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Compass Truly, we would have been lost without this tool. If the weather is clear, one can use a distant mountain, estuary, or, upon returning, the cabin as a landmark. However, the weather was rarely clear. The compass, even the basic ones we used, never failed us.
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Clothing As this expedition took place in the Arctic, it would be a real oversight to exclude mention of the clothes required to keep us warm. Starting with the innermost clothing, we typically wore a thermal or duofold undershirt and leggings, two turtlenecks, a polartek shirt, a down vest, a flannel shirt, then the parka or rainshell. Scarves, hats, fingerless gloves and mittens, jeans, two pairs of socks, then either hiking boots or hip-waders. Ross MacPhee wore a sportsman's vest covered in pockets that he found indispensable. Bandanas are also infinitely useful in fieldwork.
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Map Talk about critical! The map may be the single most important tool to the paleontologist working on the tundra. The tundra is so flat and featureless that one would never find the small riverbeds and drainages we sought unless one walked for kilometers and stumbled down into one, OR if one had a map. This we did, thanks to Sergey Vartanyan who thought to provide one for each of us, complete with home base marked on each. |
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Measuring Tools Tapes and calipers served a dual purpose. Not only were they used for measuring specimens, such as dimensions on a long bone or tooth, but we also used them for calculating distances on our map, which had a convenient ratio of one-centimeter to one-kilometer. |
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Global Positioning System (GPS) Satellites are used to triangulate the researcher's position on the face of the Earth, in relation to latitude and longitude. My favorite feature was the speedometer that kept a running calculation of how fast we walked versus how far we had to go, e.g., "at this rate in two hours you'll be home drinking coffee." We were all surprised that the map option built into the GPS actually featured Wrangel Island! |
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Radio Puma 3 was the name of the radio that we carried with us at all the campsites during the expedition. It was used for shortwave communications with Ushakovsky central. (We had to set up the antenna, which had to be elevated 8'-10' off the ground.) |
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Canoe Sergey and Alexei Tikhonov embark on their trek to the Shumanaya River. This canoe allowed them to transport camping necessities via the sea coast to a distant location where we set up camp for a few days. Jeff Saunders, Clare Flemming, and Ross walked the coastal route, where they saw fresh polar bear footprints in the sand. |
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Backpacks He who has the biggest backpack carries the biggest burden. Needless to say, the backpack is used to transport whatever one needs for the day, which in our case included tools, lunches, alternate boots, simple toiletries, maps, notebooks, pens, plastic bags, and finally, the fossil finds of the day.
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Medical Kit Naturally, a good idea. We had very little need for much of the equipment in the kit Jeff put together for the expedition, fortunately. Materials included bandages, salves, ibuprofen, vitamins, burn treatments, freeze treatments, and so on, three boxes full in all. Here, Ross' bandaged fingers hold a lemming skull. |
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Ziploc® storage bags Everything from lunch to fossil specimens to maps to toilet paper were placed in self-sealing plastic bags.
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Marshpick Classic implements for field paleontology. The Marshpick (named after 19th-century paleontologist and Yale professor Othniel Marsh) has a sharp end and a chisel end mounted on a long wooden handle. One never knows when such tools may come in handy. For example, we used the Marshpick as a substitute tent stake. Here, the pick is flanked by molars (left) and tusk fragments (right).
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Drill and Diamond-studded Corer Our project required that we extract cores from the bones we collected, for two reasons. First, our collaborative agreement with the Russian Academy and Wrangel Island State Reserve required that we not take bones out of the country. Second, we needed to extract material from the inside of the bones where the pathogens we were looking for might have left evidence of their presence. The diamond-studded corer provided the mechanism to extract the plug of bone and reveal the spongy inner bone, or cancellous tissue. The plugs can now be radiocarbon dated, and the tissues from within the bone are currently being analyzed at the molecular level to search for genetic material of pathogens.
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Knife Any all-purpose, multifaceted knife will do. Practically every day, someone needed a screwdriver, pliers, or knife blade -- especially for spreading peanut butter on slices of thick Russian bread while out on the tundra. |
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Pins, Forceps, Vials, Paintbrushes, etc. Typical gear required for fine fossil collection and prep work. In our case, these tools helped extract and then hold the material that we removed from the mammoth's long bones.
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Carabiners Although carabiners were designed for climbing and rappelling with ropes, we have found numerous uses for these clips, including clipping a tea kettle to a backpack for easy transport, or hanging clothes on a line. |
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Cameras Our expedition was outfitted with digital video and still camera equipment by Brian Drolet, Managing Editor of the Electronic Publishing Group for the Museum's National Center for Science Literacy, Education and Technology. The "dij cams" allowed us the chance to view pictures moments after we shot them, so we could choose to reshoot if necessary. The images on this Web site were all shot with a Kodak DC 120. (Here, Clare has a Canon Rebel.)
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Saw Sergey used a saw to cut certain tusks we found. This served two purposes: to render the specimen portable -- some tusks weigh almost 100 lbs. (44 kg) -- and to allow the scientist a glimpse of the life cycle of the mammoth, since tusks are built up in annual rings. This cross-section of mammoth tusk documents Sergey's name and the date of collection. The center hole is the pulp cavity; characteristic banding marks the fossil dentine. The powder on the ground is not snow, but "sawdust" of pure ivory. |
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Field Notebook Ideally, each researcher documents his or her day's activity in a permanent notebook. This is not just for fun (or Web pages), but is a required aspect of responsible field work. Often it is unpublished material in field notes that provide the most specific details of a locality and specimens collected. |
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Baby Towelettes Pre-moistened, soapy baby wipes proved extremely useful in many ways. Whether for washing hands after eating grapefruit, or cleaning knife blades, or wiping mud off parkas, OR more along the lines of their original purpose, this product always makes it into our field kits. |
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Click
here to learn about Radiocarbon Dating. |
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© American Museum of Natural History
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