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Dr. Martin Pickford takes us on a tour of the dig site, where fossils of Orrorin were found.
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March 2001, Kenya
Three months after the discovery of the Orrorin fossils, our camera crew returns with the scientists to the very site where Orrorin was discovered -- a grueling eight-hour drive from Nairobi to the heart of the Tugen Hills.
When there, a lifetime experience was caught on camera. While filming, someone from the Community Museums of Kenya team finds a tooth -- a molar. It appears to be human, while dating at an incredible six million years old. One more clue to Orrorin.
Yet behind the discoveries is a world of controversy, battles, and passions.
And travelling to Nairobi in July, I cannot forget the rivalries that abound between scientists in the hunt for human origins.
One such conflict is between the Community Museums of Kenya team, the discoverers of Orrorin, and a famous fossil-hunting family -- the Leakeys. Fortunately, as a filmmaker and observer, I feel free to talk to both camps.
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At the dig in Kenya's Tugen Hills, eight hours by car from Nairobi.
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So when I find myself in the Nairobi office of Meave Leakey, Richard Leakey's wife, I am delighted that she is also happy to clear the politics aside. For she agrees, that Orrorin is an incredibly important find. If it proves to be bipedal, she says, it is hugely significant in our study of early human evolution.
Meanwhile, the team from the Community Museums of Kenya are extremely generous with their time in showing me the highlights of Nairobi. For they are busy preparing for the opening of the Kipsaraman Museum, which will eventually house Orrorin. They also have many educational projects on the go, including field schools to encourage the study of palaeontology and geology within Kenya. Their colleagues from France and Japan will soon be returning to their sites in the Tugen hills.
I am also privileged to be able meet Don Johanson, who is passing through Nairobi while I am there. 28 years ago he discovered Lucy in Ethiopia and he has since become America's most famous paleontologist, and founder of the Institute of Human Origins in Arizona. Hearing the stories of his past adventures is a magical ending to an unforgettable trip.
- Lucy McDowell
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