Fossils for Africa explores Africa’s incredibly rich fossil heritage and shows the importance of these fossils in unraveling the history of life on Earth. Africa is known as the cradle of humankind, but in terms of geological time, the emergence of humans is a relatively recent event.

Right here in Africa we have evidence of the earliest traces of life, dating to about 3.8 billion years, when life on Earth was still single-celled and microbial. From these humble  beginnings Africa’s fossil record shows how life became increasingly complex and diversified into a wide array of forms.

Dedicated chapters focus on the  evolution of plants, insects,  and the radiation of reptiles and mammals. The book concludes with the five mass extinction events that rocked Earth’s biodiversity and ponders the current crisis facing our planet’s biodiversity.