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Who Are the "Underground Astronauts"?

Can you imagine finding the discovery of a lifetime, but not being able to retrieve it? When cavers found ancient hominid fossil remains while exploring in South Africa, they knew they were on to something. Problem was, they knew they didn't have the archaeological skills needed to excavate the find. The researcher who did have the skills was too big to squeeze into the ridiculously tight crevices that lead to the cave...what were they to do?

As you have most likely seen or read, the National Geographic Rising Star expedition team studying the "Cradle of Humankind" near Johannesburg, South Africa, put out a call for skilled archaeologists with caving skills who were petite enough to fit into these small spaces. 6 highly qualified candidates emerged to take on the task, and they all happened to be women. This crew of ladies painstakingly excavated the site in a once and a lifetime opportunity and brought to the surface the skeletal remains of several new members of our family- Homo naledi.

"Comparison of skull features of Homo naledi and other early human species" by Chris Stringer, Natural History Museum, United Kingdom (10 September 2015). "The many mysteries of Homo naledi". eLife 4: e10627. DOI:10.7554/eLife.10627. PMC: 4559885. ISSN 2050-084X.. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 via Commons

These women had to crawl through spaces so tight it prevented them from wearing safety gear. Some sections were only 10 inches high and required what they call the "superman crawl" with one arm down by the side and one outstretched in front like superman flying. They took 6 hour shifts underground, working for a few weeks and eventually retrieved 1,500 specimens from the cavern.

"Homo naledi 2" by Lee Roger Berger research team. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 via Commons

Let's find out more about each of these remarkable female scientists! When you have an adventure story like this it is a golden opportunity to inspire young scientists and adventurers. Who are the 6 "underground astronauts" of the Rising Star Expedition?

Elen Feuerriegel

Elen is a paleoanthropology PhD student at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. She is interested in how early humans used tools, and specifically the muscle and bone structure of those people. She has been interested in the human body and forensic anthropology since she was a teenager. She loves to inspire kids and hopes to teach as well as continue working as a paleoanthropologist.

Learn more about Elen here:

K. Lindsay (Eaves) Hunter

Lindsay has a passion for paleoanthropology but also science outreach. The focus of much of her research has been in the evolution of the trunk portion of skeletons in the genus Homo. During the Rising Star expedition Lindsay was a PhD student at the University of Iowa. Lindsay is also a writer and is very interested in introducing anthropology to young students. She has moved to South Africa to live with her husband, Homo naledi fossil co-discoverer Rick Hunter, and continue to research.

Learn more about Lindsay here:

Marina Elliott

Marina is a postdoctoral fellow in the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of Witswatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. During the excavation Marina was getting her PhD at Simon Fraser University in Canada. She has taken part in several expeditions in inhospitable areas such as Siberia and Alaska, as well as her recent excursions into the treacherous cave in South Africa.

Her research focuses on the stories that human fossils can tell us about the life of that person and the archaeology of burial practices. As scientists believe the cache of Homo naledi fossils found by the Rising Star expedition were most likely intentionally left in the cave as part of a burial practice, her expertise will continue to be indispensable in studying this new branch of our family tree.

Learn more about Marina:

Alia Gurtov

Alia is a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. She is trying to answer the question of whether people 1.8 million years ago were eating differently based on season. She examines animal teeth for scratches and wear which would indicate what season they were butchered during by our ancient relatives. Her love of playing in the dirt and ancient peoples made the Rising Star expedition a dream come true, but it is only one of the amazing excavations she has taken part in. She is a Leakey Foundation grant winner and has studied extensively at famed Olduvai Gorge in addition to many other sites.

Learn more about Alia:

Hannah Morris

Hannah is a PhD student at the University of Georgia. She is an archaeologist who studies how humans interacted with plants historically. She has worked on archaeological digs with the American Museum of Natural History and founded a paleoethnobotanical consulting service called Chena Consulting Services. In addition to her archaeology work she also has taught workshops for middle school students.

Learn more about Hannah:

Becca Peixotto

Becca is a PhD student at American University in Washington D.C. She is an archaeologist who studies the Great Dismal Swamp, along the Virginia-North Carolina border. This is an area that became part of the Underground Railroad and where escaped slaves took refuge. Little is known about these settlements and Becca is interested in solving this mystery. In addition to her work as an archaeologist, she is also a wilderness and outdoor educator.

Learn more about Becca:

These little blurbs just scratch the surface of these amazing women. I found myself enthralled as I learned more about them. I hope that they inspire you, your children and students as well!

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Shelf Life: A Peek into 33 Million Artifacts and Specimens

By Psammophile CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Learn about a fascinating video series from the American Museum of Natural History, then find out how to win some tickets to visit the museum in New York City! Details below.

Do you collect things? I have always been a collector of natural history- nests, feathers, insect exoskeletons, rocks, seeds, etc. Each specimen allows for a closer look at an organism, a deeper understanding. Perhaps my affinity for natural items is what has encouraged my students to bring me all sorts of treasures throughout the years from animal skulls to fungus samples!

If it weren't for collectors, science would come to a screeching halt. Historical collections and modern data can help us better understand the world. A collection of over 33 million artifacts and specimens is the focus of Shelf Life, an incredible video series by the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH). Shelf Life is a free, monthly video resource that tells the stories of different organisms and collections at the AMNH.

Any natural history museum has many more artifacts than they could ever possibly display, however, the public rarely gets a peek into these incredible archives. Shelf Life provides this opportunity.

Each video is under 7 minutes and is chock full of the stories of scientists from a diverse array of fields of study. These are brief, yet informative narratives on how curators and researchers work together to preserve collections in modern ways and use old specimens to inform current science.

Shelf Life is not only enjoyable for anyone interested in science, but has many applications in the classroom. Each video is accompanied by additional information on the AMNH website. The short length allows these video clips to be a great launching point for an upper middle school, high school or even a college science lesson.

Here are some questions or topics that could go hand in hand with the great content in these videos:

Data collection: You've collected it- now what? What a great launching point for discussion on the importance of making sense of the data you've collected when completing a lab or investigation.
Diversity of careers in science: How many different fields of science are represented in these videos? What are the different jobs that each of these projects requires? Use these incredible researchers and wide array of topics to spark an interest in science careers in your students.
Taxonomy and organization: Why do we organize and categorize different organisms, rocks, stars? How do we organize it all? Why is this important in communicating science with each other and moving research forward?
Precursor to a field trip: Before you visit your local natural history museum, how can these videos give your students insight into what is on display, its importance and the work behind its preservation?
Preservation: How do we preserve specimens? How is new technology helping us to do so?
A launching point: Each episode of shelf-life is a launching point for hundreds of different questions. What direction will your students lead you?

I dare you not to learn something new while watching this episode on Foraminifera! Right now you might be saying, "foramin-wha?" but I promise, 7 minutes from now, you'll be in love with them too.

Create Your Own Natural History Museum! Perhaps after watching Shelf Life you'll be inspired to build your own collection. This activity is fun for all ages. Do you have a shelf in your home or classroom that can turn into a miniature museum?

Preschoolers through adults can enjoy this type of activity, whether it is collecting acorns or lichen, photos of plants or hand-written star observations. Be sure to provide field guides or other resources for students to use to identify and learn about what they are collecting. Leave a log book where students can catalog their specimen and write down further questions and wonderings about it.

If you find history, science and museum curation fascinating, check out my post from earlier this week on how a historical document brought to light new information about some really weird extinct species, and this article from the Student Society for Science: "Cool Jobs: Saving Precious Objects".

Resources:

The American Museum of Natural History wants you to come and visit! They have sponsored our May giveaway- 4 tickets to the AMNH in New York City! One winner will receive 4 tickets to the museum. There are many easy ways to enter this giveaway, just follow the directions in the Rafflecopter widget below to learn how. This giveaway runs from Friday May 15th, 2015 until midnight Thursday May 21st, 2015 (EST).

Please note, this post was not sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History. All opinions are those of the author.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Debunking Easter Island Mysteries with Obsidian Flakes and Tooth Plaque

It has long been debated what caused the mysterious decline of the native population of Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. The prevailing, and conflicting, theories up until this point were that the native people decimated their fragile environment and eventually starved, and the other is that the natives died quickly of diseases brought by the Europeans. Although we will never be 100% sure of what happened on this mysterious Polynesian island known for its giant stone heads, we might be getting closer to knowing the truth.

Moai on Easter Island Photo: Phillie Casablanca

A team of soil scientists and archaeologists recently examined several agricultural sites on the island. They analyzed flakes of obsidian from spear points at three different sites to help understand climate, soil chemistry and land use. They were able to date the land use at each of the sites based on how much water had been absorbed into the surface of the obsidian. The amount of water absorption allowed them to estimate how long the surface had been exposed.

In general the soil nutrient levels of Easter Island were less than other islands settled by Polynesians during the same time period. However, the three sites examined indicated a lot of diversity in the quality of the land for agriculture. The soil at the first site on the northwestern coast of the island was dry and high in nutrients. This part of the island was in the rain shadow of a volcano and therefore didn't receive much rainfall. The next site, on the interior of the island, had more rainfall, but less nutrient rich soil. The third, on the northeast coast, was more of a "Goldilocks" site, an average amount of rainfall and fairly high soil nutrients.

The team determined through analysis of the dates of land use at the three locations that the native population of the island most likely abandoned the dry and nutrient poor sites long before European contact, and maintained a population at the site with average rainfall and quality soil long after European contact. The results of this study indicate that rather than using the land beyond their means and then dying off, the natives adapted by moving to an area that was more sustainable for agriculture. They were able to maintain their way of life in this area for a while despite the pressures of diseases introduced by the Europeans such as smallpox, syphilis and tuberculosis. This evidence should change the thinking of many from a tale of violent population collapse to a slow adaptation and decline.

The story of the people of Rapa Nui has so many mysteries, including their primary diet. Many anthropologists are now using the dental plaque of ancient peoples to understand what they were eating. The native's diet has been a bit of a puzzle as there was conflicting evidence around palm being a dietary staple. Scientists have found many palm phytoliths, a hardened silica fossil plants leave behind in the soil, in the dental plaque of the natives of Easter Island. Other evidence indicates that palms went extinct on the island soon after humans colonized the area. So what were they eating? Further analysis of teeth from remains excavated in the 1980's show that the plaque contained starches that were almost identical to modern sweet potato. They did not find evidence of other starchy foods that had been hypothesized to be part of the prehistoric populations diet, such as banana, taro or yams. Upon further research with sweet potatoes and similar soil it has been found that the skin of the sweet potato takes in the phytoliths of palms as it grows in the soil. Hence, it is now understood that the palm evidence on the teeth is most likely related to their diet of sweet potatoes, clearing up the mystery of the palm phytoliths.

No doubt our theories and understanding of prehistoric people on Easter Island and other locations will continue to grow. We will never know for sure what happened in these places, but the allure of the mystery drives us to learn more!

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