zenat meta...

Now that I'm back in the states, I have become aware that our pictures that we spent forever uploading never actually uploaded. As a result I will attempt to go back through and add some (more for posterity sake than anything else). Andrew has most of the ones we originally thought we posted so I will have to wait till the rest return but until then I will try to go through and re-vamp everything :) I will also be updating about our adventures in the Bale Mountains, Wondo Genet, Axum, and Harar, and hopefully the others will write about lalibella and Gondor. So be sure to check back over the next few weeks for more stories and pictures.

As for myself, it is a delight to be back in the states. :) It is a rainy day on campus (tornado warning in fact) so hopefully I will be able to get a good jumpstart on finally unpacking and uploading/editing photos.

Cheers!

The End. but not really.

Today was our last day at Moche Barago. Tommy and I were still excavating in our units and Hannah and Sebastion were busy drawing and mapping the profiles before we closed the units for the season. It was an extremely relaxed atmosphere and was a wonderful conclusion to our excavations. As apparently there always is on the last day of excavations, there were many interesting finds including plant remains Christopher found a quartz core in his unit and possibly a human tooth (I found that one)!! Overall, things look to be very promising and exciting for next year :) After lunch it started storming while we were in the cave and it was really peaceful listening to the rain and the thunder and the water cascading over the waterfall. We haven’t had enough rain for the waterfall in several weeks so it was a nice change. Things up at camp were alittle more hectic with everyone packing up the research tent and inventorying all the supplies. Andrew was sent on a mission to collect soil samples from the mountain with Kochito. At the summit, 2900 meters up, the views were incredible and were well worth the exhausting climb up. They began taking soil samples all the way down the mountain every 100 meters until they reached camp. Along the way they stopped for some photo ops on a rock formation that is believed to have been used for human sacrifices. (Dr. Ralf and Andrew jokingly threatened to sacrifice me when we went surveying up by it last week. Haha. Not). They than began hurrying down with the approaching storm bearing down. Dinner was delightful. Pasta with egg salad and tomatoes Yumm! We leave tomorrow for the Bale mountains to go on a hiking/horseback riding trek. We are unbelievably excited to start travelling around Ethiopia (we are following the historic route) but I am admittedly kinda sad to stop excavating. I really enjoyed it and I hope I will get the opportunity to do it again soon.

"Shooting!"

Jessica and I alternated excavating and learning how to use the Total Station. Hannah was an excellent instructor and I was really excited to learn. The overall technique was relatively simple but it was important to always pay attention because the slightest distraction could cause a measurement (i.e. rod height or prism standard) to be over-looked and then all of the following data will be incorrect. It was a long day of gunning but it was very successful and I’m glad I got to learn how to do it.
Tonight it started monsooning during dinner. Ok, so maybe not actually monsooning, but it was pretty close. We all got completely soaked walking back to our tents (except Andrew cause he was smart and wore his North Face) and Elfinish (our cook) was wonderful and walked us each individually under an umbrella so we wouldn’t get additionally waterlogged. It is thundering and lightning pretty bad and there was an extremely loud flash/bang of a lightning strike a few minutes ago. You could literally feel the shocks move right through your bones. It was rather unnerving. Hopefully it wont be raining tomorrow!!

"...but it's green!"

Today we continued excavating. H9 is starting to become exceptionally interesting. I am predominantly finding lithic artifacts made of a stone called Rhyolite (“archaeological kryptonite!” as Lindsay calls it). It is a volcanic stone of greenish coloring and it is really exciting to spot because it’s so different from the usual obsidian artifacts. I have found many flakes, a few blades, scrapers, etc. It is really interesting to find this material since there is no local source (that they know of). I am looking forward to continuing to excavate this unit as it keeps getting more interesting the deeper we dig.

We're gonna have a dance party!

Today Dr. Brandt, Hannah, Andrea, Sebastion, and Tommy went to the obsidian quarry 20km away. We all wanted to go so we drew cards. The highest cards got to go. I only had a Jack and Andrew got the Joker (haha) so obvi we didnt get to go. Tommy lucked out and got a King so he got to go. They came back tired and exhausted to a scene that apparently reminded them of Lord of the Flies. In reality it was just us all super hyper on coffee making up drinking songs and dances. Love sunday nights.

"We're gonna have a dance party, a dance party, a dance party,
We're gonna have a dance party, with Elfinish tonight.
We're gonna have a dance party, a dance party, a dance party,
We're gonna have a dance party, we call it Sunday Night!!"

Souvenir total: 3

Today we all got coffee pots!! They are in the traditional Wolayta design with long necks and round bottoms. They had gorgeous designs on them and when we asked one of the local men who work with us what say he laughed and said “15 bir”. Literally that’s what they say – Haha! Mine actually says “gator” and “lizard” on it which I think is quite fitting since we’re Gators.
Our other souvenirs are spear tips which we bought from a local blacksmith here on the mountain. They are really wicked looking and I can’t wait to put them up as decoration when I return home. We also have gotten little woven baskets that one of the local elders made for us. They look like the little baskets that would hold cobras in movies.

photo by Andrew

Bless the rainsdown in Africa...

Today while laying in my tent listening to the rain pitter-patter on the tent roof I finally began to understand the allure travel to Africa has held for foreigners over the years. The ability to be in such a completely foreign place yet feel at home is exceedingly difficult to describe. The people have been wonderful and the scenery is breathtaking, especially the sunsets. I think that perhaps the most difficult part of returning home is the knowledge that my stories and descriptions and photos will be thoroughly inadequate in explaining the true experience that this trip has been. Only those of us who have been here and present for it will truly understand what it is like.

What we are doing here...

Life in camp has settled into a set routine. Wake up around 7:15, breakfast at 7:30, head to the cave at 8. Excavate until tea time at 10:30 then continue excavating until 12:30 when we break for lunch. We return to the cave at 1:30 and continue excavating until 4:30. At this time we return to camp and have free time to shower, work on cataloguing, and sometimes for hiking. We then usually all pull our chairs outside the tents and relax and chat while watching the sunset. Andrea will play patty cake games with the kids and Sebastian and Andrew will usually play volleyball or soccer with them. Dinner is around 7:30 and then we are usually all ready for bed by 9.
As far as excavations are going, everything has been smooth. We have all been working in specific areas and are getting a very good feel for our individual units…

(photo by Andrew)

Excavation Unit Breakdown
C9 – Lindsay:
Excavation unit C9 has been very interesting from the start. It dates as of right now to about 40,000-30,000 years ago, in the R group. We have found a large hearth feature that included three stratigraphic units! In excavating we use both artificial (arbitrary) and stratigraphic levels. This means that we create levels based on both the natural stratigraphy as well as in 5cm levels, by doing this we can be more precise in our excavation and where the artifacts and features are located. We are finding many artifacts which are vertically oriented in the SE corner of the unit which has led the team to hypothesize either a pit feature or an area which may indicate fluvial interaction. We have found a few points in the unit which is very exciting, possibly Levallois points as well as some cores. The retouch on the points is fascinating to look at and examine something that hasn’t been seen in many thousands of years. Most of the artifacts are obsidian, a black volcanic stone except for a few chert pieces that we find very rarely. I am working with one of the German students Sebastian (and as he wanted us to add, of Polish ancestry of course). Sebastian doubles as an excavator as well as one of the Total Station operators so he stays quite busy. When he excavates I am usually recording and handling the paperwork that it entails. When I excavate he is usually operating the Total Station so I do my own recording as well as excavating.

M15 – Sarah & Andrew:
We began excavation in this unit right after removing the backdirt. It is the newest and shallowest unit, only 45cm deep. The artifacts are believed to date to around 10,000 years ago, which is either late Paleolithic or early Holocene materials. There are an extreme number of artifacts present, predominantly debitage and it is hypothesized to possibly be a waste pit feature. We are working with the French archaeologist Clement who specializes in lithics from this time period. It has been very fascinating learning from him and he gets so excited when a particularly intriguing artifact is uncovered that it adds to the enjoyment of excavating. Andrew and I have been switching off excavating and recording which keeps us both busy in the excavation process. Recording has been a challenge as we are plotting hundreds of artifacts a day, usually 70-80 at a time. We enjoy keeping Hannah (one of the German grad students) busy at the Total Station.

H9 NE – Sarah:
After Clermont left, we closed M15 and I was reassigned to the BXA unit H9, northeast quadrant. Here, Lindsey had previously been excavating the fluvial channel. A pedestal of sediment remained and I was given the task of removing the pedestal to expose the channel bottom. The sediment in the channel is artifactually sterile so it wasn’t too difficult. It took several days for me to fully expose the channel bottom and in a way it was like sculpting, having to carefully expose the fragile clay border which is the edge of the channel. Once the pedestal was reduced and the channel bottom fully exposed I was able to continue excavating the unit. Here is where it got difficult. It was kind of like a maze meets a puzzle meets a Rubix cube. Seriously. As I excavated, a large burrow (L58) appeared in the NW corner and progressed to the SE where it branched into both a southerly and easterly direction(from above it had the vague outline of a B-12 bomber. The southern branch bisected another burrow which coincidentally happened to be located directly above a third burrow (L69) which we discovered when it collapsed onto itself. The burrows continued outside the boundaries of the quad but we suspect them to double back and connect with a burrow appearing in H9 SE. There are two other unnamed burrows located at the edges of the unit which we have not yet plotted or fully excavated. It is very confusing with burrows because they are assigned different levels and their own stratigraphic units. Due to this, I was at one point working in three stratigraphic units and three levels at the same time and it was getting rather hectic and difficult to keep it all straight. Yesterday we finally decided to close down this unit because of time restraints and the ongoing difficulty with the levels (we were going to have to plot in a new stratigraphic unit and additional level making it four strats and four levels in one quarter meter unit). Overall I was slightly sad to stop working in my unit. I had embraced it as a challenge and as it the oldest unit at the site, I was working in sediments dated to between 48,000 – 55,000 years ago which I thought was really really awesome. At the bottom of the channel was a hearth feature so I predominantly found charcoal and bone fragments as well as a few pieces of lithics including several basalt cores, a buren spall and a few very nice retouched points. I am to begin working with Jessica in her unit (H9 – SE directly next to mine) tomorrow.


N42 E39 – Jessica
For a week I excavated in a “geo trench” whose main function is to track the geological activities in the cave during different environmental stages. Erich and Ollie had a theory that a fluvial channel (stream) was present in the cave at various points in time. This “stream theory” could be supported by a specific formation of rocks within a strat layer, so my job was to uncover them. I had to dig around the rocks and carefully keep them in place (which became an extremely painstaking process). At the end I removed an approx. 20 cm deep layer with 60 rocks fully exposed on top of the soil. After the rocks were uncovered, the pattern showed an obvious formation (not as obvious to me as to the trained eye) revealing the direction of the stream. Through the process I found artifacts as well: small obsidian flakes and cores as well as a few chunks of charcoal. Each individual rock was then mapped using the total station (more than 600 shots were taken –many thanks to Hannah - to complete the job). Although my unit’s main function was not for the archaeological finds, it helped to create a more precise image of the environment of the people who lived in the shelter thousands of years ago.


Surveying! – Lindsey & Tommy
We are the Survey King and Queen! After breakfast, we go with Dr. Ralf and our Ethiopian guide and round up supplies for our trek up or down the mountain depending on the day. Our goal is to find exposed lithics to determine where the best archaeological sites are. Tilled fields are the most likely places to find lithics so that is where we focus our searches. When we approach a field that appears to be promising, we ask our guide to go and ask the local farmers if it is okay for us to enter their fields to start our search. Most of the time we find the ground littered with TONS of artifacts. You can’t help but feel awestruck. If we end up at a site that has a representative assemblage, then we mark the site on the GPS and bag the assemblage to be accessed at a later time. After this, we will retrieve our survey forms and begin to take notes about the landscape, the types of artifacts (usually distinct diagnostic features), and of course the date/time. After a few hours of hiking, we break for lunch, which is a time to talk to the local people and exchange a few laughs. Finally, we head back to the camp completely exhausted and with a fan club in tow. It’s awesome!

Total Station – Hannah:
Hello everyone, you guys don’t know me, I’m a German graduate student and am Site Supervisor and gunner. I’m responsible for processing the total station data. As a Site Supervisor I am in charge of the excavations when Dr. Brandt is not around and I am supposed to keep an eye on the students and help them out if they have any problems; but they are doing a very good job on their excavation units so there is not much for me to do in that regard. As a gunner I am using one of our two total stations and am responsible for the other one as well, which is run by either Sebastian, my fellow student from Cologne, or by Minassie our Ethiopian liaison, my dear friend.
A total station is a surveying tool, used usually in construction works, which you can set up in an existing measurement system and plot new points spatially. We use it to plot the artifact locations and to map the levels and the strat units. In order to set this up, we use existing control points on the cave wall to resection (align) the total station in our measurement system, then we are able to plot the artifacts in 3 dimensions and use the collected data to map our finds in 3D in the GIS program (Dr. Erich Fisher is doing that). Dr. Fisher has already created a 3D model of the rock shelter and in addition to that, I mapped the entrance of the cave this year so that our model will be more complete and we are better able to understand processes that lead to the site formation. Every day after work I have to download and process the data and check it for any mistakes that might have happened during the days work. The actual shooting of the artifacts is not very difficult, though it is demanding work, because you have to concentrate very hard not to make any mistakes, because then at worst the data is lost. So the Students are keeping me busy with collecting hundreds of artifacts a day (today I mapped 700 artifacts), M15 was especially taxing while Clement was there and now Andrew and Christopher have taken his place in being my major employee.

Cataloguing – Everyone is involved in cataloguing which is perhaps the most time consuming. It is also important for keeping track of all of the thousands of artifacts we find at the site. Every evening we are busy numbering bags, putting info cards in them, and uploading data entries and photos to the main database. Although tedious, we make it fun by reading books aloud (Harry Potter!) or listening to music which makes it all go by much faster.

Neche Sar Nat'l Park

We woke up early around 5:30 to the chanting sounds of the Christian orthodox and Mosque located on either side of our hotel. We didn’t have to be up till 6:45 but since we were awake, we decided to just get going and so we headed to Neche Sar to do the land part of the park. The entrance was very understated and it was easy to miss the dirt road located between a car repair shop and a primary school. A kilometer back was the actual entrance where we bought our tickets and picked up our armed guard (he sat in the back of the other landcruiser). We all got settled and we were off! Our trek began with a journey through dense forest where we saw and heard many baboons (Rafikii!) and then we entered into a more arid mountainous landscape turning the corner to a beautiful morning vista of the African plains at the base of the mountain next to the lake. We stopped for pictures and the chance to really take in the scenery as well as to imagine what the Paleo climate would have looked like. We continued up and up and over the mountains. At one point it was so steep that Lindsay and I both unconsciously sat up in that “anticipation for the drop of the roller-coaster” feeling but luckily it never came. In the highlands we saw zebras!! They stood out in such stark contrast with the bright green grass that it was really exciting to spot them.

We then journeyed down into the plains where we saw gazelles, dykers, dik diks, more baboons and a peacock (we think). All in all it was a fabulous four hour trip. Our return to Moche Borago was surprisingly smooth and at first we were confused until we realized just exactly how rough the terrain in the park had actually been. We were excited to return to the familiarity of our tents and it was surprising when one of us mentioned how good it was to be home and we all smiled knowing they meant “home” as in camp, not “home” as in America, and how true it was. We are to continue excavating tomorrow and its kind of sad to realize we will only be excavating about a week more.

For more, here is a wonderful article found on the new online magazine Face2Face Africa: Spotlight: NecheSar Nat'l Park

FINALLY Arba Minch…!

We left for Arba Minch this morning, 6 in one car, 7 in the other. I was the(not so) lucky one who got to sit in the middle of the front seat on the armrest/console. The boys were wonderful though and geryrigged a back strap for me as well as held a pillow against their knees the entire ride to Arba Minch so that I would have a backrest! The ride out was bumpy to say the least since at least 80% of the way was on dirt roads but it wasn’t overly uncomfortable. The other landcrusier jammed out to Taylor Swift and Beyonce (Single ladies) and a few others the ENTIRE ride there. It was entertaining to pass them on the road and hear the same song playing every time. We did not have a radio, so we made up our own songs including renditions of Ke$ha (“Wake up in the morning feeling like an archaeologist”) and “99 artifacts left to plot, 99 left to plot! Plot one here, plot one there, 98 artifacts left to plot”, among others. It was interesting to see how the scenery and temperature changed as we got farther into the rift valley. We followed a huge lake the majority of the three hour journey and it became more tropical (bananas and mangoes became prominent) as we approached. Arba Minch was definitely more touristy than we were used to and we saw many frenjies (foreigners like ourselves). After lunch we arranged for a boat ride out on Lake Chamo to the National Park so we could see wild animals!!! The ride to the boats was pretty sketchy, off-roading through dense undergrowth with no boat ramp in sight until suddenly we turned a corner and there were all the boats and we were right on the edge of the lake. We all got in one boat and our captain guided us out to the middle of the lake. The lake was HUGE and offered fabulous views of the surrounding mountains. We journeyed around to the National Park all on the look out for our first glimpse of animals. Our first animal spotted…was a hippo! Actually two. Beyond them was a flock of Egyptian geese interspersed with crocodiles at least 3 meters long that looked like they could easily swallow me whole. They were so ancient looking and fierce watching us. We got within several feet of the shore but remained in the boat. There were also many Hippos that would watch us warily with their eyes and ears just peering above the surface. Hippos are the most deadly animal in Africa and so we made sure not to get too close. We also warthogs (Pumba!!) and hornbills (Zazoo!!). We made our way back to shore very satisfied with our first African animal adventure (“Its like Animal Kingdom, but a thousand times better!!”) and attempted to find a place to eat.

Best News Ever

Yay! Its official, we get to go to Arba Minch tomorrow! We have been planning a field trip to Arba Minch for quite some time but due to difficulties with the vehicles we kept postponing it but Dr. Brandt was able to find us a rental car/driver so we will be able to go. We are so excited!!!

Updates from the field!!

February 17th
Second day excavating G9. We're mostly finding charcoal and a few occasional flakes. Its predominantly part of a hearth feature.
The past two nights thunderstorms took place within minutes of entering our tents. The winds made the tent walls suck in and out all at once. Roaring winds and mild thunder with flashes of lighting. The first night it frightened us. We were afraid that our tents would blow away.
From a cultural perspective, male friendship is different here. The day we arrived at the airport in Addis, we saw a man with his arm around another man on a bench and for a split second we thought they were gay (the same scene in America would have likely been a gay couple), but we remembered Dr. Brandt mentioning how in Ethiopian society men holding hands while walking or having their arms around each other is a common way of showing friendship. We’ve seen it repeatedly since then. The children are also usually hanging on their friends. They always come up and hold our hands when we are walking around camp.
An important part of archeology is the cultural aspect and how the people interact because this directly relates to the artifacts. We watched “Woman the Toolmaker” on the projector after dinner. The film is about the Konso and the few remaining hideworkers that still use stone tools for scraping goat and cow hides. It was interesting to watch it again now that I’m here and have a better understanding of the context. The movie mentioned that a source for their stones is picking up old artifacts from archaeological sites. Now that I’m here, it seems like an obvious option. There are artifacts everywhere; on all of the paths, right on the surface. There’s even a large flake of obsidian embedded in the dirt right in front of my tent. Hopefully we will have the chance to visit the Konso and meet the workers and see how they made and use their tools as an analogue for the past.

February 22nd
More catalog computer work, transferring the 2k+ entries into the database. Only a few more pages left. Yay!
After work Jessica, Tommy, Lindsey and I went for a hike. Yesterday we hiked the ridge to the right of camp. Today the left. Saw some amazing fields. Crowds grew as usual, especially as we took pictures. We ended up in front of a house, and then another, and then a third. They pulled out a bench and insisted we sit. We sat, watching the sunset behind a hut. They brought out a basket bowl filled with warmed kolo nuts. I felt bad eating the nuts while the kids all watched, but the adults insisted and I ate handfuls. I think I had a permanent grin on my face.
As we were leaving, the kids all ran up to grab some of the nuts from the bowl (they had been waiting the entire time). I tried to give my remaining nuts to a small kid. His mom (assumption) then scooped up his big handful into my hand (me: “no, no, no…!”). I felt bad taking the kids nuts, especially since I’d already had so many.
Everyone here treats us with utmost respect. We all feel very welcomed here, by virtually everyone. We greet everyone we see, and they greet us back. I often feel like people are excited to see us. People would never be this friendly in the Western world. There’s a lot less of a personal bubble here. Kids poke their heads into your tent, trying to see what you’re up to. Crowds form when you’re out. It’s hard to get used to.

Feb 23rd
Today we had a large tea time lecture while we were down in the cave about the geological and archaeological history of the cave. It was fascinating to hear what the hypotheses were on the formation of the site and it was especially interesting to mentally feel all the pieces fit together, that sense of “Ohh, that’s why that’s the way it is”. Dr. Fisher has been working with the German Geomorphologist who is here to analyze how the cave formed and they were able synthesize a plausible hypothesis on how the cave formed and how that influences the stratigraphy and the archaeology. They have some intriguing ideas on how water influenced the cave and how it drained throughout the site. They had excavated several geological trenches to get a better idea of the overall design of the various stratigraphic formations in order to form a better picture of where to best look for archaeological evidence and explanations of why we are finding the artifacts we are finding and why they are there.
Through this lecture we learned the importance of collaboration to provide answers and an overall picture of what was really taking place during and around the time that the archaeological deposits were made.
We’re excited to continue excavating tomorrow!

Events for the day: excavating made time go by very fast. Coffee break at ten thirty, back to excavating before lunch. Lunch was delicious; we had enjer'a with shiro (lentils). It’s a local dish of flat bread made with teff that looks like a pancake but tastes like sourdough.

It was Dr. Fisher’s birthday so we got cake with nutella frosting for dessert. Yummm!!
Tonight for dinner we had chicken!! Or more accurately, rooster. It was very spicy and tough but we were happy to have chicken!

Excitement in C9!

We found a hearth feature! Along with the hearth we have found several obsidian bifacial points and many other flakes and microliths. Unlike M15 where they find 300 artifacts a day, C9 is more laid back and less hectic. C9 does have some very interesting aspects, being that very little of it has been dated, and the fact that it is located in the back of the cave with signs of habitual occupation make it something to look forward to.

Woop! WOOP!

Happy Valentine’s day!

There were hyenas in camp last night. Quite literally. The guards had to spend the night chasing them out and you could hear their woop! Woop! cries as well as their growls and even their eerie laughing. It was so unnerving to hear them seemingly right next to our tents and I’m just so glad I didn’t have to need to go to the shintabit (our bathroom/outhouse).

Adventures in Sodo

Today most of us went down to Sodo, the nearby town down the mountain. To get there we hiked down the mountain through small trails the local men that work at camp know. While we made our way down the mountain and across the nearby hills we were able to witness some of the most spectacular views of the area. While walking down we met a few of the local children who would walk with us for some time and then slowly break off from the group. When we finally got into Sodo, we walked around with wide eyes glimmering with excitement of seeing something new. The people in the city were not as intrusive as we were told they would be. We got many stares and several times young children asking for Birr, but nothing that wasn’t totally bothersome. We visited a small museum, the actual museum was closed because it was a Sunday and most businesses are closed due to the religious observation of the day, but we were able to walk around the grounds and take pictures. After the museum we found a restaurant to eat lunch at and then headed out to find the bazaar. There was a small entrance price to get into the bazaar, 5 Birr, but we paid and went in. It was small and had very little traditional goods, but it had mostly things that the people living in the city would need on a daily basis such as plastic jugs, belts, shoes and other such things.
On our way back from Sodo Dr. Brandt picked all of us up in the Land Cruiser. We crammed 11 people into the Land Cruiser, in the rain. We made our way to the mountain and then at the foot of the mountain, at the dirt road the rains really started to fall. We all looked around the Land Cruiser with worry in our eyes, but excitement at the roller coaster we all knew was coming. Once Dr. Brandt pressed the gas, we knew this was going to be one hell of a ride. The cruiser slid, and fish tailed, we got stuck in the mud and we all had to pile out of the cruiser in the rain, but we finally made it up the mountain with a sigh of relief and left over nervous giggles.

Lord of the Flies...emphasis on the Flies

The flies are incredibly annoying. There’s a wall in the cave that is coated with them and if you walk too close, the wall literally comes alive, buzzing and swarming. These African flies go places no American flies would dare, like up pant legs and down shirts. They are so irritating!! But luckily only really come out in the afternoon sun... The dust was bad too the first couple days during backfill removal. It make our noses run and our throats hurt (occasionally) and made me cough and sneeze but now its not that bad.
We’re done with work for the day. Jessica and I managed the data catalog and numbered new artifact bags and I’m hoping we rotate excavators soon.

Today we actually began excavating. I am working in unit M15 with Andrew and Clemont, a French archaeologist. Our unit is the smallest, only 1 meter square and only about 2 feet deep. The level we are currently working in is believed to be from the Holocene Era and it is so cool to be unearthing things no human eyes have seen in nearly 10,000 years!

(photo by Andrew)

Today we finished digging out the units and I got to brush off dirt/dust from the excavation site in one of the units. I’m happy that the all of the units have finally been dug out and excavation can finally begin.
We got to take showers afterward! The water was cold and the flap to the tarp did not close all the way so we only spent roughly 20 seconds in the water on average, but it was worth it. It feels amazing to be clean.
As the sun was setting, we played with the kids. We took their pictures (and a few adults asked to have their photo, too), but after a while we had to say enough. The kids begin to grab at our arms and cameras, eager for us to take and show more photos. we met a few of the kids and tried to learn their names. They played volleyball and patty-cake with us. Eventually it was pretty dark and an older guy told them to go home.

(photo by Andrew)

Good news – no one has gotten miserably sick yet! We were all exceedingly worried about this after all the stories we heard from last year but so far so good. Today we continued removing the backdirt from the site. The entire cave was hazy with a fine cloud of dust making it difficult to see and breathe. It was really hard work. We were all commenting on how tan we were, until we went to wash our hands for lunch and realized that our “tans” were really dust!! Most of the excavation units had sandbags and tarps to protect the fragile walls and there were many large rocks thrown into the pits as well to provide stability.

our first day

Emerging from our tents this morning, we found ourselves confronted with a breathtaking view of the rift valley with the Gamo Highlands shimmering in the distance. It was slightly shocking to realize that there were houses where we thought was total darkness the night before and how close to the edge of the mountain we actually were. We walked down to the main camp area and assisted in setting up the research tent and organizing all of the supplies. We had noodles for breakfast/lunch then made our way down to the cave for the first time. Upon walking to the cave, we were struck by three thoughts –
1)the cave was much bigger than we expected
2)the cave was so beautiful! Especially with all the overhanging greenery and the trickling waterfall across the mouth
3)the overall wow factor – the sense that, yes, we really were here in Africa.

We spent the morning learning how to use the Total Station that we will be using for plotting artifacts and mapping the various stratigraphy levels and structures. In the afternoon we began the tedious task of removing the entire fill deposited at the end of the last dig season to protect the site.

We left Addis early after another delicious breakfast and headed out to the cave. It was about a 5 hour drive and it was so interesting to watch how the scenery changed from an arid rather barren landscape, to miles of farmland as far as the eye can see, to a more tropical lush highland landscape. We napped on and off but never for long because there was always something new to see around the corner. Driving through the various towns was especially interesting. They all had signs saying ‘Bon Voyage!’ when you exited the limits.

A few times we had to stop and wait for sheep or donkeys to cross the road and as we drove through Hosanna, one of the larger towns, we saw several people crowded around a huge dead hyena, though whether it was roadkill or hunted we didn’t know. We arrived at the base of Mount Damota and had to wait for the others to go pick up food and benzene for the generator in Soddo. While waiting, we got to meet all of the school children who attended school at the base of the mountain. Christopher bought a foot of sugar cane stalk and the children showed us how to eat it. It was really quite hilarious.
Later, it was a dark and stormy night…no, really, it was. We arrived at the Moche Borago campsite just before sundown. The land cruiser had overheated 40km back so we had a late start getting up the mountain. The ride up the mountain was quite exciting. Not only was the scenery of the farm and countryside beautiful, but the terrain was rough and it was not unlike a ride at a theme park. Once at the top, everyone was in a whirlwind of activity. The Izuzu had arrived before us with all of our gear and we were all in a race against both the sunset and a brewing storm. The crew and workers were hurrying to put up the large dining and kitchen tents to store all of our supplies before the storm hit. While they were doing this, we, the students, set out attempting to construct our own tents further up the hill. At this point, it was nearly pitch dark out and the winds were gusting up around 40mph. They were using all of the hammers and tools to set up the larger tents so we used stones as hammers to set our tent stakes. “We’re using stone tools!” We were so proud of our ingenuity and the fact that it was relatively successful. We managed to get settled without falling off the mountain or getting lost in the dark and we curled up in our tents and fell asleep.

(photo by Andrew)

Layover Adventures

We had to change planes in Amsterdam, so to cut down on jetlag and get additional stamps in our passport, we decided to stay the day/night. At first I was enthralled by the city. It's so quaint and old-fashioned. As time went by though, I realized I was absurdly homesick. Not for America, but for Paris! Amsterdam is extremely similar but I was starting to notice the differences. Firstly, everything is English and considerably touristy. Secondly, the people are friendly. While both of these helpful when traveling I found myself distinctly missing the isolated "island unto oneself" feeling. Weird, but true. We went on a wonderful free tour (some new Euro-promo deal, they have them in almost every city and I highly recommend them) led by this hilarious Australian which basically took us around and through the red light district, the various coffee houses and churches eventually ending at the Anne frank house. I remember reading her story in eighth grade but it was still fascinating to actually see where it all took place. The steps hidden behind the staircase were so incredibly steep that it was like climbing up a ladder. I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it was to live during those times. The second day we went to the rijiks and van goh museums. I loved the rijiks because it was multi dimensional. There were sculptures, pottery, weapons, boats, silver pieces, and massive dollhouses in addition to paintings. It kinda showed a history of dutch artistic culture which I thought was really cool. The van gogh was whatever. I am not a huge fan of paintings so I kinda zoned out after a while, but I did like how the museum was arranged so that you followed his life from beginning on the first floor to end at the top floor. We also went to the I AM AMSTERDAM sign which was super cool.  

Outside it is absolutely FREEZING! all that cold weather blowing in from the North Sea. Taxis were no where to be found and would have been expensive anyways so we basically museum/restaurant hopped our way back to the hostel.

p.s. fun fact learned on the tour: there are more bikes registered in the city than there are inhabitants of the city.

Project S.W.E.A.P

Here is the official project poster as used by the University of Cologne and found on their school website describing the goals, methods, and purpose behind the field excavation we will be participating in. Our excavations at Moche Barago cave (Fig. 3) are only a small portion of the overall program to explore an establish human mobility and migration from Africa into Europe.
There are currently 21 ongoing projects in various locations throughout Africa nad Europe. Our location in Ethiopia is important to the programme because it is considered one of the initial sites for the emergence of modern humans.

A full description of the overall project can be found here: Our Way to Europe

1 more week

So it's pretty crazy to think that in one week we'll be on a plane to Amsterdam then Ethiopia a couple days later. It seemed so far away not very long ago and now it's here! I'm kinda nervous, very anxious, and mainly really excited. I have so many thoughts and ideas about what this experience is going to be like, but I feel like I have no idea what it will really be like. Over the past couple weeks with classes we've learned a lot, between flintknapping which is much more difficult than it seems and general things about African Archeology. I wish we would have talked a little more about our actual site before we left, but learning about Moche Borago on site will probably be even more useful.

Amsterdam! This is definitely an added bonus to the trip that I was not expecting at all. This is one of those cities that I've always heard about and all the crazy stories that go along with it. And now I get to go and experience it... to an extent! I'm much more excited for Ethiopia though. I've always wanted to go to Africa and experience life in a 3rd world country. It will open my eyes and really give me a different perspective on life that I believe is hard to grasp without actually experiencing it. I'm really excited to have time to hang out and play with the local children. I've got a soccer ball and a football packed and hope they will be down to play some pickup games! I think travelling after is going to be my favorite part. The opportunity to go backpacking and hiking in a place with so many different things to see makes one of my favorite hobbies even more appealing.

Well I'm super excited and I'm all ready to go, so one more week of hanging out and having fun then off for what will be the time of my life!

So I finished getting all of my shots today! Im not a fan of needles but they were too terrible. Im not going to lie though, the Typhoid vaccine HURT! both shot itself and my arm for a full day after. It felt like a tetnus shot on steroids. I was really nervous about getting the yellow fever vaccine because my dad had a really bad allergic reaction when he had to get his but I lucked out with only having a slight fever, thankfully.

Today in class we were discussing somethings to do after we leave the campsite and we get to travel around on our own. I would really like to do a trek through the Simien Mountains. I think the scenary looks absolutely incredible and I really hope I get the chance to go here before I must fly home.

we were also discussing a few of the things the group did last year and one of them was eat raw camel liver, an apparent delicacy. Personally, I dont think I would have been able to do that. I can't even eat Beef tartare and I prefer my steaks medium BUT who knows maybe the crazy whim will seize me. doubtful, but possible. One of the kids going this year, Andrew mentioned that there'd been an episode on bizarre foods where they talked about eating raw meat in Ethiopia - Andrew Zimmern is braver than me

First Day - Stone Knapping

Even though its a study abroad, I still have class two days a week. Today we learned how to make and identify stone tools.

According to Holdoway, S. and N. Stern in A Record in Stone, stone tools were once as common as coke cans and were used for everything from chopping down trees to skinning animals. Beginning as crude objects these tools evolved over time as we humans evolved intellectually. Stone artifacts are studied mostly because of their durability (few items can last for tens of thousands of years w/o deteriorating, as well as their variety. Stone technologies are a form of reductive technology in that they are created my the "irreversible decrease" in original mass of the object. in analyzing stone artifacts, scientists are able to determine the source of the stone, how the tool was created, and how it was used.

there are three primary parts: the hammerstone, the core, and the flake.
As the name implies, the hammerstone is the stone forcibly hit against the core which produces a break-off piece called a flake. hammerstones are usually made of a harder material such as quartz whereas cores are predominantly "softer" stones such as obsidian or other silica based rock. When struck, a flake breaks off along a fault line partially determined by the angle of the strike. as a result, a flake as several identifiable features: a platform (portion of original exterior where the core is struck, a bulge or bulb of percussion which is a direct result of the force of the blow and sometimes ripple marks can be seen radiating out in the direction of the blow as the force of the blow caused energy to travel through the stone until it reach the outer part of the stone whereby causing the flake to separate from the core.

it sounds rather technical but when we were given the opportunity to try out stone knapping ourselves, the attributes were more readily easy to see.

Contrary to our former belief, stone knapping is hard!! we worked with obsidian which is relatively brittle and very sharp. It was extremely difficult to get a perfect flake and to be honest I wasnt entirely sure what a perfect flake looks like. They all looked good to me. It wasn't until I'd been working on it awhile that I started to kinda get the hang of it. Its kinda like sculpting in a way i guess. You have to stare at a rock and decide what it is you want to create. You cant just start hacking away at it cause then you end up with just a bunch of broken rocks.

we then had to sort them upon our return from class into separate piles of flakes, cores, scatter, tools/flakes untouched, tools/flakes retouched, and then into proximal/medial/distal parts of flakes. Classifying the stones was really the most difficult part and only lots of practice will make it easier