September 11
Discoveries and Site Decisions
5:35am
Camp 1
Gadafawa

On September 7 the White Tdi LandRover roared into camp with Eric at the wheel and Greg beside him. Close behind was Bido's Toyota with Rud and our Nigerienne team members. And, on top of the White, strapped on to the roof rack was an enormous thick orange rubber balloon filled with 150 gallons of water.

As we siphoned water from the balloon into our empty bidons, and unloaded boxes of food, tools, cots, the story unfolded.

They had traveled to Benin to try to find the trucks carrying our cargo and to bring them gas so they could reach the Niger border. On the 1st of September - nearly three weeks late due to trucks breaking down, the gas shortage in Benin and a truck-drivers' strike in Niger - our cargo arrived in Niamey. The next day everything cleared customs and Eric, Greg and Rud unloaded the cargo containers, put the fossils at the Museum, and reloaded the expedition cargo onto a flatbed truck. They left Niamey the very next morning at 5:00am only to have the Blue J Land Rover break down just outside Dosso. Blue J was towed by the flatbed to Birnin Koni and then again the next day to Agadez where again Eric, Rud and Greg unloaded the flatbed of its goods into the compound and then reloaded supplies onto the big water truck, which was awaiting their arrival with 15,000 liters of water.  

They talk in bits and pieces as we move box after box out of the back of the trucks. They are chomping at the bit to get into the field and hardly has the last box touched the ground than they are off, back in the trucks, heading out our sandy, dune lined driveway to check out the Suchomimus and Sarcosuchus sites.

That night the team, was not only clean, we were complete.

The water truck hobbled, broken to camp, and finally arrived on September 10^th. We decanted the water into four 800-gallon turquoise water balloons and every other available container in camp.

Until just a few days ago, we were operating on with the few tools and supplies we had stored in 1997. People were sleeping on trucks since there were no cots or sleeping bags and we were sharing tools and using plaster sparingly. The forethought at the end of the 1997 Expedition made it possible for us to work even with our cargo delayed. Now, we've got our full crew and all our supplies. We have moved into high gear.

So far they've bagged a site with a good amount of postcranial material (bones other than the skull) and are moving forward to collect the enormous lower jaws Chris Sidor found about a week ago.

The jaws are long and unbelieveably huge. At one point the whole team lay head to foot along the ground to get a sense of just how large this animal would have been. It took seven of us - with Hans and Paul lying perpendicular to mark the front and hind limbs - to stretch the length of this animal when it was alive.

The team I am working with, Paul, Jack, Rud, Eric, Tim and our Nigerienne members, Omar, Magga and Boube Gaddo, is focusing attention on an exciting Suchomimus site.

The first skeleton of Suchomimus  -  85% complete with a good part of the skull - was discovered by David Varricchio during the 1997 Expedition  to Niger. Suchomimus is a 35-foot (12 meter) long carnivore, that walked on two legs and had a snout specially adapted for fishing. The skull is more than four-feet long, and narrow; it is not wider than four inches near the tip. We think the long, curved front teeth acted as a cage so that would have helped Suchomimus snare fish out of the rivers it patrolled 110 million years ago.

Why collect another skeleton of Suchomimus? Any new bones we can find - like bones of the hands and feet - give us new information about an animal noone had seen prior to 1997. Another reason to collect this specimen is that a number of bones overlap (are the same as) bones from the first specimen. Having two of something like a left humerus (arm bones) lets us compare them in terms of size and shape.

Did we know what would be preserved at the site when we started? No. We knew there were a series of vertebrae exposed, that they were articulated and they looked like Suchomimus bones. The bones seemed to be in good condition, and from the way the bones were angled, it seemed likely there would be more in the ground.

First we brush away the surrounding sand to see what else is preserved. At this Suchomimus site we found vertebrae from the neck and ribs, and also hand and foot bones. This first phase is sometimes the most exciting - you don't know how much will be preserved, every new bone adds to the overall importance of the site, and anyone can find anything at any time.

At one point we followed 14 neck vertebrae (cervicals), hoping we would find skull bones at the end. But, after the second to last vertebra there were no more to be found. No head at this site.

Is it possible that there are parts of a skull to this animal five or ten feet from the main site? Yes. But we could spend all of our time looking randomly in places. We tend to focus, instead, on what we see.

The site does, however, preserve a wishbone! (furicula). This single bone is an important discovery because Suchomimus is one of the earliest dinosaurs to have this bone we humans have become so fond of.

The Suchomimus site is particularly complicated. Ribs are lying across other bones, and bones run, in some places, two feet deep, requiring chiseling with mallets - sometimes while lying down on the ground.

Our Nigerienne team members - archaeologists and a paleontologist - are excited to be in the field and to learn paleontology field techniques. They, like the rest of the team, are looking forward to prospecting for new sites over the next few days.

Paul is with our team members from Niger's IRSH Research Institute - From left to right are Dr.Boube Gado, Dr. Paul Sereno, Dr. Abdoulaye Maga,
and Dr. Oumarou Amadou Ide.

Now, we have to begin to balance looking for new sites and excavating what we find. Time is beginning to be mapped, ever so slowly, as the field season winds on.

Gabrielle Lyon
Team Member, 2000 Expedition to Niger.