Adventures In The Bone Trade: The Race To Discover Human Ancestors In Ethiopias Afar Depression; Author: Kalb, Jon E.; Hardback; Book

Author: Kalb, Jon E.
Hardback; Book; 48 Figures
404 pages
Published: November 2000
Springer-Verlag New York Inc.
ISBN: 0387987428

This is a riveting memoir of scientific exploration amidst intrigue, famine, and war. In 1971, Jon Kalb was presented with the chance to explore Ethiopia's forbidding Afar Depression. Geology drew Kalb to the region, but astounding archeological finds became the reason to stay. The Afar yielded Lucy, the First Family, Bodo Man, the Aramis Skeleton, the Buri Skull, and some of the oldestand most extensive stone tool discoveries ever made. By the end of the decade, the area had become the source of the longest and most complete single record of hominid habitation in the world. But the Afar was also the site of the bone wars caused by cut-throat competition among rival teams of scientists driven by ego, money, and fame. And it was the site, tragically, of a very real war. In thisThis is first book to cover the geology and natural history of the Afar Depression in Ethiopia. This work chronicles the exploration of the Afar Depression in Ethiopia, a desert area which has produced a long record of human fossil and artefact remains. The author sets the research in its historical and political context.