process secondary information and use available evidence to assess the contribution of one of the following to our increased understanding of human evolution:
- the Leakey family
- Johanson
- Broom
- Tobias
- Dart
- Goodall
Louis Leakey Lucid Interactive
Mary Leakey Talk Origins
Richard Leakey Talk Origins
Leakey family Time Magazine, includes audio of Richard Leakey.
The Leakey Foundation
The Leakey family is summarised below as a model.
The Leakey family
No other family has had such an influence on a field of scientific study as the Leakey family. Louis his second wife Mary, their son Richard and Richard’s second wife Maeve have all made outstanding contributions to the study of the evolution of humans. More recently the next generation in the form of Louise Leakey (the daughter of Richard and Maeve) has begun to work in the field of anthropology. The Leakey family finds include Proconsul, Australopithecus boisei, Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Australopithecus anamensis and Australopithecus aethiopicus.
The table below summarises their contribution.
Year | Event |
---|---|
1933
|
Louis and Mary meet. |
1959
|
Mary finds Zinjanthropus (Australopithecus boisei) |
1964
|
Louis finds the tool-maker, Homo habilis |
1972
|
Richard finds a 1.8 million year old Homo habilis skull |
1978
|
Mary announces Laetoli footprints (Austraopithecus afarensis) |
1984
|
Kamoya Kimeu, a member of Richard’s team finds Turkana boy (Homo ergaster) |
1985
|
Richard discovers Black skull (Australopithecus [or Paranthropus] aethiopicus)at Lake Turkana with Alan Walker |
1989
|
Richard enters wildlife conservation |
1995
|
Maeve Leakey announces new species Australopithecus anamensis |
1999
|
Maeve Leakey discovers a new genus Kenyanthropus platyops |
Louis Leakey was also known for encouraging the research into primates by Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute Galika and in changing the view that hominids evolved in Asia.