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...cont'd
11/21
8:20am
Sauropod site, C-19
This is our last full
field day of the expedition. Driving to
the site, Paul is thoughtful. Didier jokes
with him, “You know, Paul, this isn’t like
eating the last piece of cake. It’s something
little bit bigger.” Paul responds. “Yeah,
Didier, a lot bigger.”
The team is already
at it, pick-axing furiously and turning
jackets with precious neck vertebrae. The
cool of the morning helps the work go quickly.
So does the absence of the fat, black flies
that have plagued us at this site.
Now surrounded
completely in plaster, the skeleton of the
sauropod is ready for loading for the long
journey out of the desert.
Photo by Gabrielle Lyon
Last night, Paul redrew
the site map; the discovery of so many unexpected
bones had made the original almost unreadable.
A carcass – drawn and quartered into numbered
jackets –has become clear. We are missing
only hands, feet and skull. We practically
have the tail to the tip. This will not
only be one of the most complete sauropods
known, it will be the most complete skeleton
ever discovered from this time period on
Africa.
We have collected three
times as much material here as we anticipated
– with half as much plaster. We are not
going to be able to close the jackets until
we get to Agadez. We just do not have the
plaster. By the time we get back to our
compound, however, Bido will have returned
from Niamey with a fresh supply.
The jackets
seem raw almost, sitting in the sun with
rock still exposed. These unfinished jackets
will travel in a truck along the piste from
InAbangharit to Agadez – more than 100 miles.
An aluminum
tripod and block and tackle is one of the
most successful and lightweight solutions
for lifting jackets that weigh as much as
a ton.
Photo by Gabrielle Lyon
We have to finish the
site today. We have to. We have to load
tomorrow and be back in Agadez by tomorrow
night…
11/22
Sauropod site, C-19
11:25am
We are in the final
throes of loading the jackets onto the big
camion (truck). The 10-foot tripod
is walked out and positioned, legs splayed.
Two of the biggest jackets left to go. After
loading so many jackets this season, the
system is efficient:
Drag the jackets
out of the pit with a Land Rover. Position
the big truck, with the tail down. Slide
two thick, straps under the jacket. Tighten
the straps. Hitch up the strap with a “D”
ring and hook on the chain. Now, use the
pulley at the top of the tripod to hoist.
Hands move quickly
and the chain ratchets up. Slowly, the jacket
levitates. Just a few inches up and then
check for any slipping. The straps are holding.
Slowly ratchet up the chain and hook on
the cable stretching from the back of the
flatbed. Now the jacket can move vertically
as well as horizontally.
Hans pulls and
Eric pushes, as a 400 pound jacket, slung
from a tripod, is wrestled into the back
of a truck for transport out of the desert.
Photo by Gabrielle Lyon
Greg is the winch-man
for the cable. Hans is on ropes and Eric
guides the pulley from below. As the pulley
lifts each huge jacket, the cable winches
it into the truck. As the jacket nears the
edge of the truck all hands are on it to
PUSH. It’s up. Get the pry bar in place
and shimmy the jacket back to the far back
of the truck.
Even as we load we are
thinking of the few days ahead. The two
days in Agadez during which we will inventory
and pack and load every piece of equipment
not only for cargo, but also for storage…
The team
poses for a final field portrait atop two
of the Land Rovers
that helped them explore the desert. - Photo
by Alhassane DineDine
Gabrielle
Lyon
Team Member, 2000 Expedition to Niger.
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