Question

In the Red Rift Valley of Africa, anthropologist first found clues to prehistoric life. Give two examples of these clues to prehistoric life, and describe their importance to to scientific research about first humans.

Answer 1

In the Red Rift Valley of Africa, anthropologists first found clues to prehistoric life. One example of these clues is the discovery of a fossil skeleton later named Lucy by Donald Johanson in 1974. It is one of the oldest fossils of an upright walking hominids. Another example is the discovery of an advanced species, bridging the gap from previous fossil to human in Tanzania’s Olduvai Gorge. It was made by Louis and Mary Leakey in 1960.

They point to Africa as the place where first humans appeared.

Answer 2

One of the most significant excavation sites is at the foot of Mount Olorgesailie in Kenya which is the first site where evidence of ancient human artifacts is found from that specific time gap. Homo erectus was an early human species that hunted in groups, and the evidence found there is one of the earliest examples of organized game hunting and processing. There have been extremely old early human fossils found from 3 million to 1.5 million years but there is a big gap between 1.5 million years and about 500,000 years in the fossil record. Geological formations are used to determine the dating of such fossils. But in Ethiopia, there were the earliest examples of tools used by early men like sharpened pebbles for cutting meat, or hand axes.