Africa: Birthplace of Humanity
African Origins of Early Humanity
By Dr. Leonard Jeffries
One of the oldest fossil finds of early man was made in Africa in
1960 by archaeologist L. S. B. Leakey. He named his find
Zinjanthropus, meaning Eastern Man. It was found in Olduvai
Gorge in northern Tanzania which is an archaeologists paradise.
Many ancient fossils and stone tools have been found there over
the years. There are five distinct layers of strata of the earth
visible in the cliffs. The oldest was formed more than two million
years ago. One day while climbing up the slopes Mrs. Leakey
discovered two teeth embedded in the rock side of the gorge.
After nineteen days of digging the Leakeys uncovered an almost
complete skull and stone tools.
The radiocarbon 14 method of determining the age of the fossil
finds only allows the scientist to test an object that does not go
back more than 50,000 years. Because Zinjanthropus was much
older than 50,000 years another newer method to determine the
age of a fossil find was used. This method was called Potassium
Argon and allows the scientist to test as an object that goes back
2,000,000 years. Scientists at the University of California tested
Zinjanthropus and believe that this early man was 1,750,000
years old.
Over the past twenty-five years various early fossil finds have
been made in Africa and have been scientifically dated to be
millions of years old. One of the finds recently discovered and
found to be several millions of years old named "Lucy" and is the
subject of a best-selling book. These discoveries and others have
firmly established Africa as the cradle of humanity.
The African continent is a treasure trove of ancient history. From
the sands and rock outcroppings of the Sahara desert in the north
to the caves of South Africa, from the Nile River Valley to the
Congo River and lakes of Central Africa, from the highlands of the
Ethiopian plateau to the depths of the Olduvai Gorge in East
Africa, the continent is continuously yielding from its soil the
scientific and archaeological evidence
of the evolving and
unfolding drama of human history. This historical evidence is
found in the bits of bone and fossil remains of Humanity's ancient
African ancestors.
It can also be seen in various kinds of stone tools uncovered from
the African soil, made by the world's oldest tool makers. It is
clearly recorded in the rock and cave paintings and shattered
pottery pieces, scattered all over the continent, by the world's
first artists who captured early human conduct.
This unfolding saga of the human experience in Africa reveals and
points to a series of startling discoveries in Olduvai Gorge in
Tanganyika and Kenya that scientifically supports the belief that
early humanity originated in East Africa millions of years ago and
then spread with his tools and early culture to Asia and Europe.
In the Congo River Basin and Great Lakes of Central Africa
archaeologists unearthed the remains of the Ishongo people who
lived some 8,000 years ago and used a counting system inscribed
on bone, the earliest record in the world of mathematical
notation.
Fortunately, this new understanding of Africa's place in history
has been supported by the latest scientific discoveries to that
scholars and researchers are able to systematically destroy the
persistently held view of Africa as the Dark Continent and
Africans
as
development.
savages
who
contributed
nothing
to
human