Yesterday, students participated in an illustration competition. After learning about the Acheulean stone tool industry in lecture, Dr. Harmand showed the students several Acheulean artifacts from the TBI collections, including handaxes, cleavers, and cores. Students were then tasked to accurately illustrate one of the artifacts. Artists at work. Students worked extra diligently when [...]
The Field School is in its final two weeks, and that means we are in the final module, Archaeology, taught by Dr. Sonia Harmand. So far, students have learned about the Oldowan and Acheulean stone tool industries, with lots more coming in the next week and a half. A box of various geofacts and [...]
Yesterday, the Field School students got to take part in an excavation, giving them the opportunity to hone recently acquired skills and learn new ones. A fossil elephant skeleton had been eroding out of deposits near South Turkwel, only 30 minutes from the TBI compound. Previous Field Schools have worked at extracting the bones, but [...]
Hi, we’re Katie and Letty and we’re students from UCL. On Thursday, we went on a trip to South Turkwel and some deposits nearer the TBI compound to learn about surveying and excavation techniques used in Paleoanthropology. Currently we are taking a course on Human Evolution led by Dr. Jason Lewis. In the morning, we [...]
Hi, I’m Melina, a sophomore from Stony Brook University. I’m interested mainly in archaeology and came to TBI for the amazing experience. Two Sundays ago we went to Eliye Springs for a well-deserved break. We started out after lunch for an afternoon of swimming at Lake Turkana. Tom, our resident pet, looked so sad as [...]
Yesterday marked the beginning of the third Field School module, Vertebrate Paleontology, taught by Dr. Doug Boyer of Duke University. Students have already learned about the geologic time scale, biostratigraphy, and the history of evolutionary thought in lecture, and today they got some first-hand experience working with fossil material from a wide variety of taxa. [...]
Hi, we’re Eloise and Stacey, third year Archaeology and Anthropology students from University College London. We are interested in hominin evolution and behaviour, as well as past environments. Just three days into the geology module, it was time for a two day camping trip to Lothagam, an ancient lake and river bed system to the [...]
This Sunday, Field School students took advantage of the day off with a trip to Central Island, an island in (you guessed it) the center of Lake Turkana. Both Dr. Martins and Dr. Lepre were on hand to offer ecological and geological expertise. The day started off bright and early with a walk across the [...]
We have just finished the first week of the Field School's geology module, taught by Dr. Chris Lepre of Rutgers University. Studying geology means lots of time spent out in the field and the students began with a lab exercise examining local stratigraphy (rock layers). TBI-Turkwel sits on the Nachukui Formation, famous for its rich [...]
The TBI Fall 2014 Field School students visited a livestock boma (enclosure) this past week to learn more about goats, grazing and the ecology of livestock in this arid environment. Goats are the main form of livestock kept in this part of the world and an important part of the local economy and culture. [...]
During the Field School, students have class Monday through Saturday, with Sundays off for rest and relaxation. Often, Dr. Martins will organize Sunday activities for those students who crave a little more excitement on their day off. Last Sunday morning, all fifteen Field School students, plus several members of the TBI staff, headed to nearby [...]
The TBI Field School students visited the Kerio Delta a few days ago to get a first glimpse of the complex freshwater ecology and dynamics that affect the deltas of Lake Turkana. We were hosted by a group of local fishermen whose boats we used to travel into the mouth of the Kerio Delta. [...]
Hello from TBI-Turkwel! Monday marked the start of classes in the first module of the Fall 2014 TBI Field School, Ecology of the Turkana Basin, taught by Dr. Dino Martins. So far, students have learned about African savanna biodiversity, coevolution, mimicry, Rift Valley biogeography, vector biology, plant/pollinator interactions, evolutionary stable strategies, and lots more. Many [...]
The Turkana Basin Institute's Origins Field School started off this week with the students exploring the African Savannah and meeting some of the amazing creatures that call this ecosystem home. We were very lucky to spend three days at Mpala Ranch in Laikipia where we had some incredible sightings of wildlife, while learning about the [...]
The Turkana Basin Institute's Fall 2014 Origins Field School has begun. Students arrived in Kenya on the 4th and travelled up to Mpala Ranch yesterday. It was a wet, rainy day - but we did get to see some amazing wildlife on the way to the campsite, including giraffe and elephant. A Reticulated Giraffe [...]
The last event, and almost certainly the one everyone was looking forward to was the Rhythmic Dancing and Singing. This event was different from all the others because the athletes would not only be judged on their skill, but, more importantly, their creativity. And of course, for this, we had three experienced judges - Dr. [...]
During the Human Evolution module the students also got the chance to go on a number of field trips. The first was to the sites of Kalodirr and Losodok where Dr. Skinner set them the challenge of finding a Miocene Ape. The students begin their search of the outcrops. Kalodirr is dated to [...]
Last week marked the beginning of the last module of the Spring 2014 Field School - Human Evolution, taught by Dr. Matt Skinner from University College London. The module kicked off with a journey through the history of palaeoanthropology from the first fossils discovered to important scientific breakthroughs that enabled early scientists to start piecing [...]
On Thursday, after having collected all the raw materials during the Nariokotome trip, it was time for our young hominins to test their knapping skills and prove their worth to the Oldowan community. But before we started, the students made a short trip just outside the compound to collect some quartz pebbles to use as [...]
Day 1 On Thursday, the students set off an a camping adventure to Nariokotome. The truck and the pick-up were packed with bed-rolls, tents, cooking equipment,wash-tubs, and enough food to feed a small army of archaeology students for the next three days. The students also made their own preparations, taking notebooks, academic articles and a [...]