Signs in the sand

Anthro Professor George Leader treks the Namib Desert in search of evolutionary clues.

Words by TCNJ Editorial Staff

Anthro Professor George Leader treks in the Namib Desert

As an anthropologist and archaeologist, you were the first scientist to walk east to west across the Namib Desert. Tell us more.

The Namib, in southern Africa, is considered the oldest desert on Earth. I first went there with a team of scientists in 2021. I’m interested in learning about our early human ancestors by analyzing the stone tools that they left behind about 500,000 years ago. After a couple of trips, I wanted to go deeper into the desert to find new archaeological sites. So in 2024, my research partner, Dominic Stratford, and I crossed the Namib on foot. We believe we were the first to ever do so for scientific purposes.

Set the scene. What is this desert like?

It’s a classic sand sea — imagine large dunes like you would see in a movie. It’s one of the driest places on Earth. There’s no water source, no power, and no shelter. You can’t drive vehicles through it without getting stuck. We walked 25 miles some days, with 40-pound packs on our backs. That’s part of the fun of being an archaeologist working in these challenging environments.

What was the goal of the trip?

I’m trying to put together the pieces of human evolution. What information can we draw out of the artifacts we find? And what can we learn about the individuals and their lives in that time period? If we can understand how our ancestors occupied those environments, we can start to understand how we may adapt culturally to today’s climate changes.

How did early humans even live there if there was no water?

We know that about 100,000 years ago, a river broke through that part of the desert. On our trek, we discovered about 55 new archaeological sites. We found thousands of stone tools and animal fossils. We know that early hominids could live anywhere there was water, vegetation, and large grazing animals.

What’s next?

I’m letting my research interests guide me, so I’m starting to look at some more pockets of places in Namibia, up in the north, outside of the desert. I might go up into Angola.

— Kara Pothier

Watch George Leader talk about his research on YouTube: