The first week of the semester kicked off with the ecology module at Mpala Research Center (MRC). The biomes at the center are diverse and provide the students with a good “living laboratory” to understand the ecosystem of the region. MRC boasts great wildlife such as elephants and hippos, the endangered Grevy’s zebra, common [...]
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 [...]