Many of the Kenyan excavators, who would typically open the trenches and dig the various layers by following the various strata, had expert local knowledge about the ancient sites, including their geology, histories and oral traditions. This knowledge was highly prized by the European scholars, who rarely did any digging themselves. But it was colonial practice, to intentionally “forget” the contributions of Africans to African history, Abungu said. “And the scholars went along with that.”