Today, I had the opportunity to conduct field research with another professor at our research station. I spent the morning with three other classmates (pictured) and Dr. Charles Egeland at a nearby field site known as OT2 (Olduvai Transect 2). For Dr. Egeland’s research, he visits two sites in Olduvai every year and documents all the surface level bones within each region in order to draw connections and relationships between animals and certain resource features of an environment.
Me, Isabella, Kamden, and Anna Preparing to Head to OT2
For the entire morning, we helped out with surveying and documenting the bones present at OT2. The process was two pronged: the first component involved surveying quadrants systematically to identify bones and the second component involved using Total System hardware to catalogue bone location information. I helped largely in both processes. One thing I quickly learned is that it can get rather difficult differentiating between a bone and rock. Luckily in our case, we could err on the side of caution and mark it as a bone but determine after if it was not. Another great skill I learned was how to catalogue and file data. For each bone surveyed and collected, it was systemically collected and labeled with important data such as a unique identifier and whether or not it was linked with any other bones. This experience in the field with Dr. Egeland was a great learning opportunity and it was also very warming to hear how they appreciated our help with additional eyes in the survey process.
Later that afternoon, I also had the chance to learn about other field research techniques including fossil restoration and photogrammetry. It was exciting to get some hands-on work with restoration and seeing how fossils can still be restored if they are damaged when first excavated. It was also very interesting to learn about photogrammetry since it provides researchers with a 3D model of a fossil that allows them to study a virtual copy when outside of Tanzania.
It has been another long, yet exciting day, so I will be wrapping up to get some rest for the night. A quick note—tonight’s night sky is one of the prettiest I have ever seen (pictured).
Night Sky (My phone camera does not do it true justice but you can imagine)
-Milton
