The maxim that science is 5% inspiration and 95% perspiration found its practical example in our work in Jordan. The routine was to wake up around 6am, leave a little before 7am and at 8am we were in front of an outcrop, already describing and collecting samples. Work continued until around 16 or 17 pm, with a break for a snack for about an hour.
For most of the fieldwork, the days were similar. Pleasant mornings, with 19°C-20°C, and then, from 10am until around 15:30pm, with temperatures reaching 30°C (on a few days we had temperatures above 30°C). The open sun harms the researcher, but autumn and spring are the best times for work in the field, as we are not subject to temperatures above 40°C in summer, nor to temperatures below 0°C, with rain and occasional episodes of snow precipitation in winter. In just one day, we had a light drizzle, but nothing that interfered with work.
As we preferably work in roadside ravines, we even started to become known in the area and also in the city where we had our snacks, as the population already knew that we were Brazilians. Every day we received gifts, like when at the supermarket the cashier didn't charge us for water or soda (similar episodes occurred in cafeterias). We systematically heard the names of Neymar, Ronaldinho, Pelé.... Sometimes we were surrounded by children who wanted to know if we were Muslims, if we liked Jordan, if we were on the side of Israel or Palestine. When things went in that direction, an adult Jordanian always appeared to “disperse” the children.
We returned to the apartment late in the afternoon, after 18pm, usually exhausted. But, contrary to what many think, the work does not end in the field. In the apartment we organized all the samples and recorded and drew the profiles described in the field.
This work also continued with the reading of articles, because, for some things we saw in the field, we sought interpretations in published texts, all accompanied by academic discussions. Me, João and Giancarlo shared our samples – sent to England with João, to Rio Claro with Giancarlo and to Unicamp with me. Before removing these samples from Jordan, we had to make a report to the Department of Antiquities.
The detailed descriptions of the rocks and soils we made in the field determined the exact points where we collected the samples. Each sample was divided into two packages – one that we brought with us and another that remained in Jordan, in case our luggage was lost (luckily, everything arrived correctly). Now we will carry out a sequence of analyzes that will still require a few months of effort.
We are working with uranium-thorium dating in calcite (we have many CaCO3 crusts that cement archaeological pieces) and also with paleomagnetism (yes, as incredible as it may seem, the Earth's magnetic pole was not always north). It is known that normal (current) polarity was established just under 1 million years ago and was predominantly inverted (if you had a compass during this period, the needle would point south) until 2,5 million years ago. As this period interests us, we are using these methods.
We will also carry out a series of chemical and physical analyzes of the soil, in addition to micromorphological analyzes (observation of the soil under a microscope) seeking to identify the soil formation processes and, therefore, the environmental characteristics in which they developed.
In addition to our work, the team of archaeologists (Walter Neves and Fábio Parenti) spent the day looking for archaeological pieces, especially cores (blocks of rock against which hominins hit to remove splinters) and the splinters themselves. This search took place in the profiles we were working on, making it possible to associate our descriptions with the archaeological pieces. Sometimes I also found some pieces, but I didn't find nearly the amount of material that Fábio and Walter's trained eyes identified. They found and collected more than a hundred archaeological pieces.
Their mission didn’t end with fieldwork, either. At night they needed to wash all the pieces found during the day with brushes, organize them by profiles and archaeological levels, create a code for each of them, paint this code on each sample and photograph all the pieces at different angles, and then store them. them in boxes. On several days, Fábio was the last to go to sleep and, at around 5am, he was already working with the pieces. Most of the archaeological samples will not leave Jordan, remaining archived in the Department of Antiquities. Only the pieces that can best help us in the study of these groups of hominins could be sent to Brazil, with special authorization. After analysis, they must return to Jordan.
The archaeological survey proved to be extremely productive. Not only because of the more than one hundred pieces collected, but mainly because we found both Olduvai pieces (simpler pieces, which require more rudimentary manufacturing techniques) and Acheulean pieces (more elaborate pieces, with more improved manufacturing techniques). Intermediate pieces were also found, indicating that different groups of hominins lived in the area and that, in that location, there may have been a technological transition in the chipping pattern.
From this, the archaeological importance of the area becomes clear, indicating the need to generate a large set of data in chronological and paleoenvironmental terms to better characterize the conditions in which these hominins lived and try to discover how they expanded from Africa to Asia , passing through the region we are studying.
Despite the advances made in this field stage, there are still several areas of interest, including profiles in which mammal fossils were found.
Therefore, at this moment, we will accelerate all laboratory analyzes on the hundreds of samples we brought, in order to be able to “guide” other collections in our future field stage, already set to take place next Jordanian autumn. The work is just beginning.
Watch the video with more explanations about the archaeological survey carried out:
Read more:
Climate may have facilitated the migration of hominins from Africa to Asia
New collections, new information
Check out more images produced in Jordan:
