Layers of Time

Abstract

Ethiopia has a strong claim to being the oldest country in the world. Written and pictorial records reveal aspects of its history extending back well beyond 4,000 years. Petroglyphs take it back at least another 5,000 years. Archaeology and paleontology bring the country’s history back millions of years. Ever since the American paleontologist Donald Johanson discovered the skeleton of a twenty-year-old hominid female on 30 November 1974 in a dried up lake bed at Hadar in the Afar Triangle 100 miles northeast of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia has come into the forefront of regions where mankind is believed to have first evolved. This famous young ape lady whom Johanson called Lucy and gave the scientific name Australopithecus Afarensis (“Afar Ape-man”), lived more than 3 million years ago.¹ Evidence of early human ancestors had already been found in other parts of Ethiopia. The search for hominid origins came almost to a halt during the seventeen years of Derg communist rule. It resumed soon after the Derg collapsed in 1991 and trained Ethiopian scientists have now joined foreigners in it. New discoveries are being made every year. Bones of at least seventeen individuals who appear to be more than a million years older than Lucy were recently found at Aramis on the left bank of the Awash.