Just before the start of summer, I (Sarah Ivory) went to Flagstaff to work with Scott Anderson and Ken Cole to sample and process the hyrax middens that we collected in Oman the early spring. Our goal was to extract pollen and plant remains to be identified back at Ohio State as well as to get samples to send for radiocarbon dating and isotope analysis. Sounds simple enough, but given that the middens are fossilized chunks of poop encased in urine, it actually is more of an experience to process them than one might expect. First we cut them open, which produced a surprising amount of dust with a surprisingly strong odor. Then we disaggregated the midden chunks in buckets of water in order to reconstitute the urine to be used to extract pollen. Also exceptionally smelly.
Splitting middens with a tile saw
Me (Sarah Ivory) all kitted up in my respirator and safety glasses to avoid inhaling poop dust.
With the pollen and plant remains extracted, this summer I spent quite a bit of time at the microscope. Annalee, who started working with us back in July, has been cruising through the bags of plant remains, sorting seeds and pellets. Initial results are beginning to come in, and when included with the results from middens collected 20 years ago in Yemen, we are starting to get a better picture of the regional change in vegetation over the last 5000 years, particularly the decline in tree cover in the last millennium.