This educational monument was sponsored by the Stone Age Institute, U.S.A. and the John Templeton Foundation, U.S.A. Scuptures by tanzanian artist Festo Kijo.
Français
Les gorges d'Olduvaï en Tanzanie sont l'un des plus importants complexes de sites préhistoriques d'Afrique. Elles ont livré des outillages lithiques et des fossiles animaux et humains dont les âges sont compris entre 1,8 million d'années et 400 000 ans avant le présent. Elles ont également donné leur nom à l'Oldowayen, industrie lithique du début du Paléolithique inférieur caractérisée par des outils de pierre rudimentaires.
English
The Olduvai Gorge or Oldupai Gorge in Tanzania is one of the most important paleoanthropological sites in the world; it has proven invaluable in furthering understanding of early human evolution. A steep-sided ravine in the Great Rift Valley that stretches across East Africa, it is about 48 km (30 mi) long, and is located in the eastern Serengeti Plains within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in the Arusha Region, about 45 kilometres (28 miles) from Laetoli, another important archaeological site of early human occupation. The British/Kenyan paleoanthropologist-archeologist team Mary and Louis Leakey established and developed the excavation and research programs at Olduvai Gorge which achieved great advances of human knowledge and world-renowned status.
Swahili
Bonde la Oltupai (maarufu kwa Kiingereza kama Olduvai Gorge) ni eneo la kiakiolojia linalopatikana katika mkoa wa Arusha nchini Tanzania ambalo ni kati ya yale muhimu zaidi duniani. Hivyo ni kivutio cha watalii wengi wa nchi ya Tanzania. Bonde hilo lipo katika hifadhi ya Ngorongoro na karibu na ile ya Serengeti, ni mahali ambapo zamadamu, viumbe wa kale waliokaribiana na mwili wa binadamu, waliishi tangu miaka milioni 2 hivi iliyopita. Kwa kuwa wataalamu kadhaa walidhani watu wa leo wametokana nao, eneo hilo pengine limeitwa kwa Kiingereza Cradle of Mankind, kitovu cha binadamu, ambao wameishi katika eneo hilo kwa walau miaka 17,000 mfululizo. Katika eneo hili mwanaakiolojia Mary Leakey ndipo alipogundua fuvu la kichwa la kiumbe wa kale wa jamii hiyo. Pamoja na mabaki ya mifupa ya tembo, kongoo wenye pembe kubwa na mbuni,
tarehe 17 Julai 1959 aligundua mabaki ya fuvu la kichwa la Paranthropus boisei (pamoja na mumewe alimuita kwanza Zinjanthropus) ambalo lipo katika makumbusho ya Dar es Salaam. Huyo hadhaniwi tena kuwa mtangulizi wa binadamu wa sasa.
Karibu na Olduvai Gorge, km 45 kusini kwake, kuna eneo la Laetoli ambapo mwaka 1972 huyohuyo Mary Leakey aligundua nyayo za kale (miaka milioni 3.7 iliyopita) za zamadamu waliotembea kwa miguu miwili.