Hadza Ancestors Remember Deep Time

The Hadza people of Tanzania live near Lake Eyasi, close to Olduvai Gorge, and researchers say their ancestors have probably occupied that region for tens of thousands of years. Their oral tradition divides the distant past into four eras, beginning with giant, hairy beings called the akakaanebee and later peoples who used fire, dogs, medicines, bows, and huts. Because those stories reach so deeply into the past, some speculate that Hadza traditions may preserve extremely ancient memories of earlier hominids like homo erectus.

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