Today was the second to last day at Olduvai gorge and a lot happened. I started the day bright and early and was able to make it to breakfast relatively on time, so I was able to make myself some avocado toast. Apparently avocado is prevalent her because I have been able to have it almost everyday which has been excellent.
After breakfast I headed to the local dried out water hole termed OT2 by Dr. Charles. There, three other students and I were able to help Charles conduct his research. We systematically waled eat of the measured quadrants flagging bones, and then recorded the specific orientation and location of each of the bones using the total station. More specifically when we got to each of the flagged bones, we would use this prism which would help the total station locate the location (it had to be very level, which was my designated job), the total station would then designate a number to the bone, and we would put that bone in a bag with the corresponding number. We did that all during the morning, and it was really cool to be able to help Dr. Charles with his research on carnivore dynamics on eating the bones and bone prevalence. There were a few Maasai who were very interested in what we were doing, so they silently watched us which makes sense because we were weird Americans who were collecting bones.
We headed back for lunch, and after we sat for two presentations. We took a break from the presentations and went to a local Maasai market. It was really busy and there were a lot of wares being sold. It was funny because there was a young Maasai girl who was taking photos of us, and we were able to pose for a couple. There was a lot food and beads being sold there.
We then went to Olduvai Gorge and helped excavate real bones from a live site. It was absolutely amazing. I was able to collect a lot of bone fragments, I just hope they were fragments before I excavated them, and not after my brute force. We used screwdrivers and hit them with a rock we found on the ground. It felt like a movie and I was so humbled that we were able to help out in this. I definitely want to go back tomorrow.
(excavation site photos)
We came back for dinner as the sun set, and had one more presentation, and looked at our camera traps. There were some that did not have that many photos, and it took a lot of photos of the trees and local Maasai livestock. It also got some photos of zebras and giraffes though. From the data, our predication of more animal richness and frequency closer to the water (with site 1 and 2 closest to the water, 3 and 4 middle, and 5 and 6 the farthest) was wrong, as sites 3 and 4 were the most abundant.
Today was crazy not only because we were able to help out with two different research projects, observe more of the Maasai culture, but also because even with all that, we were able to make it back in time to have the popcorn.
See you tomorrow!
Isabella-2024-Bovini
