• Earliest fossil hominid sites are in Africa• They now span the latest Miocene to the early Pleistocene from about 6-7 myato about 1.6 mya• The major groups of sites are:• Ethiopia = Middle Awash valley & Hadar (Australopithecus afarensis)• Kenya = Lake Turkana• Tanzania = Olduvai Gorge• South Africa = various sites in limestone caverns centered around Sterkfontein