ABSTRACT
AFRICA is one of the oldest inhabited parts of the earth. Quoting Darwin's "shrewd remark" that, "It is somewhat more probable that our early progenitors lived on the African continent than elsewhere," Sonia Cole adds that East Africa "may have been both the cradle of the human race and a passageway for migrants to Europe." l
This point of view, however, was by no means always held. Recognition of the importance of Africa for the study of human evolution came as slowly as did an understanding of its contemporary significance, so that the attitudes of students of early man toward the African materials offer almost a case study of how scientific findings respond to the intellectual climate of their time. Just as its political, economic, and social status made events in Africa seem peripheral to major world developments in Europe and Asia, so highly significant evidence that this was the continent where human beings had first appeared suffered striking neglect for many years, because such evidence seemed so unlikely.
