Olduvai Gorge – ‘The Craddle of Mankind’

The Olduvai Gorge is a steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley, which stretches along eastern Africa. Olduvai is in the eastern Serengeti Plains in northern Tanzania and is about 30 miles long. The gorge is named after the Masai word for the wild sisal plant that grows in the gorge.

It is possibly the most important prehistoric site in the world and has been one of the fundamental discoveries in furthering our understanding of early human evolution.

Louis and Mary Leakey began their pioneering excavations in the 1950s and has since been continued by Professor Fidelis Masao of the Open University of Tanzania supported by Earthwatch.

Millions of years ago, the site was that of a large lake, the shores of which were covered with successive deposits of volcanic ash. Around half a million years ago seismic activity diverted a nearby stream which began to cut down into the sediments, revealing seven main layers in the walls of the gorge.

The first artifacts discovered, pebble tools and choppers, date to around 2 million year ago. Bones from theis layer are not modern humans, but primitive forms of Paranthropus Boisei and the first discovered specimens of Homo habilis.

One of the other amazing archaeological co-incidences is the very deep layers of volcanic ash, which allow accurate radiometric dating of the artifacts embedded inside them.

The history is very rich, and you may wish to research this site before visiting to increase your enjoyment and understanding of this unique archaeological site.