Yesterday was the press release for the Green Sahara story in National Geographic Magazine, based on the excavations at Gobero. Members from the various expeditions convened in Washington, DC for the announcement.
The press release was held in an auditorium at National Geographic Geo Headquarters, which sat 200 or 250 people. On stage was a podium with silk ferns in front, a projection screen for slides and close up looks at the artifacts, the triple burial (well, a cast of it) on a rotating stand, a table of harpoons, beads, hooks, points, tools and fauna, and a table with two skulls - one Kiffian and one Tenerean - and the skeleton of the girl wearing the bracelet.
In the hours leading up to the press release, everyone was relaxed, and for the most part disaster was avoided. (I would say 'uneventful,' but the whole thing was such an event that it wouldn't be the right word choice). The only glitch was that the warthog skull had been damaged en route from Chicago to the National Geographic podium. Tyler and I had to bust out some super glue to fix it - luckily, he'd foreseen such an occurrence and brought glue with him.
The presentation was scheduled to begin at 10:30. The press and public were let in about 30 minutes before that. The auditorium began to fill with people holding copies of the new, unreleased National Geographic containing the article on the Gobero site - and I hadn't even seen it yet! Other team members and affiliates there were Gabe, Shureice, Tyler, Didier, Mike, Peter, Phil and Ide.
Paul Sereno, Elena Garcea, Helene Jousse, and Chris Stojanowski all spoke at the event. After a brief introduction, Paul spoke first and before he introduced the site, he mentioned a few of the team members in case the press wanted interviews. He introduced Gabe - the founder of Project Exploration, Didier, Shureice, and myself, which was quite an honor. Helene, Elena, and Chris all highlighted different features of the site.
After the presentation, we headed for lunch to celebrate that the Gobero story had gone public!
Visit National Geographic for the article and a video about the site: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/green-sahara/gwin-text
The press release was held in an auditorium at National Geographic Geo Headquarters, which sat 200 or 250 people. On stage was a podium with silk ferns in front, a projection screen for slides and close up looks at the artifacts, the triple burial (well, a cast of it) on a rotating stand, a table of harpoons, beads, hooks, points, tools and fauna, and a table with two skulls - one Kiffian and one Tenerean - and the skeleton of the girl wearing the bracelet.
In the hours leading up to the press release, everyone was relaxed, and for the most part disaster was avoided. (I would say 'uneventful,' but the whole thing was such an event that it wouldn't be the right word choice). The only glitch was that the warthog skull had been damaged en route from Chicago to the National Geographic podium. Tyler and I had to bust out some super glue to fix it - luckily, he'd foreseen such an occurrence and brought glue with him.
The presentation was scheduled to begin at 10:30. The press and public were let in about 30 minutes before that. The auditorium began to fill with people holding copies of the new, unreleased National Geographic containing the article on the Gobero site - and I hadn't even seen it yet! Other team members and affiliates there were Gabe, Shureice, Tyler, Didier, Mike, Peter, Phil and Ide.
Paul Sereno, Elena Garcea, Helene Jousse, and Chris Stojanowski all spoke at the event. After a brief introduction, Paul spoke first and before he introduced the site, he mentioned a few of the team members in case the press wanted interviews. He introduced Gabe - the founder of Project Exploration, Didier, Shureice, and myself, which was quite an honor. Helene, Elena, and Chris all highlighted different features of the site.
After the presentation, we headed for lunch to celebrate that the Gobero story had gone public!
Visit National Geographic for the article and a video about the site: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/09/green-sahara/gwin-text
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