Since their arrival at TBI-Ileret, students have continued to expand their understanding of ecological research methods. Here, they have also been introduced to new TAs, the Dassenatch people, and more heat than they were accustomed to at Mpala. They all are adjusting really well to this new environment which is great since this will be [...]
The field school students have had a very busy week at the Mpala Research Center. The center is a hub for scientific research on East African Ecology and stretches over 48,000 acres of land. In this one area we were able to see examples of savanna, woodland, bushland, riverine and rocky escarpment habitats, all full [...]
Welcome to the Origins Field School blog Spring 2018! My name is Deming Yang, Resident Academic Director for the field school. I will be accompanying the students, TA’s and instructors throughout all of the field school modules. As part of the Field School support team, I will do my best to make sure that our [...]
The discovery in Kenya of a remarkably complete fossil ape skull reveals what the common ancestor of all living apes and humans may have looked like. The find, announced in the scientific journal Nature on August 10th, belongs to an infant that lived about 13 million years ago. The research was done by an [...]
Ancient DNA recovered from fossils is a valuable tool to study evolution and anthropology. Yet fossil DNA has not been found yet in any part of Africa, where it’s destroyed by extreme heat and humidity. In a potential first step at overcoming this hurdle, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and [...]
The discovery in Kenya of a remarkably complete fossil ape skull reveals what the common ancestor of all living apes and humans may have looked like. The find, announced in the scientific journal Nature on August 10th, belongs to an infant that lived about 13 million years ago. The research was done by an international [...]
Aerial image of TBI's Ileret facility. Image credit: Tanya Carr-Hartley.
The students, staff, and Tom! During the final few days of the TBI Origins Summer Field School, Dr. Sonia Harmand joined our students for an intensive introduction to Earlier Stone Age archaeology in the Turkana Basin. Dr. Harmand and SBU post-doctoral researcher Dr. Nicholas Taylor led everyone in a practical lesson on stone [...]
Students have been working on their research projects at the TBI Turkwel campus under supervision of Dr. Jason Lewis. One group of students has been drilling modern and fossil teeth to obtain samples that will be analyzed to examine stable carbon and oxygen isotope ratios. These data help to reconstruct what kind of plants the [...]
Ryan and Morgan at the Napudet Hills (photo credit: Dorien de Vries). Dr. Craig Feibel talks about the geological setting of the Miocene deposits in the Napudet Hills (photo credit: Dorien de Vries). Last Sunday, the students joined another group of visitors (part of the Academic Safari program hosted by TBI) [...]
As a reward for their hard work in the field, the group spent last Sunday in the nearby town of Lodwar. Lodwar is the closest population center, and it is growing in size every day. The students enjoyed milkshakes at the Diner and some shopping for traditional trinkets like handmade baskets, kikois, and beaded jewelry. [...]
(Left to right) Dr. Sawchuk, TA Evelyn, Karolina, Adrianne, and Cecilia working hard on the bioarchaeology unit We’ve returned from the field! Yesterday afternoon we returned to the TBI Turkwel Campus after the 9-day excavation for the Archaeology module. Everyone enjoyed their wonderful TBI shower, dinner, and beds after roughing it in the [...]
In their final week, the students visit a new area near Sericho, a small fishing town a mile away from the Ethiopian border. Here the group is introduced to new people and a new lifestyle. Very few people in Ileret town use fishing as a means of finding food sources. In fact, it is a [...]
This week the Global Innovation team discussed their ideas for long-term projects. The five short term projects had covered major aspects of the community’s ability to develop sustainably and thus are important topics the group will keep in mind on as they move forward. Among them are access to electricity, water management, building infrastructure, [...]
One of the great prospects that Kenya has is its abundance of open flat land and solar power. Because of this, photovoltaic, or solar panel systems are a very favorable form of obtaining energy for the communities that need it. Professor Rodrigo has created a full day lecture around photovoltaic, or PV, systems to enlighten [...]
(Counterclockwise from bottom left) Petra, Sheng, Karolina, Nathan, Kelly, Ian, and TA Evelyn watch as Dr. Lisa Hildebrand discusses how to recognize stone tools. This week our students have started their second module ‘Archeological Methods’, taught by Dr. Lisa Hildebrand. The first three days were spent bringing the students up to speed on [...]
Classroom Relocation Project Building a classroom is no small task, but the Global Innovation team is up to it! Last week, after consulting with Mwang’ombe, the team was generously offered many materials from the TBI campus to conduct their project. Metal and plywood was provided from the TBI Ileret facility and TBI staff offered to [...]
On Tuesday May 30th, a vast storm hit the Ileret area and brought an immense amount of rain. Within a short period of 9 hours, TBI Ileret facility documented a record-high rainfall of more than 200 mm (8 inches). This amount is much more than a typical rainstorm at Ileret (~20 mm), and more than [...]
It can get pretty hot here in Turkana, so this weekend the students made two separate trips to the massive East African rift lake to cool off and take a well-deserved break from their first module. On Friday and after a week full of lectures, lab activities, and assignments, the whole group loaded up in [...]