Oldupai Gorge Archeaological Site - Cradle of Human Kind

entrance to the Oldupai Gorge site

I have heard the sight name called Oulduvai and oludpai - the correct word is Oludpai.  The Oldupai is the Maasai word for a medicine plant also called sisel.  The first discoveries at Oludpai were made in 1911 where ancient stone tools were found by a researcher looking for butterflies

The famous monolith of the Oldupai Gorge - many of the important finds have been in the layers of the exposed rock around this monolith

There are 5 geological layers at the Monolith.
1.  Lowes is basalt (black) from 2 million years ago.  The area was covered by a lake.  The nearby volcano erupted and covered the area with ash.
2.  Gray layer - 1.75 million years ago - another volcanic eruption created another layer
3.  Red layer - unique - was caused by land erosion from the nearby Ngorngoro highlands.
4.  Gray/White layer - more volcanic ash
5.  Upper gray/white layer - another volcanic layer

Views of the valley at Oldupai

Five different fault lines converge in the gorge.

Roughly 3.6 millions years ago the Sadiman Volcano erupted covering the surrounding ground in ash; rain soon followed making a soft and muddy ground over which prehistoric animals trekked. More ash then erupted from the volcano covering and, in effect, preserving the prehistoric tracks.
Forward to 1978, when a group of researchers (led by paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey) discovered the preserved tracks, within which were the oldest known footprints of human ancestors. From the prehistoric footprint’s shape, length, and toes it was evident that these hominids were bipedal and were walking upright on two legs, before even the use of stone tools. The prints were left by two or three hominids (one or two adults and a child) and show that these early humans walked in a very similar manner as modern humans.
Today, the actual footprints have been covered up in hopes of protecting them, but due to fear of erosion they are planned to be uncovered again. Whether the prints remain at their discovered location (with a possible museum built over them) or are to be cut-out and moved entirely is currently under debate.
For now visitors can visit the covered up site of discovery and the nearby Olduvai Gorge Museum, which features casts of the prints and related artifacts.

cast of some of the earliest footsteps made by man

Laetoli - located in the southern part of the gorge.  Footprints of Australopethicus Afansis from 3.6 million years ago were found.  (This hominoid is similar to "Lucy" which was found in Ethiopia.  One room of the museum was dedicated to the foot prints.  

Olduvai Gorge, --Olduvai       paleoanthropological site in the eastern Serengeti Plain, within the boundaries of the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in northern Tanzania. It is a steep-sided ravine consisting of two branches that have a combined length of about 30 miles (48 km) and are 295 feet (90 metres) deep. Deposits exposed in the sides of the gorge cover a time span from about 2.1 million to 15,000 years ago. The deposits have yielded the fossil remains of more than 60 hominins (members of the human lineage), providing the most continuous known record of human evolution during the past 2 million years, as well as the longest known archaeological record of the development of stone-tool industries. Olduvai Gorge was designated part of a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

The museum had a display regarding the work of the famous Leakey Family who have spent lifetimes doing field work at this prehistoric site

Louis Leakey

The Leakeys worked at this site for 28 years before finding evidence of hominoid activity.  Hand tools were found. But they did not give up.
A.     1959 July 17 - a skull was found in the earliest level. 
     I.  Australopithecus Boisei (Zinjanthropus)
     II. Ausralopethicus Robustus - gorilla like
     III.  Zinjanthropus - Nutcracker Man
     IV.  Homo Habelius - "handy man" - could not walk upright - but could make tools, skinned and slaughtered game..  Homo Habelius co-existed with Australopethecus.

Darrell reads about the discoveries

B.  No hominoid evidence was found in layers 2 & 3.
C.  Fourth Layer - Homo Erectus - "Upright Man"  invented fire.  And later migrated into Asia, Europe and Australia.
D.  Fifth Layer - Homo Sapiens - our ancestor.  Made and used very complex tools.  Had different brains.


Photos of Louis Leakey at the site

Oldupai is still an active archaeology site.  Originally funding from National Geographic Society.
Other activie archaeology sites in Tanzania are:
1.  Simila - Acheulean Hand Ax
2.  Kondoa - Rock Painting
3.  Egaruke - Iron age
4.  Nasera Rock - Middle, Late Stone Age