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Mary Leakey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
British paleoanthropologist (1913–1996)

Mary Leakey
Leakey in 1977
Born
Mary Douglas Nicol

(1913-02-06)6 February 1913
London, England
Died9 December 1996(1996-12-09) (aged 83)
Nairobi, Kenya
NationalityBritish
Alma materBritain and Kenya
Known forZinjanthropus fossil;Laetoli footprints
Spouse
Children
Awards
Scientific career
FieldsPaleoanthropology
InstitutionsCentral Kenya

Mary Douglas Leakey,FBA (néeNicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a Britishpaleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilisedProconsul skull, an extinct ape which is now believed to be ancestral to humans. She also discovered the robustZinjanthropus skull atOlduvai Gorge in Tanzania, eastern Africa. For much of her career she worked with her husband,Louis Leakey, at Olduvai Gorge, where they uncovered fossils of ancienthominines and the earliesthominins, as well as the stone tools produced by the latter group. Mary Leakey developed a system forclassifying the stone tools found at Olduvai. She discovered theLaetoli footprints, and at the Laetoli site she discovered hominin fossils that were more than 3.75 million years old.

During her career, Leakey discovered fifteen newspecies of animal. She also brought about the naming of a newgenus.

In 1972, after the death of her husband, Leakey became director of excavations at Olduvai. She maintained the Leakey family tradition of palaeoanthropology by training her son,Richard, in the field.

Biography

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Childhood

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Mary Leakey was born on 6 February 1913, in London, England to Erskine Edward Nicol and Cecilia Marion (Frere) Nicol. The Nicol family moved to numerous locations in thеUnited States,Italy, andEgypt where Erskine painted watercolours that he brought back and sold in England. Mary began to develop an enthusiasm forEgyptology during these travels.[citation needed]

On her mother's side, Mary was a third great-granddaughter of antiquarianJohn Frere and shared this same ancestry with historian and archaeologistSheppard Frere. The Frere family had been activeabolitionists in the British colonial empire during the 19th century and established several communities for freed slaves. Three of these communities were still in existence when Leakey published her 1984 autobiography: Freretown, Kenya; Freretown, South Africa; and Freretown, India.[citation needed]

The Nicols spent much of their time in southern France where young Mary became fluent inFrench. In 1925, when Mary was 12, the Nicols stayed at the commune,Les Eyzies, at a time when Élie Peyrony, a Frencharchaeologist andprehistorian, was excavating a cave there. Peyrony was not excavating scientifically during that early stage of archaeology and did not understand the significance of much of what he found. Mary received permission to go through the remnants of his dig. This was where her interests in prehistory and archaeology were sparked. She started a collection of points, scrapers, and blades from the dump and developed her first system of classification.[1]

The family relocated toCabrerets, a village ofLot, France. Mary met Abbé Lemozi, the village priest, who befriended her and became her mentor for a time. The two touredPech Merle cave to view the prehistoric paintings of bison and horses.[2]

Education

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In the spring of 1926, when Mary was thirteen years old, her father died of cancer and Mary and her mother returned to London. Mary was placed in a localCatholic convent to be educated, and she later boasted of never passing an examination there.[3] Although she spoke fluent French, Mary did not excel at French language studies, apparently because her teacher frowned upon her provincial accent. She was expelled for refusing to recite poetry, and was later expelled from a second convent school for causing an explosion in a chemistry laboratory.[4] After the second expulsion, her mother hired two tutors, who were no more successful than the nuns. After the unsuccessful tutors, her mother hired a nanny.

Mary's particular interests centered on illustration and archaeology, but formal university admission was impossible with her academic record. Her mother contacted a professor atOxford University about possible admission, and was encouraged not to apply, as it would be a waste of her time. Mary had no further contact with the university until it awarded her an honorary doctoral degree in 1951.[citation needed]

The small family moved toKensington, in West London, where, though unregistered, Mary attended lectures in archaeology and related subjects atUniversity College and at theLondon Museum, where she studied underMortimer Wheeler.[5]

Mary applied to work on a number of summer excavations. Wheeler was the first to accept her for a dig. It took place atSt. Albans at theRoman site ofVerulamium. Her next dig was atHembury, aNeolithic site, underDorothy Liddell, who trained her for four years until 1934. Herillustrations of tools for Liddell drew the attention ofGertrude Caton Thompson, and, in late 1932, she entered the field as an illustrator for Caton Thompson's bookThe Desert Fayoum.[6]

Life

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Mary and Louis Leakey atOlduvai Gorge

Through Caton Thompson, an English archaeologist, Mary metLouis Leakey, who was in need of an illustrator for his bookAdam's Ancestors (1934). While she was doing that work they became romantically involved. Leakey was still married and his son Collin had just been born when they moved in with each other. They married afterFrida Leakey divorced him in 1936.[7] This ruined his career atCambridge University.[citation needed]

Mary and Louis Leakey had three sons: Jonathan, born in 1940,Richard in 1944, andPhilip in 1949. Their fourth child, a daughter, died as a baby.[7] The three boys received much of their early childhood care at various anthropological sites and, whenever possible, the Leakeys excavated and explored as a family. The children accompanied them to various work sites, with dig becoming a family endeavour.[8] The boys grew up with the same love of freedom that their parents had become accustomed to. Mary would not even allow guests to shoo away the pethyraxes that helped themselves to food and drink at the dinner table. In her autobiography, she rarely mentioned her pregnancies or the difficulties she faced while raising children in Kenya. She smoked a lot, first cigarettes and then cigars, and usually dressed as though completing an excavation.[citation needed]

While her husband was alive, they published many joint findings. However, her contributions were often credited to her husband.[9] Louis Leakey died on 1 October 1972 of a heart attack. Mary Leakey continued with the family's archaeological work, becoming a respected figure in paleoanthropology in her own right. Her son, Richard Leakey, also decided to become a paleoanthropologist, and Mary helped him begin his career. Her other two sons, Jonathan and Philip Leakey, pursued other interests.[citation needed]

Death

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Mary Leakey died on 9 December 1996, inNairobi, Kenya, at the age of 83. Her family, who announced her death, did not give the cause, saying only that she died peacefully.[10]

Research

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Replica ofthe skull "Zinjanthropus", sometimes known as "Nutcracker Man", found by Mary Leakey.
Plinth with plaque sited in Olduvai Gorge marking the spot where Mary Leakey discovered "Zinjanthropus", the first-foundA. boisei in Africa.

Mary Leakey served her apprenticeship under Dorothy Liddell atHembury, 1930–34 (see above). In 1934, she took part in a dig atSwanscombe where she discovered the largest elephant tooth known to Britain at that time.[11]

Throughout the 1930s to 1950s, Mary and Louis Leakey worked atLater Stone Age,Neolithic, andIron Age archaeological sites in central Kenya, such asHyrax Hill andNjoro River Cave. In October 1948, Mary discovered aProconsul africanus skull onRusinga Island.[12][13] Mary Leakey also recorded and published theKondoa Irangi Rock Paintings in central Tanzania.

The Leakeys' most famous research, however, was atOlduvai Gorge in theSerengeti plains of northern Tanzania. The site yielded many stone tools, fromOldowan choppers to multi-purposehand axes. The earliest tools they dug up were likely made byHomo habilis and can be dated to over two million years ago.[citation needed]

On the morning of 17 July 1959, Louis felt ill at Olduvai and stayed at camp while Mary went out to the field. At some point she noticed a piece of bone that "seemed to be part of a skull" with a "hominid" look".[14] After dusting the topsoil away, she found "two large teeth set in the curve of a jaw", and she drove back to camp exclaiming "I've got him!"[15] Active excavation began the following day and a partial cranium was unearthed within a few weeks, though it had to be reconstructed from fragments scattered in thescree.[16] After examining the cranium, Louis Leakey concluded it was of a species ancestral to humans, theaustralopithecines.[17]He eventually dubbed the findZinjanthropus boisei, "East Africa man"—Zinj is an ancient Arabic word for the East African coast. The name was later revised toParanthropus boisei, and by some toAustralopithecus boisei; a consensus on its classification is still in debate.

In the 1960s the Leakeys started to work with the youngKamoya Kimeu with Mary particularly valuing his expertise. The family trained him in paleontology, evolutionary theory and excavating techniques, which he then trained the next generations of Kenyan fossil finders in, as he became a highly respected Kenyanpaleontologist and curator.[18]

After her husband died in 1972, Mary Leakey continued their work at Olduvai andLaetoli. It was at the Laetoli site that she discovered hominin fossils that were more than 3.75 million years old.[19]

From 1976 to 1981, Leakey and her staff uncovered theLaetoli hominin footprint trail which had been tracked through a layer ofvolcanic ash some 3.6 million years ago. The subsequent years were filled with research at Olduvai and Laetoli, follow-up work to discoveries, and preparing publications.[20][citation needed]

Throughout her career, Leakey discovered 15 newspecies of animals, and one newgenus. She was elected a Foreign Honorary Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1979.[21]

Legacy

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In April 2013, Leakey was honoured byRoyal Mail in the UK, as one of six people selected as subjects for the "Great Britons"commemorative postage stamp issue.[22]Google celebrated the 100th anniversary of Mary Leakey's birth with itsGoogle doodle for 6 February 2013.[23]

The Mary Leakey Girls' High School, asecondary school for girls nearKikuyu Town, was named after Mary's mother-in-law, Mary Bazett Leakey, mother of her husband,Louis Leakey.[24]

In the video gameCivilization VI, Leakey is a Great Scientist that players can recruit. Her unique ability grants extra science and tourism to artifacts.[25]

Awards and honours

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Books authored

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  • Excavations at Njoro River Cave (with Louis Leakey), 1950
  • Olduvai Gorge: Excavations in Beds I and II, 1960–1963, 1971
  • Olduvai Gorge: My Search for Early Man, 1979
  • Africa's Vanishing Art: The Rock Paintings of Tanzania, 1983
  • Disclosing the Past, 1984

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^Morell, Virginia (1995). "Chapter 4: Louis and Mary".Ancestral Passions.
  2. ^Disclosing the Past (1984), pp. 27–28.
  3. ^"Mary Leakey, Archaeologist and Anthropologist"; obituary;The Times, 10 December 1996; displayed at the Primate Info Net; University of Wisconsin.
  4. ^Disclosing the Past, p. 33.
  5. ^Disclosing the Past, pp. 34–26, 36–37.
  6. ^Disclosing the Past, pp. 37–39.
  7. ^ab"Leakey [née Nicol], Mary Douglas (1913–1996), archaeologist and palaeoanthropologist".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/56023. Retrieved23 September 2020. (Subscription orUK public library membership required.)
  8. ^Hager, Lori (1997).Women in Human Evolution. Psychology Press. p. 17.
  9. ^Hager, Lori (1997).Women in Human Evolution. Psychology Press. p. 18.
  10. ^John Noble Wilford;"Mary Leakey, 83, Dies; Traced Human Dawn",New York Times, 10 December 1996; retrieved March 2014.
  11. ^Disclosing the Past, pp. 47–48.
  12. ^Leakey, M.D. 1948. "The discovery of the skull and associated mandible of a Miocene ape."The Archaeological News Letter 8, December 1948, p.3.
  13. ^Cornwall, I.W. 1948. "The skull ofProconsul africanus".The Archaeological News Letter 8, December 1948, p.3–4.
  14. ^Mary Leakey,My Search, 75.
  15. ^Morell, 181.
  16. ^Cela-Conde & Ayala, 158; Morell, 183–184.
  17. ^Cela-Conde & Ayala, 158; Johanson, Edgar & Brill, 156
  18. ^Risen, Clay (11 August 2022)."Kamoya Kimeu, Fossil-Hunting 'Legend' in East Africa, Is Dead".The New York Times.ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved13 August 2022.
  19. ^Miller, Catherine (2023). "Early Hominin Movement Patterns at Laetoli, Northern Tanzania".PaleoAnthropology.2024 (1):139–147.
  20. ^Miller, Catherine (2023). "Early Hominin Movement Patterns at Laetoli, Northern Tanzania".PaleoAnthropology.2024 (1):139–147.
  21. ^"Book of Members, 1780–2010: Chapter L"(PDF). American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved25 July 2014.
  22. ^"Royal Mail celebrates 'Great Britons' with launch of latest special stamp collection". royalmailgroup.com. 17 April 2013. Archived fromthe original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved27 April 2013.
  23. ^"Mary Leakey's 100th Birthday",Google; accessed 6 February 2013.
  24. ^Kenyaonline (7 January 2020)."Mary Leakey Girls High School; All details, KCSE Results Analysis and Admission Process".2022/2023. Retrieved22 November 2022.
  25. ^Scientists – Civilization 6 Wiki Guide – IGN, 9 December 2016, retrieved20 June 2021
  26. ^"SWG Gold Medalists".Society of Woman Geographers. Retrieved3 February 2020.
  27. ^"Mary Leakey". Retrieved25 May 2016.

Further reading

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External links

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Leakey family tree
James Leakey
(1775–1865)[i]		Eliza Hubbard Woolmer
(1793–1855)[ii]
James Shirley Leakey
(1824–1871)[citation needed]		Caroline Woolmer Leakey
(1827–1881)[ii]		9 others[ii]
Rev. Arundell Leakey
(1853–1924)		Rev. Harry Leakey
(1868–1940)
Elizabeth Laing
(1873–1925)[iii][iv]		Arundell Gray Arundell Leakey
(1885–1954)[iii][iv]		5 othersHenrietta Wilfrida Avern
(1902–1993)		Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey[iv]
(1903–1972)		Mary Douglas Nicol
(1913–1996)		3 others
Nigel Gray Leakey
(1913–1941)[iii][iv]		Robert Dove Leakey
(1914–2013)		Maj. Gen. Arundell Rea Leakey
(1915–1999)		Agnes Florence Leakey
(1917–2006)[iv]		Colin Louis Avern Leakey
(1933–2018)		Meave Epps
(b. 1942)		Richard Erskine Frere Leakey
(1944–2022)		Margaret CropperJonathan Harry Erskine Leakey
(1940–2021)		Philip Leakey
(b. 1949)
Lt. Gen. Arundell David Leakey
(b. 1952)		Louise Leakey
(b. 1972)		Emmanuel,
Prince de Mérode
(b. 1970)
Notes:
  1. ^O'Donoghue, F. M.; Remington, V. (revised) (2004). "Leakey, James (1775–1865), miniature painter".Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16244. (Subscription orUK public library membership required.)
  2. ^abc"Eliza Hubbard Woolmer, wife of James Leakey".Artsandculture.google.com.Archived from the original on 6 April 2022. Retrieved6 April 2022.Elizabeth Hubbard Woolmer was born on 20 December 1793. ... On 28 August 1815 she married the artist James Leakey (1775-1865) at St. Sidwell's Church, Exeter (2). They had eleven children. ... Caroline Woolmer Leakey (1827-1881)
  3. ^abc"Serjeant Nigel Gray Leakey | War Casualty Details".cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved8 April 2022.NIGEL GRAY LEAKEY ... Died 19 May 1941 Age 28 years old ... Son of Arundell Gray A. and Elizabeth Leakey, of Kiganjo, Kenya.
  4. ^abcdeLean, Mary (26 January 2007)."Agnes Hofmeyr, Worker for reconciliation in Africa".The Independent.Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved8 April 2022.Agnes Leakey, worker for reconciliation: born Limuru, Kenya 8 May 1917; married 1946 Bremer Hofmeyr (died 1993; one son, and one son deceased); died Johannesburg 1 December 2006. ... Agnes Leakey was born in Limuru, Kenya, in 1917, the youngest child of Gray Leakey, cousin of the anthropologist Louis Leakey, and his first wife, Elizabeth. ... in 1926, when Elizabeth died ... She married a South African colleague, Bremer Hofmeyr, in 1946. ... in ... 1954 ... Mau Mau fighters ... attacked her father's farm, killed her stepmother and abducted her father. ... [he was] buried alive, in a shallow grave on Mount Kenya. ... she lost her eldest brother, Nigel Leakey, in 1941 at Colito, where he won the Victoria Cross. Three years after Bremer's death, in 1993, their elder son, Murray, was killed in a car accident in Johannesburg.
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