From the late 1930s, Louis and Mary Leakey
What fossils did the Leakeys find?
In 1948, at Rusinga Island, Mary Leakey discovered the fossil remains of Proconsul africanus , an ancestor of apes and humans that existed more than 18 million years ago.
What species did the Leakeys discover?
Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised Proconsul skull , an extinct ape which is now believed to be ancestral to humans. She also discovered the robust Zinjanthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, eastern Africa.
What did Richard Leakey discover?
By age 23, Richard Leakey had already discovered a major clue to the origin of our species Homo sapiens. During a 1967 expedition in Ethiopia's Omo Valley, he found two partial fossil hominin skulls called Omo I and Omo II .
Did Louis Leakey discover Lucy?
Finding Lucy
After Louis Leakey died of a heart attack in 1972, Mary Leakey continued working at Olduvai Gorge; however, the next spectacular find occurred in the Ethiopian part of the Great Rift Valley, at Afar. ... Fragments suggest it was small, while the foot, leg, and pelvis bones showed that Lucy walked upright .
What did Louis Leakey prove?
Leakey, (born August 7, 1903, Kabete, Kenya—died October 1, 1972, London, England), Kenyan archaeologist and anthropologist whose fossil discoveries in East Africa proved that human beings were far older than had previously been believed and that human evolution was centred in Africa, rather than in Asia, as earlier ...
What did Mary Leakey find in 1976 and 1977?
In 1976 and 1977, Mary made what she considers the most exciting find of her career. About 30 miles south of the Olduvai Gorge at a site called Laetoli, Mary and her team found fossilized footprints in what was once a wet sandy region probably near a watering hole.
Who found Lucy?
The team that excavated her remains, led by American paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson and French geologist Maurice Taieb , nicknamed the skeleton “Lucy” after the Beatles song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” which was played at the celebration the day she was found.
Why is 1974 fossil called Lucy?
“Lucy” acquired her name from the 1967 song “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” by the Beatles, which was played loudly and repeatedly in the expedition camp all evening after the excavation team's first day of work on the recovery site.
Where was Lucy found?
Lucy, a 3.2 million-year old fossil skeleton of a human ancestor, was discovered in 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia . The fossil locality at Hadar where the pieces of Lucy's skeleton were discovered is known to scientists as Afar Locality 288 (A.L. 288).
The son of noted anthropologists Louis S.B. Leakey and Mary Leakey , Richard was originally reluctant to follow his parents' career and instead became a safari guide. In 1967 he joined an expedition to the Omo River valley in Ethiopia.
Where is Richard Leakey now?
Richard shifted away from palaeontology in 1989, but his wife Meave Leakey and daughter Louise Leakey continue to conduct palaeontological research in Northern Kenya .
Who discovered Turkanaboy?
Turkana Boy's skeleton was discovered 37 years ago on the shore of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya by Kamoya Kimeu , a legendary fossil collector who worked with paleontologists from the famous Leakey family.
Who was the first human?
The First Humans
One of the earliest known humans is Homo habilis , or “handy man,” who lived about 2.4 million to 1.4 million years ago in Eastern and Southern Africa.
What is the oldest human skeleton ever found?
The oldest directly dated human remains have turned up in a Bulgarian cave. The tooth and six bone fragments are more than 40,000 years old . The new discoveries came from Bulgaria's Bacho Kiro Cave. They support a scenario in which Homo sapiens from Africa reached the Middle East some 50,000 years ago.
What is the oldest human remains ever found?
The oldest known evidence for anatomically modern humans (as of 2017) are fossils found at Jebel Irhoud, Morocco, dated about 300,000 years old . Anatomically modern human remains of eight individuals dated 300,000 years old, making them the oldest known remains categorized as “modern” (as of 2018).
