... More than 100 fossils...

Updated: July 23, 2000

Today was another exciting day at Mahenge. Within a few minutes of starting work at Pit 5 this morning, Gregg and Pat found a Sundeval's writhing skink (Lygosoma sundevallii), a type of lizard that burrows in the ground and had been living in the wall of the pit.

Above: A Sundeval's writhing skink
found today in the wall of Pit 5

As the morning progressed, Bonnie and Gregg measured through the stratigraphic section in the pit, and marked the individual levels with nails and flagging. Most of the fossils are coming from the lower two levels of the section, Levels 7 and 8, and the rest of us spent the morning bringing buckets full of rock from these levels and splitting them in the shade along the dry river.

Above: Fossil-bearing strat sections 7 and 8,
shown in the wall of Pit 5

We also had many visitors today. Several of the children from the village came to watch us off and on during the day, and Gerhardt, who we had met at the Legho Hotel, showed up at midmorning and stayed for lunch. Then, just after we had eaten, we had another carload of visitors including Mr. Mwagowa, the Director General for the Singida District Council, and Mr. Senggo, the Agriculture Director for Singida Region. We gave them a brief tour of the fossil quarry and showed them a few of the specimens we had collected that morning that still had to be wrapped. We would like to thank them for bringing us soft drinks and beer, which we all appreciate very much.

Above: Visitors in camp, including representatives
of the Singida District Council

During the afternoon, we continued to split rocks from the lower levels of the pit, and we now have over 100 fossil specimens to bring home. We are continuing our efforts and hope to have lots more by the end of the week.

We have been commenting on how lovely it is here, with clear skies and great weather. This makes stargazing quite easy, and every night we see the Southern Cross, Scorpio, Ophiochus, and other constellations, along with the Milky Way stretching across the sky. It is not unusual to see several shooting stars each night, as we sit around the fire and listen to the animals calling to each other. Jason has heard some small browsing animals at night, but we haven't seen any yet. I keep hoping we will see a giraffe or something, but it is too dry for them here.

Hello to everyone - Beth