Kathleen Ryan's Research in Kenya

Research>> Africa>> Kathleen Ryan's Research in Kenya>>

March 12, 2008, Nairobi

Kathleen Ryan and co-director Karega-Munene at Lake Bogoria, to the west of Laikipia District, Kenya. Photo: William R. Fitts.

Hi all,

I've finally found an internet cafe! Here's an update on my fieldwork.

I set out for Laikipia District last week, having heard that two areas (in the west where I used to work and the central part where I am now) were potentially unsafe because of continued ethnic confrontations in the west and Kenyan government troop action against local militia groups in the centre. Although my trip was rather fraught because of the recent political crisis, I managed to circumvent any direct confrontation by judicious use of alternate road routes. After staying overnight in Nanyuki we got to Mpala Research Centre in time for lunch. Not wanting to waste precious time, we then took off northwards to visit several rock shelters, choosing one for test excavation. On our last day we drove to Sabuk to locate and photograph a large open-air settlement, originally identified in 2006. This site will be a focus of our next field trip in the Fall of 2008.

		Click the thumbnail to enlarge: Kenya lies across the equator in east-central Africa, on the coast of the Indian Ocean. Laikipia.
Kathleen Ryan with Kenyan team members, Mulu Muia and Simon Katisiya, collecting soil samples for analysis to determine the nature of the occupation. Prungai rock shelter at Mpala Ranch. Photo: Lindsay Shafer.

A cattle herd at Mpala in 2006 “helped” one of our Kenyan colleagues with the total station survey. Photo credit: M. Muia

Cattle rustling between groups continues to be a problem in Laikipia, where thousands of cattle have been stolen during the recent unrest. We were asked to keep a look-out for cattle being run through the bush and to check if we saw any cattle without the proper brand being grazed. At one point I thought I had spotted such a group when a herd of sorry looking cattle came into view. They were clearly tired because of the heat and lack of water due to the current drought. I could see no brand on them and was about to alert the ranch manager when our Maasai guard identified them as belonging to the ranch. Turns out that the brand is on the left thigh and I could only see the right one! Just as well they were not rustlers; they would have had much greater fire power than us with our sole Maasai guard.

Elephant family. Photo credit: W. Fitts

Hyena mother guarding her den. Photo credit: W. Fitts

More immediate, but no less fraught, was the presence every night (and early morning) of hyenas outside our bandas (small houses) as well as a wandering leopard caught on the security camera. The Research Centre's director put some salt out for the elephants one morning so we had irritable and menacing elephants facing off with hyenas close by!

Kenyan team members at rock shelter. Photo credit: K. Ryan

Rock shelter excavated March 2008. Photo credit: K. Ryan

Despite all this we did manage to do some excavation of a rock shelter, hitting pay dirt when we found both Later Stone Age (ca. 4,000 BC and Pastoral Neolithic (2500-500 BC) pottery as well lithics and wild animal bone remains.

Thanks for all your well wishes!
Kathleen

Click here to learn more about Kathleen Ryan's research and this region of Kenya, which has been occupied by humans and our ancestors for more than 2 million years.

Read her recent article in Penn Museum's EXPEDITION magazine.

Museum Shops || Publications || Expedition Magazine || Gallery Rentals || Calendar || Search