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Sediment is removed from the excavation site and sifted through
screens so that any small pieces of fossilized bone might be
found.
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DISPATCH 03:
Picking Up Where We Left Off
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KOOBI FORA, Kenya
Meanwhile Meave has been driving to camp via Loyengelani where
they spent a few days while Patrick Gathogo, an exceptional
geologist working with the Koobi Fora Research Project, measured
some geological sections for his research papers. On their last
day north
big rains hit the region making passage across the
usually dry sand rivers impossible. They had a muddy days
driving and trying to follow roads that Meave made and used in
the 1970’s and have since grown over with thick bush.
The team now complete with Meave's arrival the excavation was
reopened.
At Ileret the exaction was uncovered. In 2002 the site was
covered with a layer of polyethene and sand with
rocks placed on
top of this to prevent erosion. The local people from the nearby
village though up a better use for the plastic sheeting and so in
our absence unburied it to use on their shelters during the
rainy season.
The site was cleaned up and
reopened and all the surface
sediment put through the screens. The area of enlargement is
measured out with string and will extend 2 meters in every
direction initially. Patrick has been taking a look at the
microstratigraphy of the site to give us an indication of the
direction and energy levels of the stream at the time of
deposition. The sediment is screened twice, once at the site and
then it is transported back to Koobi Fora where other members of
the team wash it and screen it a second time, to make sure that
nothing it missed. It is certainly time consuming. Let us hope
that the face does turn up somewhere and that it was not washed
away before it was fossilized. Anything is possible!
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