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 long, and is located in the eastern
Serengeti Plains in the
Arusha Region not far, about 45 km, 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-renown status.