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'Upon arriving at the archeological site, my eyes widened. A few steps out of the car and I stumbled across a hammer stone . . . then a beautiful stone point. But this was only the beginning. As we continued our search, my excitement rose until I found myself kneeling next to the face of a 5,000-plus-year-old skeleton.

My hands were jittery as I blew sand off a cranium peeking out of its grave. This is what I had trained for! Shouts from other team members logged skeleton after skeleton -- it was an unbelievable graveyard, a pristine archeological site -- again, how did I get here? Last year I spent time in Tanzania at Laetoli studying stone tools from the Middle Stone Age. I didn't dream of seeing an untouched site like this for years. All I can think about these days is how did I get here? Is this a dream?

My transformation, from "water boy" to "chief archeologist" was swift, but I'm managing! Instead of asking questions, I'm answering them. My desire to learn more about the lives of this ancient people fuels my excitement. I can't help grinning as I map a field of skeletons and artifacts with Paul Sereno. Getting turned on by a bunch of stones and bones may not be everyone's ball of wax, but feeling this thrill reassures me that I'm headed in the right direction in life. Who would have thought that all this was possible on a DINOSAUR expedition?"

-- Jeff Stivers, journal entry, November 2003

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When Jeff Stivers took an introductory archeology class his freshman year at Colorado College, he didn't realize it would change his life. That course led him to sign up for a field course on Easter Island in the South Pacific. Now, four years later, he is finishing his senior thesis on stone tools from Tanzania and, at age 21, is one of the youngest team members on the expedition to the Sahara led by University of Chicago paleontologist Paul Sereno.

When he signed on for the mission, he knew he'd get experience prospecting for, and excavating, dinosaurs. What he didn't know was that the expedition would take him to one of the most significant archeological discoveries in the Sahara.

Team member Gabrielle Lyon talked with Stivers after a day spent mapping the habitation and burial site that records the lives of a Stone Age people known as the Tenere Culture. Lyon and Sereno, her husband, co-founded Project Exploration.

Q. What's the most exciting thing you've found on the expedition so far?

A. Finding the croc skull at our second campsite was great. But this archeological site is an incredible high point for me. To walk around and get a look at numerous skeletons, try to guess their age at death, look at the wear on their teeth or spot their injuries -- it's absolutely outstanding. And to see the wealth of artifacts -- harpoons, beads and all sorts of stone tools -- as an archeologist, I start to get hot!

Q. Have you ever heard of a site like the one you're at right now? Is there anything comparable?

A. There are other sites as rich -- but they aren't of Neolithic age in the Sahara documenting the Tenere Culture. Judging from the number of complete skeletons we have here, this site would blow any other one out of the water. There's so much we could learn about the people and their lives from the dozens of skeletons buried here. I think that these different hills are graves and burial sites, but there may also have been several levels of habitation, given all of the work tools and pottery.

Q. When you went to college, did you know you want to pursue archeology?

A. I come from a large family -- I have four brothers and two sisters. Most of them have gone to business school, and I always envisioned myself pretty much sticking to that path. When I went to college, I didn't know a single archeologist or anthropologist.

My freshman year, I took a field class that took me to Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean, and once I got into archeology, I knew it was for me. I continued taking classes and my interest just kept compounding. At times it's been tough, because I strayed from the family norm. As an unpaid volunteer on this expedition, for example, there aren't many usual benefits. On the other hand, there are a lot of incurable diseases you could get. That can be hard to explain to the folks sometimes.

Q. What's the difference between paleontology, anthropology and archeology?

A. Paleontology is the study of all kinds of ancient life -- except humans. Anthropologists study human culture, behavior and language; archeologists study artifacts. If you're an archeologist, you study artifacts -- the things humans left behind -- to paint a picture of how ancient humans lived.

Q. If you're an archeology major, why did you join a dinosaur expedition?

A. Aside from just studying humans, I've always been fascinated by past life in general. Since I was a little kid, I've always been interested in dinosaurs. For me, the whole concept that there were animals and entire ecosystems that were thriving without humans really spurs my imagination. I like stepping back in time to wonder, "What was going on back then?"

Right now, at this site, I walk around wondering, "What would it have been like to live around ancient Lake Chad? What was it really like?" When I pick up a spearhead, I try to imagine what it was used for. Were they going around shooting small mammals or small fish? Every artifact conjures new images. It's fascinating. I love to think in that way.

Q. When you pick up an artifact, how can you tell it's not just a rock?

A. Most of the rocks around here are rounded on the edges from years of abrasion by sand blown by strong winds of the Sahara, so first off you need to look for rocks that look out of place or freshly broken. If I see one and pick it up, then I look for what are called "negative scars" -- marks that are caused from when someone strikes the rock and a flake comes off. The strike leaves a scar. Then I examine the edges to see if there's any pattern in the scars. Color doesn't really matter. Usually no matter where you are, there are certain rock types that are preferable for making stone tools. At this site the preferred material is a hard green stone that looks a bit like jade. We have no idea where they got this kind of stone -- yet.

Q. How do you know the age of an artifact, especially in a place that may have been occupied for a long period of time, or occupied more than once?

A. Archeologists have separated stone tools into categories, starting with old, chunky chopper tools that look almost unworked. They're rounded on one edge, and on the other end the edge of the rock has been struck from two different sides to make a kind of edge. These were probably used for breaking apart bones. As you slowly move up the category scale, tools become more and more refined.

During the Neolithic, many of tools are small, like the tiny arrowheads we have found here. Creating tiny tools requires more sophisticated techniques, like using bone to flake off smaller pieces.

It takes real talent to make something this small. I've tried to make stone tools myself, but they look like tools 200,000 years old and after making a few, my hands are usually bruised and bleeding!

Copyright © 2003, Chicago Tribune