Sometimes there are big questions that cannot be answered. In this course, especially, I’ve gotten to explore that.
How did we get here? Why?
What caused us to become human?
What even is a human?
All of this I’ve been able to get closer to, but I’m still so curious and will never know. This course definitely spurred some existential ponderings.
The environment of Africa played a major role in the evolution of humans, and I can’t believe I had the opportunity to observe some of that history up close. Learning about our past is key to understanding who we are today and how we got here.
As for the current African ecosystems we experienced, there are so many factors that make it the spectacular place it is today. The perfect combination of climate, geology, and evolution allows the incredible diversity and abundance of wildlife. I was in awe of seeing ecology in action- from adaptations in specific niches to competition between species. Everything has a delicate balance that is maintained through a dance of death and life, survival and mortality.
One thing I noticed was the harmony between local people, their domesticated livestock herds, and wild animals. There seemed to be an agreement that they were all sharing the space, and they coexisted as part of one complete ecosystem. We tend to think of ourselves as human as closed off from “the wild“ but we participate in, impact, and are affected by the world around us. This was very evident with the Maasai people, who aren’t bound by the arbitrary lines of national borders or protected conservation areas. They are part of the environment, just as much as the cattle they herd and the hyenas they hear at night.
Something I learned from this trip was how exciting archaeology can be. So far, I‘ve only learned about it in classes and reading (and ok, yes, Indiana Jones). But getting to be apart of excavations was exhilarating after having the background knowledge of the site and science behind it. I learned that archaeology is unique in that it involves a lot of intellectual research and scientific writing, but is also combined with fieldwork in which you‘re working with your hands. I think that combination is very rare. I‘m not sure I could handle fieldwork long term (I’ve missed my bed) but I‘ve found myself wanting to search for fossils in my backyard.
Here‘s a sampling of random fun facts I‘ve learned:
- Obsidian can be sourced to the exact volcano that formed it! It has a chemical signature that can be analyzed in a lab and matched to its source. Dr. Prendergast found an obsidian flake around Lake Olbalbal while we were setting up game cameras, and said it was most likely from a volcano in Kenya. How did it end up at our feet, hundred of miles away? It was most likely traded across the distance, passing hands until it got there. One small artifact can tell us so much about the past, including reconstructing environment and culture.
- Elephants have a lot of complex emotions, including empathy and grief. Their young travel in the middle of the herd for protection. They’re known to visit the old graves of relatives to grieve. I think this emotional intelligence may have developed because raising an elephant from gestation to adulthood involves very high energy costs, so each individual‘s survival is highly important to the group. Recently, a study found that elephants have unique calls for eachother, much like how we use names.
- Social traits, such as empathy, can actually be traced through the hominin fossil record. There was a hominin that died of vitamin A poisoning, but lived much beyond the life expantancy predicted for that condition. The theory is that other hominins in its group were taking care of it. Another hominin had severe tooth decay, but was fed by others so it survived longer than expected. This evidence of community and mutual caretaking goes back 1.7 million years.
The main thing that I still can’t wrap my head around, is how we can learn so much from such a limited amount of information. Finding a giraffe tooth fragment doesn‘t just tell you that a giraffe lived there. It tells you about the environment it was in, what it was eating, the climate, and so much more. The traces of life left behind are clues for us to uncover mysteries of the past. And man, do I like a good mystery.
This trip tested my strength in many ways and I feel like I’ve grown and learned so much. I have had so many novel eye-opening experiences that wouldn‘t be possible anywhere else, and I’m so grateful for our course instructors, Dr. Dominguez Rodrigo and Dr. Solomon, for supporting us and making all of this possible.
Take care Tanzania,
Carina
