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 [...]
The Geology module started on Monday with a quick introductory lesson on safety to prepare students for the field excursions. Our instructor, Dr. Greg Henkes, introduced the students to the geology of Ileret, a locality in the East of the Lake Turkana Basin, characterized by Plio-Pleistocene deposits. A mini-expedition in the afternoon to the Koobi [...]
Welcome back! Our last week at Mpala was exciting and educational. The lessons on ecology and epidemiology with a focus on the mosquito vector were the peak of our discussion. Environmental and human factors influence the breeding spaces for mosquito larvae. In quest to understand this, the students hiked Mlima Fisi with Dr. Dino Martins [...]
Greetings everyone! Welcome to the Fall 2019 Origins Field School. I am Winfred Mbogo, the resident academic director for this program and together with Medina Lubisia, the TA, we will be leading the students through this exhilarating journey. All students met last week in Nairobi and spent a couple of nights at the Wildebeest Eco [...]
The students started off the Archaeology module with Dr. Elisabeth Hildebrand in Lodwar; the biggest town in the northwestern part of Kenya. Accompanied by Justus Erus Edung, who works with the National Museums of Kenya and has extensive knowledge about Lodwar, the students were escorted to three cultural and historical sites within Lodwar. Justus explained [...]
On our last week of the Human Evolution module Professor Tracy Kivell led the students out to Area 13 where they would be tracking down two hippo humeri to plaster and they would see the site where hominin fossils were found in 2015! The students also go to partake in a hill crawl; which consists [...]
During the past week the field school has been tracing back the origins of our own species with the Human Evolution module led by Dr. Tracy Kivell! Our days have been divided into morning lectures and afternoon lab sessions and so far we’ve covered skeletal anatomy, origins of bipedalism, and the very intricate story of [...]
The students started off the week being introduced to their newest professor, Dr. Mikael Fortelius, a professor at the University of Helsinki, who will be teaching the Vertebrate Paleontology module. Dr. Mikael Fortelius! (Photo: Petra Peretin) They were introduced to the research labs at Illeret and had the opportunity to look at the [...]
At the start of the week the students spent the morning in their three groups heading back out to the MFB (Main Fish Beds) with their geology professors to Areas 3, 6, and 6A. During the afternoon, Dr. Greg Henkes gave a lecture on carbon, oxygen and nitrogen isotopes, which can be used to both [...]
The Geology of the Turkana Basin course taught by Dr. Craig Feibel, Dr. Bob Reynolds and Dr. Greg Henkes started last Monday at TBI Ileret! The Origins Field School students explore Area 6A. Photo: Lucía Nadal We’ve been going out on many geological walks taking us back in time millions of years to [...]