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Some time around 400 b.c. the site was destroyed. Many of its stone monuments were smashed or defaced, and the ceremonial center was abandoned. Offerings made after the site’s abandonment indicate that it may have remained a place of pilgrimage for centuries; even a Spanish colonial olive jar has been found at the site, apparently buried as an offering.
Stone Olmec carved head
(Gamma)
See also
Lying on the edge of the African Serengeti to the south of olduvai gorge in northern Tanzania, the site of Laetoli was discovered by louis leakey and mary leakey in 1935. The area was subsequently worked on by Ludwig Kohl-Larsen (1938–1939), and its status as a fossil locality was confirmed. Mary Leakey returned to the area (particularly the nearby Garusi River valley) in 1974 and recovered hominid fossils that have been classified as Australopithecus afarensis or africanus. These are the remains of small, lightly built human ancestors. Afarensis is dated 3.75–3 million years ago, while Africanus lived about 3–2 million years ago. More exciting was the 1978 discovery by Paul Abell of trails of hominid footprints left in the volcanic ash, which made it clear that these hominids walked upright.
See also
Africa, East, Prehistory; Africa, South, Prehistory
References
Hay, R. L., and Leakey, M.D. 1982. “The Fossil Footprints of Laetoli.” Scientific American, 246: 50–57.
The criteria for integrating linguistic and archaeological evidence vary according to the nature of the problem and the questions posed. The use of linguistic evidence in archaeological analysis also varies in type and degree depending upon the theoretical approach of the researcher. Generally, linguistic reconstructions
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