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Archeological Attraction
A Land of Discovery
Ethiopia is the earliest known home of humankind. A skeleton of an older human ancestor Australopithecus Afarensis was discovered in 1974 in the Afar region. Anthropologists have established that the skeleton covering 40% of the human body had belonged to a twenty-years-old female that lived 3.5 million years ago. Registered by the United Nations Education, Science, and Culture Organization (UNESCO) as a World Heritage, the site of the discovery is called Hadar - situated 160 kilometers northeast of Addis Ababa.
The Skeleton
is popularly known as Lucy or Dinkinesh. The discovery has completed the
missing link between apes and men - paving the way for the search to human
origins.
In addition, the earliest known hominid, 4.4 million years old Ardipithecus
Ramidus was discovered in the Middle Awash in 1992. The recent discoveries
include Australopithecus Garhi, 2.5 million-years-old hominid. Garhi means
'surprise' in the Afar language - a language spoken in the internationally
acclaimed archeological site. Discovered by an international team led
by Ethiopian Anthropologist Berhane Asfaw in the Middle Awash, Garhi is
said to be a surprising hominid shaking the family tree. Paleontologist
Tim White of the University of California at Berkeley was also the CO-leader
of the team. The species discovered by the team is descended from Australopithecus
Afarensis and is a candidate ancestor for early Homo.
Bones
from antelopes and horse were found 278 meters from the site of Garhi
skull fragments at the same layer of sediment. "The bones show unmistakable
gashes left by stone tools: the animals were butchered, the meat cut away,
and the bones hammered open to extract marrow. This is by far the earliest
proof of tool-based butchery and may well provide the evolutionary driver
that led to big-brained humans.
Archeological Attractions
The remains of "Lucy" which date back 3.5 million years and
the recent discovery of amidas, a 4.4 million year old hominid fossil,
mark Ethiopia as the cradle of mankind. Both were discovered in Haddar,
along the Awash river, in the east of the country. They completed the
missing link between apes and men.
Melka Konturie is also an important archeological site. Here 1.5 million
year old stone tools were found. Several cave paintings and stone monuments
are located in different parts of the country, namely Dilla, in the South
and Dire Dawa, in the east.
LUCY
Lucy, 3.5 million years old, and the recent discovery Ramides, 4.4 million
years old hominid fossil, are discovered in Haddar, along the Awash River,
east of the country. They completed the missing link between Apes and
men.
Melka Konture is also an important archeological
site where 1.5 million years old stone tools were found. Several cave
paintings and stone monuments are found in different parts of the country
like Dilla, southern Ethiopia and Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia.
HOMINIDS
Fragments of a frontal bone and of a femur were recovered in the Pliocene
Formations of Maka. In the Middle Pliocene Formation of Bodo d'Ar, dated
to 300,000 - 150,000 years, a frontal and other remains of a human skull
were discovered in 1976. This fossil probably belongs to an archaic Homo
Sapiens.
HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENS
The fossil skulls known as Omo I and II come from the kibish formation
(200,000/100,000 years ago) in the Omo Valley. Not withstanding the presence
of some archaic features, such as the thickness of the cranial walls,
the appearance of modern anatomical features, the elevated frontal and
the presence on the mandible of Omo I of a real bony chin, allow them
to be considered, without doubt, close to Homo Sapiens Sapiens.
Up on request, Grand Holidays Ethiopia can arrange a tour program to discover
these archeological sites if necessary with a combination of other attractions.
