http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Dear Dodo friendsWhen you read this message, we are on board of our flight to Mauritius, where we will arrive this evening. But now I am standing on the roof of my home in Utrecht, typing on my personal computer. Its Thursday 11 p.m. and I ... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Fri, 2 Jun 2006 10:41:15 +0200 Expedition leader Kenneth Rijsdijk ... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Fri, 2 Jun 2006 10:58:46 +0200 After arrival on Mauritius, we immediately started to locate the digging site Mare aux Songes and started preparatory work for the excavation that will be launched next week. The preparations include: bone concentration detection with groun... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:40:01 +0200 Kenneth Rijsdijk & Team This afternoon local Dodo specialist Alan Grihault invited us for a trip across the island. Our goal was to explore various lava tunnels in order to become aquainted with their different morphology and evolution. Lava tunnels abound on Maur... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Mon, 5 Jun 2006 19:59:54 +0200 Remmelt Lukkien (cinematographer) Today Marten van der Rijst conducted geophysical field mesurements with his ground tracer, all over the Mare aux Songes swamp. The data are stored in a computer and after analysing them Marten can tell us where to drill soil cores. If these... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Mon, 5 Jun 2006 20:23:05 +0200 Kenneth Rijdsijk & Remmelt Lukkien Interpretation of geophysical (grond tracer) data collected by Marten van der Rijst indicate spots where the recently dumped layer of stone debris is thinnest. On these thin spots soil core drilling will be carried out, in order to prospect... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Fri, 9 Jun 2006 10:36:57 +0200 Kenneth Rijsdijk & Remmelt Lukkien Today MTMD-manager Christian Foo Kune arranged a press conference to announce the start of the excavations in Mare aux Songes. Many Mauritian media were present, among which the Mauritian Broadcasting Company, journalists of local and natio... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Fri, 9 Jun 2006 10:52:36 +0200 Kenneth, Marten & Rene Today preparations for the intended excavation of Mare aux Songes were almost put to an end. An improvised, but state of the art, sieving installation enabling four people to work at the same time on different soil fractions was erected nea... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 08:41:23 +0200 by Marten van der Rijst and Kenneth Rijsdijk Additional team-members arrived today: Dirk van Smeerdijk (palaeobotany) together with Ranjith Jayasena and Sem Peeters (who, as archaeologists, will focus on bone material discovered at Fort Frederik Hendrik in order to analyse diet habits... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Sat, 10 Jun 2006 09:01:56 +0200 by Dirk van Smeerdijk, Ranjith Jayasena, Kenneth Rijsdijk & Sem Peeters An indispensible team member arrived today: dr. Julian Hume (London), who is a world renowned dodo-expert from the Natural History Museum. His knowledge of the dodo will be of great help.Ranjith, Sem, Rene and Marten scanned Fort Frederik H... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:47:52 +0200 by Kenneth Rijsdijk, Dirk van Smeerdijk & Ranjith Jayasena ‘Groundtracer’ Marten van der Rijst went home and left the team with new insights in subsoil composition of Mare aux Songes. At 9 a.m. Kenneth Rijsdijk, Ranjith Jayasena and Julian Hume welcomed the director and researchers of the Mauritian... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Tue, 13 Jun 2006 14:49:04 +0200 by Kenneth Rijsdijk & Ranjith Jayasena Let’s test the sieving installation before we start excavating Mare aux Songes tomorrow. That was todays mission. Well, the sieve operates fine. Close to the 2005 test pit we scooped into the ground and dumped heaps of soil on the sieve. Re... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213 Wed, 14 Jun 2006 13:19:25 +0200 By Ranjith Jayasena & Sem Peeters Close to the 2005 test pit a big excavator opened the fossil bearing layer of the Mare aux Songes swamp. Our Mauritian machine driver is very skilled and he operates his excavator with utmost precision. Every scoop is presented close to our... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213&logId=l000013&execute=showsingleitem Fri, 16 Jun 2006 07:59:28 +0200 By Ranjith Jayasena & Sem Peeters The results of our digging up to now are overwhelming; they exceed our highest expectations. In the words of Dodo specialist and extinct bird hunter Julian Hume: "you found gold!" However, the government and the people of Mauritius are very... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213&logId=l000014&execute=showsingleitem Sat, 17 Jun 2006 10:11:05 +0200 By Marcel & Kenneth Over the weekend we put much effort in our contacts with our Mauritian hosts and counterparts. This is of vital importance for the expedition. Tomorrow expedition leader Kenneth Rijsdijk returns to Holland and I will start digging.... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213&logId=l000015&execute=showsingleitem Mon, 19 Jun 2006 16:13:04 +0200 By Lars van den Hoek Ostende Gilles, Remmelt and Marcel are here to shoot a film for the Dutch television series "Noorderlicht". As such, they are members of the expedition team, but don’t think they only film the whole day. Our friends from the media are good fieldwor... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213&logId=l000016&execute=showsingleitem Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:18:02 +0200 By Lars van den Hoek Ostende The Mare aux Songes excavation has resulted in an enormous amount of finds. The many bones need to be washed, photographed and catalogued. Therefore a part of the team is staying at the base processing the finds while the others are busy to... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213&logId=l000017&execute=showsingleitem Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:23:55 +0200 By Ranjith Jayasena & Beth Shapiro Our dodo expert Julian Hume took us to Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius, to visit the Mauritius Institute where showcases full of dodo bones were awaiting us. Julian examined the remains of 299 different dodos, all dug up around 1865 by... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213&logId=l000018&execute=showsingleitem Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:42:27 +0200 By Gilles Frenken (cameraman) Despite the lack of cooperation from the weather, today was another productive day on the site. The day began with the digging of another hole, this time in the third basin of the Mare aux Songes, which is the basin closest to the sea. The ... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213&logId=l000019&execute=showsingleitem Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:46:46 +0200 By Beth Shapiro Today we announced our preliminary results on a press conference and the board of directors of the Mon Tresor et Mon Desert Sugar Estate were shown around at the site. The directors were enthusiastic about our research. ... http://www.naturalis.nl/get?site=naturalis.nl&view=naturalis.nl&id=i001213&logId=l000020&execute=showsingleitem Sat, 24 Jun 2006 13:53:23 +0200 By Lars van den Hoek Ostende