester. The students arrived safely in Nairobi and [...]
In the final week of the TBI Spring Field School semester, Dr. Lisa Hildebrand took the students through the cultural developments of early herders in the Turkana Basin during the Mid-Holocene period. As of today, pastoralism remains the key economic activity in the region as a response to the harsh ecological conditions, and in addition, [...]
Archaeology often involves extensive surveys before embarking on actual surface collections and/or excavations. Origins Field School students recently took a virtual tour of the Lothagam-Lokam locality on the west side of Lake Turkana, where they explored the research history of the site from 1960s to present. The Lothagam locality is known for its impressive geological [...]
This week, Dr. Lisa Hildebrand introduced students to Holocene cultural practices across Africa and in the Turkana Basin. This is Dr. Hildebrand's primary area of research, and she shared her perspectives on ancient human activities in the region and the climatic changes that influenced them. The Holocene time period spans from about 11,700 years ago [...]
As we delve deeper into major innovations of earliest technologies in the archaeological record, TBI Origin Field School students have learnt to appreciate the importance of meticulously recording and analyzing data. The archaeological record involving stone tool technology is characterized by changes in production and form of artefacts, and through detailed studies we can understand [...]
The last course of the field school is underway, Archaeology of the Turkana Basin. Prof. Elisabeth Hildebrand from Stony Brook University joins us as the lead instructor of this course. She has been doing research on the west side of Lake Turkana for years, with a focus on Late Pleistocene and Holocene Archaeology. Prof. [...]
As we approach the end of the Human Evolution course, students have been learning about the evolution of our own genus Homo. They have come to find out that climatic changes that happened about 3-2.5 mya seem to coincide with the evolutionary changes of our ancestors. We learn that the environmental shift from wooded areas [...]
The quest to understand our origins has been a topic that has kept many paleoanthropologists engaged in reconstructing the evolutionary tree in the past few years. Fossil specimens from different sites in the world have been the primary source of data, most of which are from the Late Miocene period (11.6-5.3mya), and the Plio-pleistocene period [...]
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, students and instructors returned back to their home countries around mid-March. Since then, the Origins Field School has been utilizing virtual classes for its remaining two courses. Underway is the Human Evolution course, taught by Dr. Carrie Mongle. She is a postdoctoral research fellow at the American Museum of Natural [...]
On Monday, students were introduced to the basics of anthropometrics, which are fundamental to understanding human physical variations in populations. Students have come to find out the importance of measuring weight, height, and body fat percentages in assessing diets and life-histories. As emphasized by our instructor, Zane, local adaptations influence much of the body form [...]
Water is a vital but scarce resource for pastoral communities in the Turkana Basin. The situation has been worsened by climate change, which often results in prolonged periods of drought or floods. Water sources determine the movement pattern and settling sphere of people and their livestock. During dry seasons, the Daassanach move around in search [...]
Over time, anthropologists have been exploring the complexities of different societies through human and cultural interactivity, mainly by living, and practicing the community's way of life to acquire first-hand information from an "insiders" perspective. This week, the students have been introduced to the Dassanach culture, where they have been observing, conducting discussions, and interacting with [...]
A trip to Buluk on Monday morning marked the start of our last week studying Vertebrate Paleontology. The middle Miocene site of Buluk sits on basaltic sediments dated to about 16mya. The faunal interchange during the early Miocene, as a result of a terrestrial connection between Eurasia and Africa, was the main factor that brought [...]
Our main focus this week has been trying to understand mammalian bone structure and functions. Students learned about mammalian evolution and adaptation to different ecological habitats. Bones tell us about the diets, locomotion style, and types of environment animals occupied. For instance, zebras have high crowned teeth (hypsodont), designed to better handle the tough foods [...]
As we start our new course, Vertebrate Paleontology, taught by Prof. Ellen Miller of Wake Forest University, students are ready to put in practice all the amassed knowledge and skills from the last two courses (Ecology and Geology) in reconstructing paleoenvironments, and describing geological contexts in which fossils are found. The week started with [...]
On Wednesday morning, we packed and left for Koobi Fora for an overnight camping trip. Koobi Fora sits on the eastern shores of Lake Turkana, in Sibiloi National Park. The sediments in the region preserve numerous mammalian fossils, making it an important region for paleoanthropological research. Our first stop was at Il Allia river/Laga Bura [...]