Hi blog. We spent the morning today learning about the different bone modifications that can be made by carnivores and hominids. Professor Dominguez Rodrigo showed us a couple of examples of punctures, furrowing, scoring, and pitting on bones. These are all types of tooth marks from carnivores that appear on bones. He also showed us what cut marks on bones look like, which are made via stone tools and are evidence of hominid activity. Cut marks present differently than scoring because cut marks are v-shaped indentations with many micro striations on the bone, with scoring presents as u-shaped indentations with no micro striations. We also learned the difference between green breaks and dry breaks. Green breaks occur while the bone is still somewhat alive (the animal has very recently died), and green breaks are typically very smooth and follow a spiral shape around the center axis of the bone. Dry breaks occur long after an animal has died, and the edges of these breaks are quite rough. Green breaks are evidence of carnivore or hominid activity because that is one of the only explanations for bones to break so quickly after an animal has died.
After our lesson in bone modifications, we surveyed a gulley near castle rock. We looked for bones with evidence of carnivore or hominid activity using the guidelines we learned earlier that day. We all got pretty decent-sized bags of bones. Professor Dominguez Rodrigo told us briefly why hominids have noses like we do today — it was to bring more air into the lungs and warm it up quicker to benefit our endurance running. I found a few bones with green breakage and a few others with insect holes to lay eggs.
^Carina holding up a bag of bones that she suspects have green breakage and evidence of carnivore or hominid activity.
^We ate dinner at the same time we were analyzing million year old fossils. Something about that is so incredible to me. Dinner and bones in the same place. So casual.
After the survey, we went back to the BK dig site to continue digging. I didn’t find anything new on my plot, but it was still fun to dig around for a while.
^This is what the full excavation site that we were working on looked like.
After digging, we went back to camp to do some laundry in the communal bathroom. The water we were washing clothes in would turn dark brown after only one item of clothing, so we were definitely very dirty while on this trip. After we were done washing clothes, we hung them on the oldupai outside the bathroom just as we had seen the Maasai of the area do. The oldupai is very effective at holding clothing up to dry it. I dropped my leggings on the ground outside and had to rewash them briefly, but the extra little plant fibers didn’t really come out. Oh well. At least they’ll be cleaner than before.
^There were a whole bunch of mongeese at the Olduvai Gorge museum. We saw a few digging through the trash and taking out banana peels to eat. They are just like raccoons in the USA, but a whole lot cuter.
Waiting for my clothes to dry,
Kacey
