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DISPATCH 08: Collection, car
problems and road maintenance
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The team have
moved into a new area of fossiliferous sediments this week.
However this involved putting in a new track over
some fairly rough terrain to get there. By driving over it
few times each day to and from the site it becomes
increasingly passable. It does still take almost an hour to
get out to work each morning so the team stay out and cook
up some lunch under a shady tree. This is often followed by
a good snooze before they head back out
to find more fossils in the afternoon again.
We have had more car problems again this week and have now
had to retire all the Land Rovers until we can get a
reliable mechanic and electrician to come up and deal with
the problems. One of them had an electrical fault on its way
back from a trip to the lake, and the wires in the engine
caught fire. We are fortunate to still have three vehicles
running to get us through to the end of the season although
it is becoming an increasing squeeze getting all 23 people
to and from work each day. We also still need to use one of
the vehicles to collect washing water from the lake in the
afternoons.
Robert's hominid sieve is going well with the recovery of
some small pieces of tooth enamel although it would be
helpful to find some more pieces. All the sediment that has
been through the screens on the site is then carried 2km
back to the vehicle and will be washed and screened a second
time back at Koobi Fora next month. This might turn up some
additional pieces if we are lucky.
Some more beautiful specimens preserved in the sand stones
have been found this week although we are now higher up in
the stratigraphic section and are working deposits that are
younger in age. A skull of a large otter
was found although it has had its teeth broken off. A number
of well preserved crocodile skulls all in close proximity
have been found, some of them are well worth excavating,
plastering and collecting in the coming weeks. Several well
preserved turtle and tortoises need to be collected too.
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