For the second week of the archaeology module the students set off every morning to do some fieldwork at Ayangiyeng.
On the first day the students did a surface survey of the area in transects and practised using the Total Station. During the survey they came across many stone tools, especially microliths, as well as some pottery sherds. Both Dr. Lisa Hildebrand and Dr. Sonia Harmand confirmed that they belonged to the Later Stone Age.
The students get their first briefing
Students survey the area
Deirick, Vaishnavi and Zach flag the archaeological material to assess the concentration areas
Meanwhile Dr. Lisa Hildebrand teaches the students how to set TBM’s (Temporary Bench Marks)
On the second day once the students had flagged and determined the area with highest concentration, they worked on taking the geographic coordinates of the perimeter every 5 metres using the GPS Trimble and the Total Station. This enabled them to locate the site accurately within the Turkana region.
After taking all the points, a small group of students set off to outline the East-West axis of the site from which the students would mark out their excavation units the next day.
On the third and last day of the fieldwork, the students divided into 4 groups to set out four one metre square excavation units. It was time for them to refresh their memory of basic trigonometry and make some right triangles. After some trial and error the students successfully outlined their squares and proceeded to record the finds within them.
Zach, Lorraine, Kathleen and Deirick team up and start outlining their square
Students laying out their excavation units
Patrick, Chelsea, Lucy, Kristle and Luisa lay out their square
Dr. Sonia Harmand helps the students recording their excavation units
Vaishnavi, MacKenzie, Evelyn, John, Amna and Kat struggle to make shade onto their unit for a photograph
At the end of the third morning the students had completed all their work which brought them to the end of their last field school trip.
Zach and Kat in matching archaeology attire after a good day of work
