Museum that is treasure of ancient man’s tools

Long ago, it is said that a Maasai elder named Olorgesailie would climb up a mountain to meditate.

He would also conduct meetings with other village elders on the same slopes. The mountain, located on the floor of the Eastern Rift Valley, would eventually be named after him.

Years later, the same name would be associated with discoveries of early man’s tools. Today, sandwiched between two extinct volcanic mountains - Olorgesailie and Oldonyo Esakut - is Olorgesailie Prehistoric Site: a museum located about 75 kilometres from Nairobi on Magadi Road.

Referred to as the “factory of stone tools”, the 52-acre piece of land is the only place in the world with the largest amount of Acheulian hand axes that were crafted by hominins between 600,000 and 900,000 years ago.

It was gazetted as a national monument on June 6, 1970.

FOSSILS

The museum preserves these tools in their original form, as well as casts of fossilised skeletons of animals discovered in the area.

These include fossils of a hippo, elephant, giraffe, zebra, baboon and hyena.

The guide informed us that they could not keep original fossils at the museum due to security concerns, though the casts are incredibly lifelike.

The first foreign scientist to visit the area was British geologist John Walker in 1919.

Excavation work at the site began in 1942 when a team led by Dr Louis and Mrs Mary Leakey, assisted by paroled Italian prisoners of war, visited the area and continued until 1947.

Reports say Mary Leakey discovered what was then referred to as “the world’s most important deposit of late Stone Age hand axes” by the 1978 issue of The LSB Leakey Foundation News Fall.

RESEARCH

Glynn Isaacs, a South African archaeologist, carried out excavation work at Olorgesailie in the 1960s as part of his dissertation.

Thereafter, in the 1980s, a team from the Smithsonian Institution’s Human Origins Programme and Department of Earth Sciences led by Dr Richard Potts in collaboration with the National Museums of Kenya commenced their own research at the site.

Their research indicates that although the stone tools informed them of the presence of hominins in the area during the late Stone Age, further dating of sediments points to the likelihood of the species responsible being the Homo erectus.

The first hominin fossil was not discovered there until 2003.

The study further attempts to ascertain where hominins lived and died, and why only one fossil has been discovered despite the numerous excavations at the site.

After years of excavating sediments in the lowlands with no success, the team moved towards the highlands where they unearthed the first fossil in a matter of months.

UNESCO LISTING

They then said that the hominins may have “…foraged near the lakesides or streams for food and left many artefacts, but died in other places. Highland areas, such as Mt Olorgesailie, were sources of stone used for making stone tools.”

Because the first fossil had teeth marks on its brow, it was assumed that the toolmakers encountered predators when they finally arrived at the highland, perhaps at night.

The lake basin alluded to has since dried up, the only evidence of its existence being the hot climate.

The white volcanic ash in the area, associated to volcanoes that erupted at the now extinct Mt Suswa and Mt Longonot, is partly linked to the death of the lakes.

These conditions also made the preservation of the fossils and artefacts discovered along the shores of the lake basin possible.

Olorgesailie is on a list awaiting nomination as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Its significance to the surrounding Maasai community, which donated the site to the government, has been cited as a justification for its outstanding universal value.

RITUALS

The Ilkeekonyokie Maasai would perform sacrifices to their god, Enkai, atop Mt Olorgesailie.

Despite being an internationally renown attraction, the building that houses the museum is surprisingly dilapidated.

However, everything within it is in a relatively good shape and quite secure.

Maasai women sell bangles, cuffs and chains with beautiful bead-work at a curio shade within the compound.

A few minutes short of a two-hour drive from Nairobi, the site would make for an interesting weekend trip to educate oneself about the origins of humankind.

If you make the trip, don’t forget to wear your sunscreen.

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