“It was the color, the texture, the shape that stood out in the landscape and when I examined it for a closer look someone in the distance started shouting: Hominid! Hominid!” ~ Anjali Biju, Graphic Design MFA student at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and EcoDepot intern. [...]
Amongst the huge sedimentary rocks that stand tall in Turkana Basin’s landscape, the Harvard Summer Program students spent their time at Lothagam, a site with a lot to offer for archaeological and paleontological studies, as well as geological studies, which is what the students were here for. The sedimentary rocks span across the landscape, [...]
The Harvard Summer Program of 2025 was in full swing as students were learning about the different components of the East African Rift System. A very important part of this system is Lake Turkana itself. A day was spent next to the lake and even in the river, amongst Doum Palm trees that decorate [...]
When Katie Swartvagher graduated early this in May 2025, with a BA in Anthropology from Stony Brook University, she carried more than a degree. She carried the imprint of a landscape thousands of miles away, Turkana, Kenya and a field school experience that transformed her understanding of science, community, and herself. [...]
Welcome to the Buluk Blog of the TBI Origins Field School: Spring 2025. I’m your author, Katie, a senior at Stony Brook University majoring in Anthropology. In this blog, I am going to take you through our field trip to Buluk, a fossil locality approximately 4 hours east of the TBI [...]
The Spring 2025 Origins Field School launched earlier this year with students from Stony Brook, University College London, the University of Helsinki and Kenya heading into the field with Professor Dino J. Martins to explore the world around them and uncover the connections between People and Nature. How and why do [...]
In the Turkana Basin, where fossils tell stories of evolution, a different kind of exploration is taking place. Scientists at the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI) have spent decades uncovering secrets of human evolution from sediments, a new group of explorers is looking in the opposite direction, toward the stars. This year, [...]
Something exciting is happening at the Turkana Basin Institute (TBI), 16 students from Stonybrook University under the Simons STEM Scholars Program are experiencing hands on research and learning scientific discoveries beyond class walls. Supported by faculty members from Stony Brook University and TBI, Dr Dino Martins- Turkana Basin Institute Director, Medina [...]