During that year, she participated in research and field work in China, Germany, Netherlands, South Africa, and Turkey.
[6][2] In October 2013, Gurtov, along with five other scientists, was chosen to be part of a critical excavation team for the Rising Star Expedition.
[7] The purpose of the twenty-one day expedition, sponsored by The National Geographic Society and the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg was to excavate fossils which had been recently found in a deep cave complex in the Rising Star Cave System, near Johannesburg, South Africa..[8] The critical skills and physical attributes sought for the excavation team by lead scientist and University of the Witwatersrand professor Lee Berger were: a " master's degree or higher in palaeontology, archeology or an associated field; caving experience; and the ability to fit through an 18-centimeter (about 7-inch) space.
The six women scientists were crucial in the successful "excavation of arguably one of the most important fossil finds in human history – a new species referred to as Homo naledi.
[9][10] Gurtov, along with Hannah Morris, Marina Elliott, Becca Peixotto, K. Lindsay Hunter and Elen Feuerriegel, and with the support of a team of sixty international scientists, excavated "one of the richest collections of hominin fossils ever discovered—some 1,550 fossil fragments, belonging to at least 15 individual skeletons.