Mpala and Archaeology

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We left Nairobi on March 4th which was coincidentally my 21st birthday. Despite the 5:30 am wake up, I'll always have incredible memories of the date, starting with (yet some more) truck issues! Our truck was making its way down a highway leading north-west of Nairobi when our morning naps were interrupted by a loud, hissing noise and an abrupt pull-over. Though this was nowhere near the delay of the infamous mudding incident, we're starting to notice a trend of traveling mishaps on birthdays!

Our first sighting of the snow-capped peaks of Mount Kenya were just past the city of Nanyuki. It's an incredible mountain, though it failed to enrapture me right off the bat given the mass of clouds hiding its summit. The actual size of the land-body doesn't really grab you until you're a couple kilometres off, it has such a gradual inclining slope until the very top. Another great feature of the mountain is the cool breezes it creates, something that lends to the overall amazing climate of the Mpala Research Centre (MRC).

In arriving at the MRC we were greeted by one of their head researchers and welcomed with tea. We learned that most of us would be staying down at a river-side camp, complete with safari canvas tents and cots (real pillows, can you imagine?). Their staff on-hand helped us out in preparing meals, heating up river water for bathing and in singing around the campfires each night. River camp was fantastic, the sound of the rushing water lulled us each night into a deep sleep, interrupted only by the roaring of lions or cackling of hyenas in the early hours of the morning.

As we were waiting for dinner on the night of my birthday, a whole group of us lounging on the concrete patio and several wooden chairs they had, we witnessed the most incredible moon rise. It was nearing 7:30 pm when we noticed a light, looking alot like those of a far-off city, illuminating the sky just over the mountain side. Its intensity increased, drawing gasps and a bigger crowd, and we watched as the moon crested over the horizon. It was massive and lit the entire sky with a burnt-orange glow. While the scientists and staff members of Mpala said that its a fairly common event, the entire process seemed monumental to me. Imagine, the rising of a full, harvest moon over the peak of a mountain in the closing hours of your birthday? I felt so lucky to have seen it!

Most of our time at Mpala was spent in classes, on our group research projects and on the concrete patio. We were all eager to catch up in our journals, a mandatory component of our context courses, and are starting to analyse and discuss our data that we've collected for the Millennium Development Goal projects. Additionally, I signed on for an extra half-credit course in Archaeology. Dr. David Pokathello and the curator for the National Museum of Kenya, Musthelendo, had discovered an area brimming with Acheulean-era handaxes probably used by Homo erectus (predecessor to Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens). The site is believed to be anywhere from 0.2 to 1.6 million years old, a huge range but dating proves to be one of the biggest challenges in the field. This particular site was of special significance as it held evidence of the first uses of controlled fire, a huge step in the expansion of early hominids from the warm climate of the Rift Valley into regions of higher elevation and, subsequently, colder environment.

I spent 3 sessions at the site, surveying, excavating and collecting respectively. Each time was under the extreme heat of the equator sun and I wound up with a pretty good burn. The experience, though, made it completely worth it. In surveying, we mapped the area using GPS technology and scoured the ground for hand tools and flakes. A few days earlier, Dave had taught us exactly how to make hand tools, using a clubbing rock and strategically striking down on a core to create a sharp, bi-faced and undulating edge. It's way more complicated that you'd think, accomodating plates in the rock composition and determining exactly which angle will give the best results, our early ancestors deserve a lot more credit than I'd previously granted them! I didn't find anything myself, but several people struck it lucky and found some great artifacts. Each piece had to be flagged, returned and inputed into the GPS system. It's a long process, but rewarding when you see the pieces of flagging tape waving triumphant discovery in the wind.

In excavation, Musthelendo had selected a specific area on the bank of a former river escarpment on which to lay out a grid-network for digging. They separate the area into squares of 1m x 1m and dig down in layers of 10 cms at a time. As the soil collects, it needs to be sifted through for smaller rock pieces and possibly flakes from the core tools. I loved the excavation, it was so addicting, watching the sides of the square get deeper and wondering what I would find in the next layer. Again, I found nothing spectacular, but it was a good way to spend the morning! They choose to work on former river banks for several reasons - alot of the cooking and gathering by the nomadic hominids were done at the river's edge and it is prime location to find game meat and, therefore, tools.

We found out about the wildlife that can be found by water in our daily nature walks. On one occasion, we saw pools of hippos yawning, surfacing and diving in an area where the river flow was more stagnant. I was pretty afraid of getting too close to the pond's edge given that hippos are extremely territorial and aggressive, two characteristics which, combined, have resulted in many tourist fatalities. While they didn't seem to mind our presence, I would jump back every time one got too close, a move that landed me straight into a pile of acacia thorns once or twice. Getting tangled up in the 2-inch-claws of those branches makes for some injurious entanglement!

Now that we're back in Nairobi again, I'm realizing just how much I loved the Mt. Kenya region. It felt so profoundly "Africa" with the extreme sun, the cool breezes, the dust tornadoes and herds of ungulates grazing just metres away from our class trips and walks. At night we would lie in the grasses and look at the stars, finding many of the zodiac signs as well as Orion, the Southern cross and the sailboat. Everything felt so soulful and cleansing, a nice and welcomed break from the urban bustle of ICIPE and the city.

It's dawning on me how little time I have left on the continent, only two more weeks as of today, and how much I need to cram in that small space. We're actually leaving for Zanzibar today (the 12th) which should be an entirely new and different trip. The island's population is predominantly Muslim and has a strong Islamic culture. We were briefed yesterday about how to dress and act appropriately so as not to offend anybody. My Geography class will be investigating the political hostilities of the region and peacemaking processes in developing countries, as well as continuing our work in observing food security indicators in the GHA (greater horn of Africa).

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[Dad]

The Moon
Ojibway people call themselve "Anishinabe". The word Anishinabe translates to "first" or "original man". In Ojibway teachings the moon is said to be the Grandmother and the source of female energy. When the moon is full, women can ask Grandmother Moon to give them new energy. In March it is known as the Sugar Moon (hmmm birthday cake). How unique and special that it rose full on your birthday as you sit in the cradle of mankind. Continue to enjoy your experience. The learning runs deep.