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 [...]
We’re in our last week of the Geology course. Students have been busy sharpening their mapping skills while working on various exercises. On Monday morning, students went out to the exhumed channels in Area 6A, where they examined and mapped sandstones that represent an ancient river channel. According to Dr. Raynolds, organizing geological information is [...]
Turkana Basin geology has been well studied and documented. Understanding the sedimentation processes and geochronology of the region is crucial in reconstructing paleoenvironments and putting data in context. Dr. Craig Feibel and Dr. Bob Raynolds, instructors for the Geology module, introduced students to the stratigraphy of the Ileret region, including the rich Pliocene and Pleistocene [...]
Our last week at Mpala was an eventful one. Students learned about the various effects of human-wildlife interaction, pastoralism, and the effects of climate change on the ecosystem. On Monday, Sandy Oduor, a researcher working with Mpala Elephant Project, accompanied students into the field to study the elephants. The immense droughts in recent years, [...]
The impact of climate change has been detrimental to the world's biodiversity. Many animals are endangered or facing extinction. In the East Africa Savannah, poaching, drought, and habitat loss are all factors affecting wildlife. Increased human populations have also led to habitat loss, livestock-wildlife competition, and as such, Grevy's zebra are now an endangered species. [...]
The first week of the semester kicked off with the ecology module at Mpala Research Center (MRC). The biomes at the center are diverse and provide the students with a good “living laboratory” to understand the ecosystem of the region. MRC boasts great wildlife such as elephants and hippos, the endangered Grevy’s zebra, common [...]
Happy new year! I hope you all had peaceful holidays. The Spring 2020 field school is off to a great start. The students arrived on the 15th of January and we spent the first three nights at the amazing Wildebeest Eco camp. The ambience is always so peaceful and the best part, a pool to [...]
Students have been busy in their last week of the Archaeology module that marked the end of the fall semester. They have learned a lot in class about making stone tools, and with the phonolite and rhyolite they collected while camping at Nariokotome, it was time to practice making tools. The exercise was not a [...]
Our field school weekends are often filled with fun activities. Students have had the opportunity to explore different places in Turkana county such as Eliye Springs, where they were able to swim in the lake and enjoy the cool breeze at the beach. The cool beach at Eliye. Photo credit: Wambui Mbogo. [...]
Hominin's earliest technologies and development are represented in the archaeological record through assemblages of artifacts and other material remains. The oldest of the East African stone tool industries lies in the Early Stone Age which includes the Lomekwian, Oldowan and Acheulean. These industries are classified in relation to style in production and use. Our first [...]
We are in our last module of the field school, Archaeology of Turkana Basin, which is taught by Dr. Sonia Harmand, an expert in Early Stone Age archaeology and evolution of stone tool making. The Turkana Basin is rich in archaeological deposits with many of the discoveries of stone tools made on the East and [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The calm weather at the start of the week was perfect for our well-planned trip to Buluk. We set off early enough to get to the camping site in time, set tents and prepare for a mini-field trip in the afternoon. At the valley of bones. Up the hill, we go! [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]