Me and Moffat

me and Moffat, the skeleton

Meet Moffat. Moffat was our dedicated game ranger for the SH2015 Gaza Gray dig. Moffat's job was to keep us safe from the wild animals that surrounded the excavation site.

We were literally in the middle of the bush of Kruger National Park outside the safety of our vehicles and therefore very vulnerable to whatever and whomever wanted some fast food for dinner. Jackals, hyenas, lions. Moffat kept them all at bay.

a rhino running from the dig site after rolling in some excavated dirt and dust

But Moffat is also a natural-born archaeologist. One morning he noticed a rock poking up out of the excavation site. He said, "That is a skull."

is it a rock or a skull?

A little brushing and some strategic dirt removal and ...

meet Moffat

... sure enough, Moffat was right! So naturally we named the skeleton after the first one to correctly identify the find.

me and Moffat, the game ranger and nature-born archaeologist!

And the next day I was allowed to help excavate Moffat! My first skeleton. I had thought my first skeleton would belong to a hominin, this being Africa and all. But still, it was a rare and privileged opportunity to excavate a skeleton. I am so thankful!

It truly was amazing to watch the bones slowly reveal themselves as I brushed off the surrounding dirt.

And the day after that, Moffat was photographed in situ before we removed, documented and sorted the bones.

Gardiol and I removing Moffat from her home for the last 150 years

Anton believes Moffat is actually a native female adult, but the bones will be sent to a forensic anthropologist for verification. Hopefully a cause of death will also be determined. After that, Moffat can be reburied according to the customs of her tribe.