Description: This is a riveting memoir of scientific exploration amidst intrigue, famine, and war. In 1971, Jon Kalb was presented with the chance to explore Ethiopia's forbidding Afar Depression. Geology drew Kalb to the region, but astounding archeological finds became the reason to stay. The Afar yielded Lucy, the First Family, Bodo Man, the Aramis Skeleton, the Buri Skull, and some of the oldest and most extensive stone tool discoveries ever made. By the end of the decade, the area had become the source of the longest and most complete single record of hominid habitation in the world. But the Afar was also the site of the "bone wars" caused by cut-throat competition among rival teams of scientists driven by ego, money, and fame. And it was the site, tragically, of a very real war. In this remarkable memoir, Kalb recounts not just the turf battles of scientists but the armed conflict and subsequent revolution that steered Ethiopia toward famine, tribal warfare, invasion, and chaos.

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