Cradle of Humanity

Some 7 million years ago, some of the apes of the primates began to diversify into a new form. At first, for the first 3 million years in fact, these apes were still to be regarded as nothing more than advanced apes. But sometime between 4 and 5 million years ago, there was a transition from ape, to ape-like. Ape-like in being, it shared the features of Apes, but also shared some resemblance to us. They certainly were not Humans yet, though they have been classified as the first ever Hominids – our earliest direct ancestors. So in a way, they were Human – though the first Hominids, such as the Australopithecus Afarensis, had a brain pretty much the same size and capacity of a Chimpanzees’, and the adults stood no taller than 4 foot 5 inches. All of this extraordinary evolutionary process, was taking place in Africa, and more precisely, the Great Rift Valley of Ethiopia. Here, the conditions were ideal for this kind of evolutionary process for take place, and we should well regard it as the real Eden, the real ‘Cradle of Humanity’. However, the animals of the Great Rift Valley, were far from being heavenly. Indeed, our early ancestors were hunted by the early species of Sabre-Toothed Cats, trampled by giant rampaging Elephant relatives, eaten by Crocodiles and were probably plagued by Mosquitoes, and the Malaria that they carry. Nevertheless, this is where all Hominids trace their roots to, in spite of the horrors this staggeringly beautiful land concealed.