LUCY'S CRADLE, the Birth of Wonder chronicles these developments along the East African Rift Valley and then follows the spread of humans around the globe. From the obelisks of Axum to mountaintop observatories, humans have searched for a relationship with the heavens. Modern astronomers are continuing a magnificent journey of human vision that began over 3 million years ago when a young female hominid peered over the grassland of East Africa and saw the distant horizon beyond her fingertips.