Preface

Africa does not give up its secrets easily. Buried there lie answers to our questions about the origins of humankind. After a century of investigation, scientists have transformed our understanding of the beginnings of human life. Many remarkable discoveries have been made. Yet even as the evidence about human evolution has continued to grow, so the riddle has become ever more complex. And ultimate clues still remain hidden.

This book follows the endeavours of scientists striving to uncover the mysteries of human origins over the past 100 years. The obstacles they faced have been formidable. Some 7 million years have passed since the precursors of humankind began to evolve in Africa. The only signs of their existence are fossil remains concealed in a landscape that has changed dramatically in that time. Whole parts of the continent have been raised by tectonic upheavals; mountains have been thrust upwards; lakes and rivers have come and gone; erupting volcanoes have covered great swathes of land under layers of lava and ash.

The route back to this ancient world has been marked by misfortune, false hopes, fraud and extraordinary feats of skill and endurance. The early stages of the quest were dominated by a handful of ambitious individuals, obsessed by their work and driven by hopes of fame and glory. Their goal was to find the oldest human ancestor. Each discovery they made was acclaimed as having iconic significance. From the outset, however, the science of palaeoanthropology has been renowned not just for the exploits of researchers in the field but for their intense rivalry, personal feuds and fierce controversies. One field scientist observed ruefully in his memoirs how the profession was plagued by ‘treachery, cutthroat competition and backstabbing’.

In more recent times, a host of other scientists—molecular biologists, biochemists, geneticists, palaeoclimatologists, geochronologists—have played an increasingly influential role in this giant detective saga. The focus of attention has broadened to include the search for the origins of modern humans as well as human ancestors. New controversies have erupted. Rival schools of thought have fought each other as tenaciously as in the past.

The results of the quest have been momentous. Scientists have identified more than twenty species of extinct humans. They have firmly established Africa as the birthplace not only of humankind but also of modern humans. They have revealed how early technology, language ability and artistic endeavour all originated in Africa; and they have shown how small groups of Africans, possessing new skills, spread out from Africa in an exodus 60,000 years ago to populate the rest of the world.

We have all inherited an African past.

The first part of this book focuses upon the exploits of key field scientists, starting with the pioneer researchers of the early twentieth century. Their task was not only to find significant fossils—the principal evidence of human evolution—but to convince a sceptical scientific establishment of the importance of their discoveries. Some fossil finds remained in dispute for years. Modern researchers pushing back the frontier of human origins to 7 million years ago have encountered similar hurdles.

The second part of the book opens at that primordial frontier and moves forward along the trail of discoveries leading to the emergence of our own species, Homo sapiens, and its gradual migration around the world. What stands out is not only the remarkable range of scientific discoveries that have been made but the extent of the vast hinterland that remains to be discovered.