Oldupai Gorge, Tanzania
Olduvai Gorge, Olduvai also spelled Olduwai, 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 and are 295 feet 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, 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. Although Olduvai Gorge has often been called the “Cradle of Mankind,” a different World Heritage site called the “Cradle of Humankind” is located in South Africa. Compare Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, and Kromdraai.
Epic Tanzania Culture & Adventure Route © Monika Newbound
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