THE SHORT HISTORY OF MANKIND FROM THE ETHIOPIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM

Walking the streets of Addis Adaba and seeing the faces of Ethiopia - I see the seeds of every human race on earth; some look African, some Arabic, some like Asian, some like Indian and some pretty much like me. That’s why Ethiopia was called Abyssinia – land of mixed peoples.

I, a pale Swede from the top of Europe, feel kinship with these peoples. Like most foreigners who come here I have also visited the Ethiopian National Museum to visit Lucy. It’s like a homecoming, where we return to the graves of our ancestors.

It is a fantastic little museum, with 4 levels, starting below ground in the basement, with fossilized remains of the creatures that lived in this world many millions years ago before us. The innermost chamber of these catacombs holds the Plexiglas sarcophagus of two Lucy replicas.

In the next level there are just a few rooms, in which we can follow the leaps in human development; from Homo Erectus to the last line of Ethiopian Emperors.

The second floor shows artifacts from the different peoples and tribes around Ethiopia and the top floor presents a tour of Ethiopian art, from coptic altar pieces to communist Derg period paintings and abstract modernism.

The museum is primitive and minimalist in its presentation. There are few objects and no curatorial concepts to guide the thoughts – which is quite refreshing and challenging. I walked through all floors from basement to the top floor in one hour. Beside the main attraction Lucy, there were a few things that captured my attention – I took picture of these objects as food for thought and to illustrate this blog.

In the center of the ground floor exhibit is a top modern High Definition wide screen above the cranium of a Homo Serensis.
Like an extension of this fossil brain which projects images of colored lights and shadows on High-Tech cave walls. The beautiful HD film tells the story of Ethiopia as the place on earth where life made a giant leap and started to evolve into intelligent life, which crossed the shores of the Red sea and populated the whole planet. This is how I’ve learned it happened:

Over 3 million years ago apelike creatures started to walk on their two legs to get a clear view above the high savanna grass.
Recently, in December year 2000 in Dikika in the Omo Valley a complete skeleton was found of 3-year girl of the same species as Lucy - Australopithecus Afarensis.
Below the waist they looked like us, but they had long arms and shoulder joints like gorillas, which allowed them to swing between branches high up in trees. The cranium was slightly bigger than that of chimpanzees. The most interesting finding was the tongue bone, which was fixed to the jaw. With us the tongue bone is disjointed to enable the vocal richness of spoken language.
There was a climate change and the forests were taken over by savanna. A flood swept away and drowned the little Afarensis girl and buried her deep in mud together with elephants, hippos and impalas. These creatures were prey for many large carnivores, giant prehistoric lions, wolves and bears. Normally the remains would have been eaten and scattered, like letters in old scriptures eaten away by paper moths. Fossilization chiseled this page of our history in stone, for us to see and reconnect with.

The upright walking freed the arms and hands to carry and handle things. With its evolving intelligence these beings first mastered the fire and later started carry stones and sticks as tools and weapons. They could protect themselves and successfully hunt for other prey. Their food became richer in protein, which allowed the brain to grow in size. The upright walking also improved the cooling of this now so essential organ that could apply the senses to manage more information about the environment and about itself. Like all mammals they could communicate with sounds, gestures and dancing. They would learn to mimic the sounds of nature, animals and each other. The stick in hand would slam on trees and rocks to scare off or communicate messages within their domains. Flocks started to form cultures, with a sense of time that went beyond living individuals and also included the spirits of dead ancestors in the community.

There is one of the informative posters in the cellar exhibition that ties everything together and explains what the whole museum is about:

“The explanation is simple:
Like a boy takes after his father, these animals look alike, because of their family ties; they belong to the same family.”

Here the poster shows the photos of Emperors and family ties between the Ethiopian Imperial family-line over the passage of time since year 1800. Next to it there are images of horses in various stages of development over time since some million years back.

“The differences between the horses and their ancestors are due to gradual changes in morphology through time.
Such changes happen within all living things on earth.
This is what we call BIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION.

Evolution: How does it work? Example of the Geometer moth, a moth from England”

The concept of Morphology is not explained in the poster and neither are the workings of the moth from England.
As I remember from my own biology classes, an English moth living near coal burning factories would adapt to its environment where trees turned grey from the air pollution. The adaptation was in the coloring of its wings; all moths with wing coloring contrasting to the tree trunks would be eaten and only those with the right camouflaging would replicate. (The meaning of morphology I’ll have to google as soon as I get access to the internet).

Survival of the fittest is what it boils down to. Traits that give some kind of advantage for replication are favored.

How can the disjointing of the tongue bone give such an advantage, to qualify the human race to the finals of evolution?

As I understand this trait significantly expands the vocabulary of sounds that the vocal organ is capable of producing.
A loose tongue may also be useful in hunting, but my experience is that it gives huge advantages in mating. Romancing and moonlight serenades are basic components in the courting repertoires of pick-up artists throughout history.

Somehow body sign languages and whistling don’t have what it takes as the basis for cultural communication. Bees and ants - with a brain size of a pin head - can form complex communities with dancing as a basic form of communication. Birds, whales and dolphins can move their bodies in 3 dimensions AND whistle at the same time. They live in flocks and can maintain family ties to form communities that travel vast distances around the globe. Whales and dolphins have larger brain volume than humans and still don’t have culture or an intelligent life as we know it.

The meaning of speaking in tongues is fundamental and clearly imprinted in many languages. It means divine inspiration and is a heavenly communication – messages from our fathers, the Gods. Tongue modulated Hi-Fi sound offered a giant leap in the educational systems of early humans. The disjointing of the tongue bone could actually be the moment of Creation for Homo Sapiens – the wise and knowing man. After this creation all animals and things could be named to form a language.

The first talkers were stars - with fans, groupies and stalkers, just like today. I think they were pretty much like rap-artists performing a rhythmic mix of speaking and singing. The fan clubs transformed into churches, the stars became saint-like idols and their entourage became the clergy. The priests indulged in the idolatry trying to interpret the wills of Gods through its oracles.

I will continue my tour of the Ethiopian National Museum in my next blog post and try to trace the evolution of languages and culture. I’ve read a few books and articles about it and I like to share my thoughts in these matters. I also have professional experience and expertise in the areas of business development, media technology, art and accounting, which may contribute to shed light on the human predicament.