Our first module came to an end, which unfortunately meant it was time to say goodbye to Dino and his adorable field assistant Barabara. Ecology has set the stage for the rest of the Origins Field School, especially our next adventure, geology. Geological processes that have formed our current ecology have not changed throughout time. Thus [...]
We are now in Ileret, which is on the east side of Lake Turkana. We will be here for 7 weeks of the field school! Map of Lake Turkana. Ileret is on the northeastern side of the lake. Student dorms at TBI Ileret. Photo credit Deming Yang. TA Laura pretending [...]
During our last few days at Mpala, the students were immersed in the unique wild life and vegetation of Laikipia. Professor Dino Martins, director of Mpala, brought the students into the field to teach them about different forms of between species interactions. One example of this type of interaction is mutualism; where each species receives [...]
Origins Field School students observe a pack of African wild dogs at Mpala Research Centre.
After a few days of getting settled into their routine at Mpala research center, the students were ready to begin their first module: Ecology. For an introduction into dry land plants, Kenyan Botanist, Kimani, took the students around the research compound to look at the local plant life. Kimani showing the students different types [...]
Students of the Turkana Basin Institute Origins Field School observe a Hippo pod at Mpala Research Centre in central Kenya. Part of the Ecology course of the program, students' experiences at Mpala provide a context for visualizing the ancient landscape of Lake Turakana several million years ago.
Welcome to the Turkana Basin Institute field school blog Spring 2017! As the Resident Academic Director for the field school, I will be accompanying the students, TA's and instructors throughout all of the field school modules. It is my goal to ensure that the students have an incredible learning experience that they will carry with [...]
This past semester has been one to remember. The students learned about the Ecology of the Turkana Basin, being able to identify all the common plant species in the region and understanding how animals foraging on these plants have affected the environment. They learned about the Geology of the Turkana Basin, where each and every [...]
After returning to TBI from an exciting camping trip, we spent the afternoon relaxing and knapping! We used the raw material we had collected in the field: though everyone put their initials on the material collected, some students decided to share what they had collected (our students were so thoughtful, but whatever happened to survival [...]
We left TBI Turkwel Monday morning for our camping trip, from which we would be returning on Wednesday afternoon. We would be camping for two nights near the village of Nariokotome; the famous hominin site of Nariokotome boy, KNM-WT 15000, is only a few minutes away! On our drive to Nariokotome, we would be making [...]
On Friday, we traveled to the Holocene site of Napaget, a massive and artefact-rich sand dune that overlooks the beautiful Lake Turkana. The site is about an hour away (as the lorry drives), and on the way we passed some truly impressive termite mounds, almost big enough for a person to live in (I wonder [...]
The next morning in class, we were introduced to archaeological vocabulary, necessary to accurately understand and describe stone artefacts. We learned how to describe the physical characteristics, such as: ventral (internal) and dorsal (external) sides of a flake; cortex, or the external skin of the original rock; and negatives (signs of a flake removal) and positives [...]
For the last module of the TBI Origins Field School, Archaeology of the Turkana Basin, we headed to the west side of the lake. On this side, the students will be living at the TBI Turkwel Research Facility which is set up very similar to Ileret. However, we are now not too far from world [...]
Because of the successful end of our last excursion in the field, we returned to the same site to try to find other remnants of this ancient primate. When we got back, we did a hill crawl to cover the area below the find, with the thought that over time the fossil skeleton may have [...]
In Human Evolution this week, we discussed how animals with different diets will have coinciding differences in their teeth morphology as well as in other cranial areas, such as the zygomatic and mandible. Similar dietary morphology patterns are observed in hominins as well, which can tell us a lot about both the environment they were living in [...]
During the TBI field school, it is important to take time off from studying and have a bit of leisure time. When the students are constantly working, may it be preparing for an exam or putting together a presentation, it is sometimes hard to stop and take a break. However, we always make sure the students [...]
Following our first two days of class in the lab, we spent the day in the field Wednesday visiting the site of an important hominin discovery. In an attempt to beat the heat, we boarded the lorry at 7 a.m. to get an early start, arriving in Area 10 by 7:45. Sale and Apolo lead [...]
The students have completed three modules thus far and are now at the beginnings of what many students came to TBI for: Human Evolution. Being home to one of the most extensive collection of fossil hominins, Turkana Basin is the ideal place to learn about human prehistory. Specimens like Paranthropus boisei, Homo rudolfensis, Homo habilis, [...]
We ended the week in the fossil lab, where two of TBI's experienced fossil hunters and preparators, Sale and Apolo, lead us through Plio-Pleistocene fossil archives.
The second week of Paleontology was primarily spent in the field: for four of the six class days this week, we spent the entire day in the field, using what we learned in the previous week to find and identify fossils. Though a majority of the time was spent prospecting, we also learned the methods [...]