{"id":7267,"date":"2017-09-12T10:29:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-12T14:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/earlhamcollege.wpengine.com\/?p=7267"},"modified":"2021-03-26T10:51:08","modified_gmt":"2021-03-26T14:51:08","slug":"revelations-from-olduvai-gorge-earlham-students-get-first-hand-research-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earlham.edu\/news-events\/revelations-from-olduvai-gorge-earlham-students-get-first-hand-research-experience\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelations from Olduvai Gorge: Earlham students get first-hand research experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Since 2014, teams of students from Earlham have traveled to one of the richest archeological locations in the world, Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, to work side by side with scientists excavating the site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capturing roughly two million years of history in its layers of strata, the Olduvai Gorge continues to reveal clues about how some of the earliest human ancestors lived. Earlham students collect and analyze data there under the auspices of an international group of researchers, The Olduvai Paleoanthropology and Paleoecology Project (TOPPP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI gained experience actually working in the field with professional researchers,\u201d says Gavin Curry \u201917, who represented Earlham on the project in 2016. \u201cThat\u2019s something I never expected to experience during college. Flying overseas to work with people who have large grants to work on this kind of thing was an eye-opening experience.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From field to lab<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Tanzania experience for Earlhamites is a combination of fieldwork, laboratory analysis on campus, and communication of results. During the three to five weeks of summer fieldwork, students work and live in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area, collecting and conducting descriptive analysis of geological materials. Traveling to and from the field, the team gets glimpses of African wildlife, like lions, giraffes and monkeys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associate Professor of Geology Cynthia Fadem, the College\u2019s geoarcheologist, leads the Earlham team each year amid an ambitious research agenda that extends to other geological sites in Armenia, Croatia and Colorado. In fact, Fadem\u2019s zest for mentoring students on undergraduate research led her to be included on national list of faculty who inspire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ultimate purpose of this work is to enhance our understanding of our history as a species and our evolutionary line,\u201d Fadem says of the hominin species who occupied Olduvai Gorge approximately 1.9 million years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back on campus, students conduct analyses such as x-ray fluorescence and x-ray diffraction of potential tool stone materials and sediments, biophysical sediment characterization and site cartography and modeling in GIS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students who conduct this field and laboratory research then also have an opportunity to deepen their knowledge with further lab work, an experience that is typically reserved for graduate students.<\/p>\n\n\n\n