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DISPATCH 05: Crocodile excavation
and lorry heads to Nairobi
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As soon as the
field camp was up and running and the field crew were busy
prospecting, the lorry was able to depart for Nairobi to
collect more fuel for the season as well as other heavy
equipment and food that we could not get onto the first
trip. Louise returned to Nairobi in the aircraft to
supervise this second loading and to collect Dr. Fred Spoor
who will be here for the rest of the season.
Meanwhile Robert and Steven with the volunteer students started the excavation of the large crocodile skull,
Rymasuchus lloydii. This specimen was found last year
about to tumble down a steep slope so it was important to
extract this fairly urgently.
It is a specimen in beautiful condition, skull with mandible
and some pieces of the skeleton too which had previously
fallen into the gully. The skull measures some 120 cm in
length and 60 cm wide, which if you know that a crocodile’s
body is seven times the length of its head made this one a
fairly good size.
They set about digging away the hillside behind the skull so
that they could get clear access from all sides and
dig around it. They used some heavy tools to clear the over
burden and then fine picks to excavate closer to the fossil
and eventually leaving it standing cleanly on a pedestal.
The specimen was ready for plastering plastering
which provides
protection to the specimen when it is lifted and
transported. It is going to take a few strong men and women
to carry this out now. There are two other crocodiles still
to be collected from near by but these are not as vulnerable
and so can be done another year.
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