We flew all day from Sri Lanka to Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia. Through the magic of time zone changes we picked up enough time to tour the National Museum and see their fabulous exhibit on paleontology, including exhibits of fossils uncovered here that trace the origins of mankind.
This is Lucy. (Actually, a casting ... The real bones are in a safe laboratory here in Ethiopia.). Lucy was unearthed in 1974 and was the first discovery of her species, an early ancestor of the genus homo. Her brain was small but she walked upright and she helped scientists figure out more about how Homo sapiens eventually evolved. If I remember right, she was a Time Magazine cover girl!
Ethiopia is widely believed to be the place where Homo sapiens first appeared about 200,000 years ago. The skulls above are the earliest known finds of Homo sapiens, providing strong evidence that Eastern Africa is our ancestral home.
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