Project stretch goal: Research in the National Museums of Kenya

I've been very encouraged and excited see my experimental project successfully funded - over and above my initial goal!

There are just a few days left in this crowdfunding campaign, and I've taken the opportunity to reach for a new stretch goal to support my research in Kenya. My current research takes me to the artifact collections at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi. The next stages of my research after the completion of the experiments will be extended stays in Nairobi while I finish completing my data collection on the archaeological stone tools.

 

Welcome to the Archaeology collections department at the National Museums of Kenya in Nairobi!

 

Here is the space at the NMK where I do my archaeological collection analyses. The tables are covered in foam and plastic to protect delicate artifacts.

The purpose of my experimental program is to better understand the archaeological artifacts that I study at the museum. These artifacts were excavated during the early 2000's from sites in the Kokiselei complex west of the Lake Turkana in northwestern Kenya. The sites range in dates from 1.8 (KS6 and KS5) to 1.76 million years ago. The youngest site, Kokiselei 4, contains the oldest known Large Cutting Tools (LCTs, such as handaxes). Kokiselei sites 5 and 6 contain cores and flakes, but not LCTs. The artifacts from this site provide a unique opportunity for me to study changes in stone tool technology over time, in a single geographic location, leading up to the first known appearance of LCT technology.

Most archaeologists assume that LCTs represent stone tool shaping. This assumption has yet to be tested for the earliest examples of LCTs. My research uses experiments to better understand the potential for early stone tool shaping behavior among Kokiselei stone tools. I specifically test whether the Kokiselei artifacts could have been produced by something other than shaping - such as the unplanned production of flakes.

After I collect data in Santa Cruz and complete my replication experiment at Stony Brook, I will need to complete data collection on the archaeological assemblages in Nairobi. I collect the same data from both the archaeological and experimental assemblages using the same set of tools (see more about this in my experimental protocol lab note!). Keeping the data collection methods the same between experimental and archaeological stone tools makes it amenable to direct comparisons.

Unlike the experimental collection, in which I know how and when each stone tool was made, the archaeological artifacts need to first be sorted. I generally begin an archaeological collection analysis by sorting the artifacts into 'technological classes' (e.g., flakes, cores, handaxes, hammerstones, etc.). The artifacts are stored in wooden trays on shelves, so the first step is pulling everything out and getting a sense of what artifacts the collection holds.

 

 

This process can take some time - going through bags and bags of artifacts - but it is worth it because then I can lay out all of the artifacts and get a good overview perspective on the assemblage.

 

The Kokiselei 6 artifacts organized by technological class and laid out on the study tables.

 

The artifacts from Kokiselei 4 sorted by technological class. In the foreground are sets of archaeological flakes that have been fit back together like a puzzle.

Once everything is organized, it's time to measure, measure, measure!

 

A portable analysis tool-kit is essential for me to move my methodology from site to site (University laboratories to museums to the field).

 

The 3D scanner set-up.

 

The resulting 3D model and more measurements.

I plan on returning to the museum in Nairobi from August to November 2017 to collect my last sets of data from the archaeological artifacts. My new stretch budget goal would cover my roundtrip flight from New York to Nairobi. Please help me make this next step possible by pledging today!