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Seven Views of the Olduvai Gorge

by Mike Resnick

1994 Nebula Award -- Best Novella

An archaeological expedition has come to Earth to study that strangest of creatures -- Man -- now long extinct. Those strange, aggressively intelligent Earth-born primates managed at one point to dominate the stars and enslave much of the galaxy. But as spectacular, sudden, and too often violent was their rise, so too was their downfall. Nearly five millenia have passed since the last human reluctantly died and relinquished his hold on the stars. Where else on Earth can human artifacts stretching from the first hominids to the last be found except in the Oldovai Gorge in Africa, site of Dr. Richard Leaky's finds relating to early humans?

"Seven Views of the Oldovai Gorge" is actually seven stories of humanity as viewed by seven artifacts excavated from the famous gorge. These stories are uncovered by He Who Sees, one of the members of the archaeological party with the ability to engulf objects with his body and "feel" their histories, reliving important events surrounding the objects -- a handy skill on any archaeological excavation, I'm sure you'll agree. The stories cover a wide range of human history, from the early, stone-weilding proto-humans, to a spear-brandishing African warlord during the period of European colonialism, to the independence movements during the time of Dr. Leaky's work, to the days after humanity has started travelling to the stars.

"Oldovai Gorge" is primarily a study of human aggression and self-centrism, considering how these qualities can be seen as both the motivating force that may have brought mankind as a species into a position of dominance over the planet and possibly someday the galaxy, yet these very same traits may very well be humanity's downfall.

First appeared: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October/November 1994

Anthology: Nebula Awards 30, edited by Pamela Sargent

Ivan Granger
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