Sandscapes

Here's my entry reposted from the Gobero team's expedition blog, which can be found here.

As our Land Rovers rolled to a halt when we reached Gobero and we hopped out to scope out the site, our attention turned immediately to the artifacts and faunal remains visible on the surface of the sand in all directions. You always have to watch your step when walking to dodge the bones of hippopotamus, crocodile, nile perch, and even a species of fresh water blowfish that once lived here.

A red-spotted lizard blends in with the sand. Photo by H. Moots.

While most of the excavations here take place on the raised ‘hills,’ (technically paleodunes that once formed a peninsula in the surrounding Lake Gobero), the lower-elevation areas around the ‘hills’ were once at the bottom of this long-since-dry lake. The faunal remains here provide abundant evidence about which animals lived in this lake and what the ecosystem was like thousands of years ago when the Kiffians and, subsequently the Tenereans inhabited the site.

See the jerboa (Kankaroo mouse) in the upper right hand corner? We came across this jerboa (edaoui, in Tamashek) while surveying the site. Photo by H. Moots.

Over time, the climate at Gobero has dessicated and it is now as dry and sandy as you’d imagine the Sahara to be. But the area is by no means devoid of life. Since arriving, we have seen fennecs (a desert fox a little smaller than a jackal (the word for this animal in Tamashek, a language spoken here and in several neighboring countries, is ezzuguzz); pied crows (arghulga-wan-tuggazie); red spotted lizards (tashamey); jerboa (edaoui); dreaded wind scorpians (aghardum); ants; and beetles.

Plants that live here need tough defenses to protect themselves. Acacia trees (attas), for example, have sharp thorns to protect its leaves from browsers like camel and gazelle. You never want to leave your tent barefooted because you’re bound to encounter their sharp thorns mixed in with the sand – ouch! In addition to the ones I mentioned, there is a multitude of animals and plants here, each with its own adaptations to the desert ecosystem in which they live.

It’s been an extraordinary experience to be part of a vibrant desert ecosystem while piecing together an ancient world.