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DISPATCH 05: Environmental
Concerns
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Flying over the northern part of the park, heading to join
the team in Ileret, we see huge numbers of livestock grazing
in the National Park and flew over six
manyattas
(thornbush pens protecting livestock), each with
ten or so dwellings. The livestock does considerable damage
to fossils on the ground as they trample and kick bones on
the surface with thousands of little hooves. This area was
set up as National Park and World Heritage Site to safeguard undoubtedly the world's most important fossil deposits.
A serious commitment is needed on the part of the National
Museums, UNESCO and the Kenya Wildlife Service to protect
these areas if they are to last.
We went out to the fossil sites near Ileret and observed
that the condition of bone on the surface is extremely poor
as a result of damage by increased livestock numbers.
Because these sites are not within the protected area, it is
important to recover the fossils and site information fast.
Thus, the team will spend the next four weeks here working
the exposures. A very badly broken
mandible
of a robust
australopithecine was found by Kenga on a hill, which
shortly after its collection was covered with a large number
of
goats. It is no wonder that it was in such poor
condition.
Marking fossils with a pile of stones placed nearby is not a
good idea so near to human habitation, as inquisitive kids
quickly join our collecting efforts. So the fossils that are
found are plotted with a GPS and marked with a more discrete
line of stones on the ground.
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