Last year, Dr. Emma Finestone ended her field season in western Kenya with a discovery she would have to wait nearly a year to investigate further.
During the final days of work at Luanda Central, a relatively new site for Dr. Finestone and her team, a graduate student spotted a fossil jaw fragment from a human ancestor or relative. The find was particularly exciting because hominin fossils are exceptionally rare in the region. Despite decades of research, only a handful have been uncovered there. But with the season coming to a close, there was little time to explore the area surrounding the discovery.
“This whole year I’ve been waiting to get back to Luanda Central to see what else is there,” said Dr. Finestone, Museum Curator and the Robert J. and Linnet E. Fritz Endowed Chair of Human Origins.
Her return this summer offered a chance to begin answering that question. More importantly, it marked the start of the longer process required to understand the discovery in context—and what Luanda Central may ultimately reveal about the hominins who once occupied this part of Kenya.
The hominin mandible discovered on the surface of Luanda Central in 2025
Starting With the Site
Luanda Central is a relatively new focus of Dr. Finestone’s work. While conducting research nearby at a site called Luanda West, she began surveying the area for other potentially promising locations. Researchers often identify potential sites by studying exposed sediment and surveying the landscape for fossils and artifacts visible at the surface.
Over several years, Dr. Finestone encountered well-preserved animal fossils and stone tools at Luanda Central. Among the remains were fossils from ancient monkeys, crocodiles, and aardvarks—including the first aardvark remains Dr. Finestone had encountered in her fieldwork. Eventually, the concentration of material convinced her to devote more time to the site.
Finding well-preserved animal fossils alongside stone tools provides different kinds of evidence from the same site. Together, they can help build a fuller picture of the environment at Luanda Central and who may have lived there.
But many of the basic questions about the site remain unsolved. Because Luanda Central has received relatively little previous study, researchers are still determining its age and developing a clearer understanding of its ancient environment.
The 2026 Luanda Central excavation laid out at the site of the discovery of the hominin mandible
Building Context Around a Discovery
Dr. Finestone returned to the location of the fossil this summer and established excavation squares around it. These measured sections of ground give researchers defined areas to excavate systematically, allowing them to carefully record where fossils, artifacts, and other evidence are found. From the start of the excavation, the team began recovering stone tools and animal fossils, adding to the material that can eventually help them understand the site.
At the same time, the project’s geologists focused on understanding the different layers of sediment at the site and determining their approximate ages. Establishing when these beds formed will allow the team to place the fossils and artifacts within a period of human evolution and compare them with discoveries from other sites.
“The fossils and the artifacts are tied to the beds, and if we don’t understand the sediments they’re in or how old they are, we can’t appreciate their significance,” Dr. Finestone shared.
Recording where fossils and artifacts occur within these layers gives the researchers a framework for comparing discoveries across the site. As the team works to establish the age of the beds, they can begin to understand where those discoveries fit within the broader record of human evolution.
Fossil arm bone from an extinct monkey found in the excavation
Following the Evidence Beyond the Field
With the season over, the fossils recovered at Luanda Central have moved into another stage of research. Preliminary identifications made during excavation can be revisited after specimens are prepared and studied more closely.
Researchers are currently studying the fossil jaw fragment and other discoveries at the National Museums of Kenya, where they are working to refine the season’s identifications. For example, an animal identified broadly in the field may ultimately be assigned to a more specific group of species.
Closer examination can also reveal evidence that may not be clear during the initial field assessment. Researchers will examine animal remains for cut marks or other modifications that could help distinguish between animals that may have lived and died in the area from those that may have been consumed by tool-using hominins.
Dr. Emma Finestone (left) with former Kirtlandia intern Carly Wisner (right) on the Homa Peninsula in Kenya
Research Beyond a Field Season
Even after specimens leave the field, it can take years for discoveries to contribute to published research. “It’s common to take three or more years to publish fossils from a new site, because we spend a long time carefully collecting a large enough sample of fossils and artifacts to appropriately analyze and interpret the assemblage,” Dr. Finestone said.
Future seasons will expand that record, while material already recovered moves through preparation and analysis. As Dr. Finestone puts it, “Fieldwork is really just the tip of the iceberg.” The work that begins at a field site continues through collections, laboratories, and eventually—hopefully—publication.
Students from the local Kenyan schools visiting the Luanda research site
Extending the Research Process
The developing work at Luanda Central has offered Dr. Finestone the opportunity to expand the educational program connected to her fieldwork. After launching an outreach program last year that connected students in Kenya with their research plus Cleveland classrooms as penpals, Finestone and her collaborators broadened the program this summer to include more schools, resources, and hands-on experiences with the research.
Participation in Kenya doubled from 5 schools to 10, while in Cleveland, classrooms increased from 3 to 6. Monica Marcucci, a second Cleveland teacher, joined the project and traveled to Kenya, alongside Finestone’s partner, Ali Heller, who helped lead the program in the classrooms in its inaugural year.
The expanded program included more resources, including specially made books about the region and materials from the Museum’s Science-to-Go kits. Replicas of Lucy helped support classroom sessions, and the team also donated two casts to local chiefs to provide additional material that could remain in the community for study.
This year’s program also brought more students out of the classroom and into the field. Participating Kenyan schools visited Luanda Central, where students learned how to survey for fossils and mark potential sites. They also documented layers of sediment at the sites.
Some of what the students found will become part of the research itself. With more trained surveyors in an area, researchers have a greater chance of finding material. The team collected some of the fossils spotted by local students during the surveys for further study.
Emma Finestone (right) with graduate student and former National Museums of Kenya intern Patricia Nyaga (left) on the Homa Peninsula in Kenya
Sharing Research in Progress
Back in Cleveland, Dr. Finestone is continuing to share her discoveries from Luanda Central and other work as it develops. She has incorporated casts and other materials from her fieldwork into Museum programming, giving her visitors a chance to encounter evidence that she and other researchers are still studying.
Most research reaches the public much later, after evidence has been collected, analyzed, and prepared for publication. Sharing her current projects with the public offers a different view of the process—one that lets visitors follow the questions and evidence as they develop. By sharing that work while it is still in progress, Dr. Finestone is also expanding access to science by giving more people a window into how the scientific process takes shapes before the answers are known.
What began with a discovery near the end of one season has opened a much deeper investigation. As Dr. Finestone returns to Luanda Central next year, new finds may refine what they know about the site, raise different questions, or change how earlier evidence is understood. Each season adds another layer to a process that is still taking shape.
Want to take a closer look at how Museum research takes shape? Visit the Museum during In the Lab, where Museum scientists and collections staff share their work with visitors through hands-on activities and conversations about the science they study.
