Africa Alive Corridors A 4 billion year geological, biological & cultural biography of Africa Telling the biography of With everyone as co-custodians the mother continent of her unmatched heritage 19 13 12 14 15 20 7 8 9 2 16 1 3 10 J.M. Anderson & M. de Wit
“...Telling the holistic geological-biological-cultural story of the Mother Continent...” “...With everyone as co-custodians of over 4-billion years Autobiography of the continent of unmatched irreplaceable heritage...” told along 20 corridors “...Telling the holistic geological-biological-cultural story of the Mother Continent...” Creating a new tomorrow “...With everyone as co-custodians 19. Carbon Footprint of over 4-billion years (Algeria-Egypt): 1900-2012 of unmatched irreplaceable heritage...” ‘Oil deposits to carbon footprint across 12. Saharan Paradise Lost the northern Sahara’ (Tunisia-Chad): 22,000 BP-present Creating a new tomorrow 13. Valley of the Pharaohs ‘The rock-art gallery traces desertifjcation’ “For the children of today’s world and the (Egypt-Sudan): 3,100-30 BC Africa; colossus amongst the continents children of tomorrow’s world” m other species Oldest evidence of Human activity: ‘Life-cycle of the classical Egyptian civilization’ 7 million years tural old hominin fossils —Nelson Mandela (1999) (Chad) for ate 14. Nubian Nile Sahara live, then dly (Sudan-Ethiopia): 3,000 BC-present 4. African Pole of Rotation ‘Of civilisations and cultures over 5 millennia’ Womb of our humanity & culture (Cameroon-Nigeria): 200 Ma-present ’ (Niger, Algeria, Libya, Chad): 20,000 BP to present; one of the 7. Lungs of Africa ‘Africa across the Cameroon Hotspot’ (DRC-Tanzania): 10 Ma-present 5. Colliding Continents ‘Womb of our hominid family and of our sister (Morocco-Tunisia): 200 Ma-present Fountainhead of our art pongids’ ‘Rifting, drifting, folding along the Atlas Mountains’ 8. Eastern Rift Valley (Ethiopia-Malawi): 5 Ma-150,000 BP ‘Our hominid trail from Ardipithecus to Stem of human language Homo’ 15. Songhay’s Timbuktu (Senegal-Nigeria): 700-1,600 AD ‘Key civilisations of the Niger and 20. Sixth Extinction Senegal River Kingdoms’ Cradle of our hominin ancestors (Somali-Sudan): 1940 AD-present ‘From dumping site to denudation to endless 17. Mirror of History civil war’ (Western Sahara-Nigeria): 1400-2012 ‘Mirror of global history since the & of our primate ancestors. Renaissance’ 9. Western Rift Valley (Uganda-Tanzania): 5 Ma-present ‘Extreme fjsh diversity in the Great Lakes’ Heartland of Gondwana & Pangaea 18. Zambezi River (Zambia-Mozambique): 1800-2012 Centre of Earth’s geo-biodiversity ‘The story of a southern African River and its wetlands’ Embracing Earth’s geodiversity hotspots 16. Mapungubwe-Zimbabwe (SA-Zimbabwe): 900-1,700 AD ‘The rise and fall of a golden empire’ & her terrestrial biodiversity hotspots Africa; colossus amongst the continents Womb of our humanity & culture 6. Lemur-Chameleon Fountainhead of our art (Madagascar): 65 Ma-present Home of her only intact megafauna. Stem of human language ‘Born on a microcontinent’ Cradle of our hominin ancestors & of our primate ancestors. Heartland of Gondwana & Pangaea Centre of Earth’s geo-biodiversity 1. Cradle to Cradle Embracing Earth’s But & her terrestrial geodiversity hotspots (Swaziland-South Africa): 3,5 billion-present biodiversity hotspots ‘Celebrating 3.5 billion years of life on Earth’ Home of her only intact megafauna. But www.aeon.org.za Continent of greatest human suffering Continent of greatest human sufgering & place of our biggest dreams. 2. Snowball Earth 3. Great Karoo (Gabon-South Africa): 1,000-500 Ma (Lesotho-South Africa): 325-175 Ma & place of our biggest dreams. ‘From Snowball Earth to the 11. Khoisan Kalahari 10. Homo sapiens ‘Pangaea through the mother of all extinctions’ biological big bang’ (Namibia-Botswana): 60,000 BP-present (South Africa): 200,000 BP- present ‘The Khoisan stem of our human phylogeny’ IMIZILA – Finding a new way forward! ‘Cradle of our species & of our culture’ Towards the dignity of all humans, & all other species! IMIZILA – Finding a new way forward! Towards the dignity of all humans, & all other species! John M Anderson & Maarten de Wit, AEON, South Africa, 9 Jan 2013 Graphic Design : Pieter Botes
1. CRADLE TO CRADLE Celebrating 3,5 billion years of life on Earth Tswaing (220,000 BP) 3,5-1,0 Ma Cradle of Humanity (3,5–1.0Ma) Karoo Snowball Earth earliest bacteria Cullinan Kimberlite Pipe (1200) Waterberg Waterberg Grp. (1900–1700) 2023 Vredefort Dome Bushveld Igneous Complex (2060–2055) 2,1 2061 Magaliesberg Fm. Silverton Fm. 2,2 Daspoort Fm. Transvaal 2,3 Strubenskop Fm. Hekpoort Fm. earliest continents Barberton Mountains Transvaal Supergroup (2714–2050) Timeball Hill Moilmani Fm. (Dolomite) Black Reef Fm. Ventersdorp (2714) 3000-2700 Wits Witwatersrand Supergroup (3600–2714) Barberton Barberton Greenstone Belt (3560–3060) 3470 Barberton Mts Archaean Granitic Curst (3700–2700) 1 Origin of Earth Cradle of Humankind
EARTH TIME (SCULPTURE) Today K ‘Gondwana Alive, Earth Alive, Africa Alive’ Triptych Snowball Earth 1 billion W 2 billion Maarten de Wit & Ditshego Madopi T W 3 billion B AA GA 4 billion EA K — Karoo Supergroup W — Waterberg Supergroup T — Transvaal Supergroup 4.6 billion W — Witwatersrand Supergroup Africa Alive Earth Time B — Baberton Supergroup
2. SNOWBALL EARTH From Snowball Earth & extreme carbon sequestration to the Biological Big Bang Today K Snowball Earth 1 billion Supercontinent, 825 Ma W 2 billion T 18 Break-up, 600 Ma 19 20 15 17 16 14 W 13 12 indicate fragments of future Africa 10 3 billion 9 11 8 7 B 6 5 4 2 3 4 billion 1 2 4.6 billion Paul F. Hoffman, USA
3. GREAT KAROO Pangaea through the mother of all extinctions Drakensberg, Early Jurassic lavas 3
8. EASTERN RIFT VALLEY Our hominid trail from Ardipithecus to Homo Laetoli Trackway Laetoli footprints Australopithecus LA afarensis , Tanzania; T oldest known hominin O hom footprints (at 3,6 Ma) f Ma) 20 7 8 1
10. HOMO SAPIENS CORRIDOR Our modern human sojourn since Mitochondrial Eve 10
GOBEKLI TEPE Human colonisation of the world in 3 waves: 1. As hunter-gatherers from Africa 2. As farmers from the Middle-East 3. As industrialists from Europe
13. Valley of the Pharaohs 16. Mapungubwe-Zimbabwe Life-cycle of the classical The rise and fall Egyptian civilization of a golden empire 15. Songhay’s Timbuktu Egypt-Sudan: South Africa-Zimbabwe: Key civilisations of Niger 3,100-30 BC 900-1700 AD & Senegal River Kingdoms Senegal-Nigeria: 700-1600 AD Mapungubwe 13 15 16 Pyramids of Giza
m other species Oldest evidence of Human activity: 7 million years 12. SAHARA PARADISE LOST old hominin fossils tural (Chad) for ate Sahara live, then dly The rock-art gallery traces desertifjcation ’ (Niger, Algeria, Libya, Chad): 20,000 BP to present; one of the m other species Oldest evidence of Human activity: 7 million years old hominin fossils tural (Chad) for ate Sahara live, then dly 12 ’ (Niger, Algeria, Libya, Chad): 20,000 BP to present; one of the
19. CARBON FOOTPRINT 20. SIXTH EXTINCTION Oil deposits to carbon footprint From dumping site to denudation to civil war across the northern Sahara 2000 1980 1960 Cold Hot 19 1940 1920 20 1900 1880 BOXING-DAY TSUNAMI from Al Gore (2006) (p.73) “ An Inconvenient Truth ” 1860 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
Supernova (2015)
MiniMag (2008) For UNESCO’s “ International Year of Planet Earth ”, Tanzania
For the children of tomorrow’s world Strategy 72 of the 101 Earth Alive Strategies Kofj Annan Dalai Lama Nelson Mandela “.. away from the “...a caring “...the children of today’s dangerous course attitude towards world and the children of of business-as- the environment” tomorrow’s world” usual ”
IMIZILA—FINDING A NEW WAY FORWARD Towards the dignity of all humans, & all other species!
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