ASU Research E-Magazine: School of Hard Rocks

During the summers of 1998 and 1999, ASU anthropologist Kaye Reed traveled to South Africa, where she runs a field school for undergraduate students. The group worked at two cave sites.

In the Makapansgat Valley, the team dug for 3-milion-year-old fossils of Australopithecus africanus. The other site, called Buffalo Cave, contains 2-million-year-old fossils. As yet, no hominids have been found there.

“In 1998, we got 3,500 new fossil specimens from the first cave [Makapansgat] alone,” says Reed. The count is not yet complete for the second site.

The fossils are encased in a substance called breccia—cave silt held together by calcium carbonate. To get the bones out, the researchers soak chunks of cave wall in acetic acid, or concentrated vinegar.

Cave walls are a good source of ancient pollen, according to Reed. Millions of years ago, the pollen blew into the cave and was mixed in the breccia. Reed and her graduate students brought back several chunks of cave wall for pollen analysis.

“When you take a pollen sample you want the pollen to be encased. That way, when you open it there’s less risk of contamination,” she explains.

Lab studies at ASU are the easy part of Reed’s work, physically speaking. Life on site in the field is rough. For example, at the Hadar site in Ethiopia, Reed walked an average of 10 kilometers each day under the blazing African sun.

“The average temperature is between 115 and 120 degrees Fahrenheit,” she says.

Sounds like Arizona? Sure. But out in the field, the researchers lack conveniences that Arizonans take for granted, like air conditioning.

“There are times when we would kill for a Diet Coke—with ice!” laughs Reed.

The 40 or so people at camp wake at 6:30 a.m. and start work by 7. The team returns to camp at noon to conduct “lab” work in a huge tent. At around 3 p.m., as the hottest part of the day passes, the researchers return to the field.

Back in camp, the group takes solar showers before dark. “Otherwise, the scorpions will run all over our feet,” Reed explains. Then comes dinner, often followed by more work on computers.

“Or we can sit and look at the stars—you cannot believe how gorgeous they are! We go to bed around 9:30. You lie there and listen to hyenas in the distance and hear hippos in the river.”

Starry skies and splashing hippos sound picturesque, but danger also lurks in the African wilderness. Scorpions and snakes are common threats, and other creatures occasionally give the scientists a scare as well. One year a lion walked right into the cook tent.

Fortunately, the scientists at camp are accompanied by a group of local Afar people who know the area well.

“They are very good at knowing where we are at all times,” says Reed. “And because they understand the environment, they see snakes and things before we do.”—Diane Boudreau