On Monday the Field School kicked-off with an introductory lecture on ecology and evolution given by Dr. Dino Martins. For the next two weeks the students will be learning about the flora, fauna and ecology of the Turkana Basin region, from the life cycles of different insect species and the diseases they can transmit, to [...]
The Spring 2014 Turkana Basin Institute Field School has begun! TBI Spring 2014 Field School Students! We started our journey of discovery at Lake Elementeita in the Great Rift Valley where we took an evening walk along the lakeshore. We got to see how incredibly high the lakes are - as lots of [...]
One of the major focuses of the Archaeology module in the Turkana Basin is the use of stone tools in pre-historical times. Oldowan and Acheulean stone tool technologies were collectively prevalent for millions of years; Now it was time for our modern day students to try their hand at reliving their ancient ancestors´ ways of [...]
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 [...]
Last Sunday the students returned to the school for the fourth and final phase of the mural painting. It was time to finish the colourful freeze and add the finishing touches to the main part of the mural - some clouds, butterflies, mountains and hand-prints to add extra colour. A grey wall was transformed into [...]
On Thursday the students set off for a 3-day camping trip to Nariokotome with Dr. Lisa Hildebrand and Dr. Sonia Harmand. En route, we stopped off at two archaeological sites. The first was the Kalokol pillar site where Dr. Lisa Hildebrand has previously excavated as part of her research on the early spread of pastoralism [...]
Last week the student went out to survey a local gravel collection site for a taster session on how to use a Total Station as part of Archaeological Surveying. They were joined by Dr. Chad Hill who specializes in Middle Eastern Archaeology and Aerial Survey. Earlier in the day he had given a lecture on [...]
On the first day of the new module, Archaeology, taught by Dr. Sonia Harmand and Dr. Lisa Hildebrand, the students went down to the Turkwel River to experience first hand how stone tools can be used, and are still used today by the Turkana people to peel Doum Palm Nuts. Students collecting nuts from [...]