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DISPATCH 02: Tortoises and
Crocodiles
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The first week was full steam ahead with the recovery of two
pieces of hominid cranium from different individuals. They
were not particularly impressive pieces but the team clearly
have their eye in already and are finding many lovely
specimens.
A fossil tortoise
needed careful excavation,
as it was beginning to fall apart and
erode during the last rains. All
the loose pieces from the surface were picked up and wrapped
carefully in tissue paper. Bedacryl, a hardening compound,
was then liberally applied to the sand in the middle and to
the exposed bone so that it set very hard before it was
excavated
and made ready for plastering. The new members of
the team then set to work to plaster the specimen and learn
this technique.
Another impressive specimen that was found this week was
that of an enormous crocodile skull encased in solid
sandstone. This crocodile,
Rimasuchus lloydi
, was one of four species that lived in the rivers and lakes
of the Turkana Basin two million years ago. With this
specimen are many limb bones and vertebra and if it were
excavated might turn out to be more of the skeleton of this
giant. We also collected specimens of two other crocodile
species this week—
cataphractus
and
euthecodon. The
crocodiles have not always been collected in the past due to
lack of storage and difficulty of transportation of large
specimens back to the Nairobi Museum. However,
they are an interesting component of the fauna and we are
hoping to increase the numbers in the collections. Once the
bigger specimens are out of the ground and wearing their
plaster jackets they are safe from further damage by wind,
rain or livestock hooves.
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