
St. Mary of Zion is one of thousands of Christian churches that dot the Ethiopian landscape. Christianity came early to Axum, and soon after A.D. 300 this new faith became the country’s official religion. It has evolved little over the years, and its vivid churches are unlike any found elsewhere in the world.Judging by the massive size of Herto man’s brain, he was just as human as anyone alive today. Behaviorally, however, there was something crucial missing. The stone tools found at Herto represent a fairly sophisticated technology—but they are not that much different from tools 100,000 years older or, for that matter, 100,000 years younger. There are no pierced beads at Herto, as there are at other African sites some 60,000 years younger. Nor are there carved figurines or other artwork, as one sees in the Upper Paleolithic of Europe, much less any evidence of the bows and arrows, metalwork, agriculture, and all the cultural and technological virtuosity that would follow. By walking back a mere 160,000 years—an eyewink in our evolutionary journey—we had stripped humanity of one of its defining attributes: innovation.Their cattle feed on the fresh grasses The higher the flood, the more land is inundated, and the more becomes available to farm.
