When did humans first start to use complex stone tools - tools made of more than one part - and why does it matter? Well, we are on a journey to find out and we hope you will check in and follow our progress. We will be reporting directly from the field - and the lab - as our four year project, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council of Great Britain, unfolds
Before Victoria Falls formed, the Zambezi River was very much like we see it today above the falls – wide and shallow. But the old Zambezi was not where the Zambezi flows today. It has left remnants of its former presence 12-15m above the modern river in the National Park, and the gravels it left […]
Everything in archaeological investigations requires patience – and nothing more so than dating. While we waited for Geoff Duller to arrive we had to work quickly, but we knew also we had to make sure we were digging in areas that would be most relevant to dating the sands and their archaeological record. No time […]
This first season of the Deep Roots project is ending but there’s much to catch up on since last time, so I’ll try and condense the frenetic activity of the last two weeks into two, or possibly three posts. Parks and not much recreation We moved into Mosi oa Tunya (aka, the smoke that thunders, […]
English as spoken in Britain offers a rich vocabulary that sometimes just defies understanding, but hits the spot when it comes to conveying meaning. We had been digging and sieving in the gravels of the old Maramba River all morning, finding nothing. I said to my partner on the sieve, ‘not a sausage’. Maggie looked […]
That was a question posed by the interviewer for Zambia National Broadcasting Corporation which is producing a documentary about this project – and the first filming was done, in a pit, on the Maramba River. The river is a small tributary of the Zambezi and its dark green water looks enticing but there are crocs […]
Sunday. A very welcome day off. Time to catch up on what’s been happening both off (thank you, work emails) and on site. And for aching bones and muscles to recover. This first full week of excavation was interspersed with errands – buying essential final bits and pieces. First, excavation bags. No, not the […]
Arriving in Zambia at the start of a two day public holiday (Monday for Heroes, Tuesday for Unity) had felt like poor timing, but turned out to be a great chance for me to acclimatise. Settled into my lodgings at Fawlty Towers (yes, really), all the safely-arrived-kit checked, I contacted the new volunteers coming from […]
As the rain drips over soggy England, I’m putting the final touches to the kit I’m taking out to sunny Zambia – five separate items of luggage so far – and counting. Heading south I’ll be swapping our summer for the southern hemisphere’s winter. A good time for us to begin our excavations as the […]
Deep Roots Africa 