This
morning, we decided to take advantage of the continuing lack of dust from
the rain of two days ago. The fossils on the surface of the ground were much
more easily visible than the last time we did a survey on July 2. Today's
survey concentrated on the gully that emanates from Hell Hole. This is an
area of the basin that hasn't been surveyed in several years (due to the very
rough terrain). A visitor to our site, Jillani Galla,
from the Paleontology Department of the National Museums of Kenya, helped
us out, giving us an extra set of eyes to scan the ground. We were able to
find some interesting stone tools, including a beautiful Achulean handaxe,
and a small partial cranium (skull). Whether or not these indicate a major
site will need to be determined on a more intensive follow-up visit.
Site
A11-10 has undergone two days of hand excavations now, and we're very
pleased that all of the hard work has started paying off. The uppermost portion
of our target sand (what we call Layer C) has been reached. So far, we have
uncovered roughly 100 stone artifacts at the site, and several pieces of bone.
One of the larger pieces of bone appears to be the hip of an antelope.
We
may have spoken too soon yesterday when we said that Site B7/8-1 might be
exhausted. In digging the rest of spit 9, we found a new concentration of
stone tools (a quick count gave 30) and a total of three more bones.
We now realize that the original trench should be extended in order to complete
our understanding of the site. There are two bones embedded in the west wall
of the trench, and one of the bones uncovered in this last spit extends beyond
the boundaries of our trench, into the south wall. We plan to add an additional
meter to our excavation in both directions. Of more immediate concern,
we decided that a tenth spit was also necessary to be sure that we have indeed
reached the lowest level of recoverable artifacts..
Tomorrow we will return for a third lift at B7/8-1. The amount of material we are recovering and the close association of the artifacts and bones has made this site a pleasant surprise.
-RP