Olorgesailie has been a research site since 1942, when the great pioneers of East African archeology Louis and Mary Leakey first excavated and described handaxes and fossilized bones from here. Before that, J.W. Gregory, a famed geologist,…
Deforestation is a huge problem in Africa. Firewood, a prime commodity, is used mainly to make charcoal, the primary fuel used for cooking. In an effort to curb deforestation in Kenya, it is illegal to cut down trees. Only trees which are already…
Today is Sunday, usually a day of relaxation and catching up with writing or other tasks. Alison and Katie, though, decided to seize an opportunity to go on an excursion with Dr. Stanley Ambrose. Stan is an archeologist and geochemist at the…
It feels great to be out of the noisy, diesel-filled traffic of Nairobi, back to the serene quiet of Olorgesailie. The nice thing about the quiet is that it’s easy to hear the sounds of the wild. Hyenas called last night as they prowled close to…
I spent almost the entire day in Nairobi. During this trip to the city, I met with Dr. I. O. Farah, who is the Director of the National Museums of Kenya. Our projects depend on collaboration with the NMK. The Kenya Museums have been a wonderful…
This morning Alison and I traveled to Nairobi for meetings with our colleagues, while Jenny and Katie held down the fort at Kampi Safi.
In the Rift Valley, silence is the norm. However, there are a few sounds which, surprising at first, become…
Today started like any other, breakfast at 6:45am sharp. This morning we started with slice of papaya, then a mixture of oatmeal and quinoa, a grain high in protein, followed by chai (milky tea) or coffee, and toast. From sunrise, it looked like it…
Late yesterday afternoon, Kathryn Ranhorn made her way to our camp. Katie is an American student who’s been doing interesting work in Tanzania for the past year, and will be starting her life as a graduate student at George Washington University, in…
Each season, the first day of work involves survey and setting up our excavations. Today was no exception. I gathered the entire crew of excavators, 27 Kenyan colleagues who are expert in the meticulous activity of digging with metal awls and…
Before: The barren land site for our field camp.
(Jennifer Clark, NMNH)
Today started in Nairobi, noisy and busy, as capital cities are. It ended in our Olorgesailie research camp, in the…