Tanzania The Promised Land Tanzania The Promised Land | Page 18

Tanzania plays the largest part in
human discovery
and world-renowned status. The name Olduvai
is a misspelling of Oldupai Gorge, which was
adopted as the official name in 2005. Oldupai
is the Maasai word for the wild sisal plant which
grows in the gorge.
Laetoli is a site in Tanzania, dated to the Plio-
Pleistocene and famous for the hominin footprints
preserved in it’s volcanic ash. The site of the Laetoli
footprints (Site G) is located 45 km south of Olduvai
Gorge. The location and tracks were discovered
by archaeologist Mary Leakey in 1976, and were
excavated by 1978. Based on analysis of the footfall
impressions “The Laetoli Footprints” provided
convincing evidence for the theory of bipedalism
in Pliocene hominins and received significant
recognition by scientists and the public.
The Olduvai Gorge, in Tanzania is one of the
most important paleoanthropological sites in the
world, and has proven invaluable in furthering
our understanding of early human evolution.
This gorge is steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift
Valley that stretches across East Africa. It is about
48 kilometres (30 miles) long, and is located in the
eastern Serengeti Plains in the Arusha Region not
far (about 45 km /28 mi), from Laetoli, another
important archaeological site of early human
occupation.
The British/Kenyan paleoanthropologist-
archeologist team Mary and Louis
Leakey established and developed the excavation
and research programs at Olduvai Gorge which
achieved great advances of human knowledge
Tanzania The Promised Land
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