Dry, scattered bones of the Wildebeest
Leftovers from the carnivores’ feast
Through goats and through wind
We flagged, labeled and binned
One hundred eighty six bones at least
Quote of the day:
”A limerick a day keeps the diarrhea away”
Today I had the amazing opportunity to work with Dr. Charles and his PhD student, Alaz, on their project studying modern bones assemblages in savanna microhabitats to provide insight into archeological assemblages! I was very interested in learning how modern ecology can relate to studying and reconstructing past environments, as someone who is generally very interested in both ecology and paleontology.
We started things off in OT1, the first of two sites west of our camp (and near something called a Tanzanian Craton, a geological feature with some of the oldest rocks in Africa, from the Precambrian!). OT1 is 100×200 meters, divided into 8 blocks.
To start things off, we (“we” being myself, Alex, McKenna, Marlo, Alaz, and Dr. Charles) completed a transect survey of 6 of the 8 blocks (the other two had already been completed), walking carefully in our precisely spaced line across all 6 blocks scanning the soil for bone bits. If any were found, we put a little flag there! This part of our morning was not without excitement – the wind was HOWLING across the grassland, and at one point the largest goat herd I have ever seen in my short life came over the horizon and I thought it was the end of days. Turns out it was not the end of days, just maybe six hundred Maasai goats and their herder, who impressively corralled the massive flock with whistling and strategic placement of where he was standing and facing. One goat nearly took a bite out of one of our flags, then thought better of the idea.
The next part of our morning was the collection of the bones themselves – each bone was picked up off the ground and placed in a specimen bag, which was then labeled with the location (OT1), year, find number, and (if applicable) articulation number and/or conjoinment number. The location for each specimen was noted using a cool little device called a Total Station, which has two parts: a device mounted on a tripod and a prism (pretty much the a cool looking wizard staff), which must be held completely level while a laser is shot from the Total Station, hits the prism, and goes back to the Station which then records its exact location. To be honest I’m not sure of the specifics, but I had a good time. The six of us were like a well-oiled machine: Dr. Charles identified the bones and told McKenna what to yell to Alaz over at the Total Station (our radios ran out of battery), I bagged the bones and handed them to Alex who labeled them, and Marlo valiantly held the prism level for many hours at the location of each bone. All in all, we collected 186 specimens, many belonging to just one kill – a young wildebeest who had been gnawed on by a variety of carnivores (rest in peace). I got back to camp wind blown, dusty, and with bone dust ingrained in my hands but rather pleased with my work and really having enjoyed getting to work on this super cool really real scientific study!
I took a shower after lunch. I was cold. But refreshed.
After shower, Rose and I broke our the friendship bracelet thread and our little group now has many half-worked bracelets hanging off our collective water bottles (life is good). Going back to our hunter-gatherer roots over here, banging in our tent stakes with rocks and spending our afternoons weaving [bracelets]. We took a trip over the Olduvai museum to have presentations (Isotope Analysis by Milton, Cenogram Analysis by McKenna, and Phytoliths and Pollen by Carina) 10/10 would take notes again. We took a presentation break midway through to try to identify our teeth from yesterday to the species level by comparing them to specimens in the museum, and after much assistance from Dr. Manuel the teeth are as follows:
- Equus ulduvayensis (big zebra) x2
- Parmularius altidens ( large wildebeest relative) x6
- Kobus sigmoidalis (waterbuck relative) x1
- Extinct version of modern buffalo, not in museum x2
- Pelorovis olduwayensis (very large buffalo relative) x1
- Crocodile x1, baby crocodile x1
We then played “the Tooth Game”. We amassed all of our identified tooth fossils by species, with Dr. Manuel’s guidance and assistance. We then separated them into bovid tribes, and non-bovid taxon to take what we know about modern and extinct taxon’s needs, diets, and preferences to infer what the ecosystem would have looked like. The large percentage of Alcelophini, Antelopini, and Equids indicate a very open and arid grassland, but this contrasts with the crocodilians, Bovini, and Reduncini we found, which are all highly water dependent. We also found browsers – Tregelophini and Giraffids – which require bushes and trees for food. So, a river going though a large and dry savanna with some bushes nearby? Dr. Manuel offered us some additional context: Phytolith and biomarker analysis states that there were aquatic plants as well as terrestrial grasses, and analysis of the rock and sediment does indicate the presence of a river that was slow enough so as not to transport bones all that far. There was also evidence of lots of hominid activity, with plenty of stone tools. The real surprise was the bio marker evidence for bacteria only found in hot springs – the theory, therefore, is a river partially fed by a holstering in a large open savanna. Perchance, Dr. Manuel said, these early hominids were cooking these animals in the hot spring. Perchance, perchancce, and that would be pretty darn cool.
We watched the sunset from the museum overlook and I saw soooo many swifts, weaving through the air perchance looking for an insect meal. A good way to end the day. My tent hovel is looking awfully cozy right now.
Sincerely,
Caroline (average sunset enjoyer)
OT1 (left), sunset over Olduvai (right)
