Archaeologists are hunting for fossils in Kenya's Turkana Basin — and you can help


Calling all keen eyes: The University of Bradford and the Turkana Basin Institute have launched FossilFinder.org, a website that wants to enlist citizen scientists to help identify possible fossils and "cultural remains" at Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. And couch-potato amateur archaeologists, you're in luck: you don't even have to leave your couch to be a valuable member of the team.
Fossil Finder uses drones and kites to capture high-resolution images of the Turkana Basin, a 4 million-year-old "fossil hotspot" located in a difficult-to-traverse desert. Posting photos on the site allows for fossils that might get missed in a field survey to instead be spotted by people working from home.
The website is set up a like a game: An image pops up, and users are prompted to answer a series of questions about it. There's also an option to flag the photo for scientists, in case a fossil is spotted.
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Who knows, maybe you'll be the one to find something that changes the way we think about human history. Good luck and happy hunting!
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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