Latest news with #Addis Ababa
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Science
- The Guardian
‘It's always been some white dude': how Ethiopia became the world leader in uncovering the story of humankind
When Berhane Asfaw was in California beginning his graduate studies into the origins of humanity, he realised all the fossils he was examining had come, like himself, from Ethiopia. They had been shipped to the US to be researched and pieced together. Back then, in the early 1980s, the only Ethiopians working on archaeological digs in their own country were labourers, employed by foreigners. 'Because everything discovered in Ethiopia was exported, there was no chance for Ethiopians to study the items and develop expertise,' says Berhane, who returned home in the late 1980s as his country's first palaeoanthropologist – a scientist who studies human evolution. 'You can't train people if everything is taken to France, the US or Britain,' the 70-year-old says. With his American colleagues, Berhane clawed together funding to establish a laboratory at the National Museum of Ethiopia to clean fossils clogged with rock-hard bits of sediment, a painstaking process that can take years. The laboratory could also produce perfect replicas of specimens for foreign researchers to take home. 'Once we had the lab organised, there was no need to export fossils. We could do everything in-house,' says Berhane. Housed in an unremarkable grey office block in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, his lab is now home to the world's most extensive collection of the remains of modern humans' ancestors: about 1,600 fossils representing 13 of more than 20 confirmed species of early humans. They are stored in a series of bullet-proof safes. The oldest is of an ape-like creature called Ardipithecus kadabba that lived 6m years ago. The most recent, at 160,000-years-old, represents Homo sapiens, or modern humans, who evolved in east Africa before colonising the rest of the world. The discoveries led to Ethiopia being viewed as the cradle of mankind. 'The range is absolutely staggering. Ethiopia is the only place on Earth where you can find fossils stretching that far back to the present, without any gaps in the record,' says Berhane in his office. It is crammed with books, piles of papers and copies of hominin skulls; in one corner sits the huge, fossilised remains of a 400,000-year-old pair of buffalo horns. 'The history of all humanity is housed in this place,' he says. On the third floor of the building, a palaeontologist, Yared Assefa, lays several hominin fossils out on a conference table. They include 'Lucy', a 40% complete, 3.2m-year-old skeleton of a female hominin, whose discovery in Ethiopia's arid Afar region in 1974 was a global sensation. At the time, the Australopithecus afarensis skeleton represented the oldest human ancestor to be discovered by fossil hunters, and significantly advanced our understanding of humanity's evolutionary trajectory. Today, her 47 bones are neatly arranged in a series of wooden drawers. In the cavernous basement are kept the non-human fossils. The vast rows of filing cabinets contain everything from 3m-year-old chimpanzee teeth to fossilised frogs. The giant jaws and tusks of prehistoric elephants and hippos sit on low-slung trolleys. One of the earliest stone tools used by humans' ancestors lies in one drawer. It is 2.6m years old and was used for chopping. 'This is an amazing piece,' says a geologist, Gemechis Getaneh, holding it in his palm. 'All the technology we have today comes from this stone.' This vast collection has nurtured a generation of world-leading Ethiopian scholars. Their research has been crucial to shining a light on humanity's origins. Berhane, for example, is co-leader of the Middle Awash Project in the Afar region, which since the 1990s has discovered eight early humans, including one who lived 6m years ago. Sign up to Global Dispatch Get a different world view with a roundup of the best news, features and pictures, curated by our global development team after newsletter promotion In 2000, Zeresenay Alemseged, now a professor at the University of Chicago but who started out as a young geologist at the laboratory, unearthed 'Selam', the almost complete skeleton of a child who lived 3.3m years ago and the most complete remains of a human ancestor yet found. The early career of Yohannes Haile-Selassie, who heads the Institute for Human Origins at Arizona State University, also began here. While still a university student, Yohannes discovered two early hominins that pushed understanding of humanity's origins back beyond 5m years ago, challenging many assumptions about evolution. Yohannes lays out his fossil haul from a recent field trip on a table. He says the prominence of local scholars in the continent's paleoanthropological research is unique to Ethiopia. 'When you look at other African countries with rich fossil records – like Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa – you don't see the same level of participation, it's always some white dude,' says Yohannes. 'So Ethiopia takes the lead, and that is a great source of pride for us. The discoveries from the Middle Awash have literally rewritten the history of humanity.' Ethiopia's fossil riches stem from a geographic quirk. Its arid northern and southern regions were once full of rivers, lakes and forests – an environment of abundance, perfect for evolution. These areas sit in the Rift Valley, a great fissure where tectonic activity heaves layers of prehistoric sediment upwards. If they get lucky, fossil hunters can spot and collect specimens on the surface. If no one happens to be there when the fossils appear, they will weather away into dust. There are now more than 30 Ethiopian palaeoanthropologists at institutions around the world, says Yohannes. He is setting up an online master's course in the discipline and related subjects at five universities, in which Arizona State University professors will teach Ethiopian students. It is due to start next year. 'As palaeoanthropologists who live and work abroad, it is our personal responsibility to think about the next generation,' he says. 'We want to double, triple, the number of scholars.'
Zawya
10-07-2025
- Business
- Zawya
Ethiopia: His Excellency Ato Ahmed Shide, Minister of Finance meets the World Bank Executive Director
H.E. Ahmed Shide meets with the World Bank Executive Director for Africa Group 1 Constituency, Dr. Zarau Kibwe arrives for a three-day official visit in Ethiopia. Dr. Kibwe represents Ethiopia and a group of 21 other African countries in the World Bank Board. His Excellency briefed the Executive Director on the successful implementation of the macroeconomic reform, strong portfolio performance, and discussed ways to deepen cooperation between Ethiopia and the World Bank. During the meeting, H.E. Minister Ahmed Shide commended the World Bank's critical role in supporting Ethiopia's development priorities, with a portfolio exceeding $16 billion across key sectors, including the recent USD 1 billion support for Development Policy Operations II. The Minister mentioned the importance of continued support from IDA21 allocations to sustain the macroeconomic reform and to finance key priority areas, including infrastructure, agricultural productivity, and climate resilience initiatives to further advance the country's development agenda. The Executive Director congratulated the Government of Ethiopia on concluding the MoU under the G20 Common Framework, praised the macroeconomic reform implementation, and reaffirmed his commitment to supporting the country's development priorities. During his visit, Dr. Kibwe will also meet with different government officials and stakeholders to discuss collaborative efforts between Ethiopia and the World Bank. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Finance, Ethiopia. Disclaimer: The contents of this press release was provided from an external third party provider. This website is not responsible for, and does not control, such external content. This content is provided on an 'as is' and 'as available' basis and has not been edited in any way. Neither this website nor our affiliates guarantee the accuracy of or endorse the views or opinions expressed in this press release. The press release is provided for informational purposes only. The content does not provide tax, legal or investment advice or opinion regarding the suitability, value or profitability of any particular security, portfolio or investment strategy. Neither this website nor our affiliates shall be liable for any errors or inaccuracies in the content, or for any actions taken by you in reliance thereon. You expressly agree that your use of the information within this article is at your sole risk. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, this website, its parent company, its subsidiaries, its affiliates and the respective shareholders, directors, officers, employees, agents, advertisers, content providers and licensors will not be liable (jointly or severally) to you for any direct, indirect, consequential, special, incidental, punitive or exemplary damages, including without limitation, lost profits, lost savings and lost revenues, whether in negligence, tort, contract or any other theory of liability, even if the parties have been advised of the possibility or could have foreseen any such damages.
