Ideas change everything

The search for humanity's roots

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Zeresenay Alemseged |

TEDGlobal 2007

• June 2007

Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged looks for the roots of humanity in Ethiopia's badlands. Here he talks about finding the oldest skeleton of a humanoid child -- and how Africa holds the clues to our humanity.

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Paleoanthropologist Zeresenay Alemseged looks for the roots of humanity in Ethiopia's badlands. Here he talks about finding the oldest skeleton of a humanoid child -- and how Africa holds the clues to our humanity.

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

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About the speaker

Zeresenay Alemseged

Paleoanthropologist

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Zeresenay "Zeray" Alemseged digs in the Ethiopian desert, looking for the earliest signs of humanity. His most exciting find: the 3.3-million-year-old bones of Selam, a 3-year-old hominid child, from the species Australopithecus afarensis.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference.

Read our curation guidelines.