10 Facts about Mary Leakey

Post On: July 10, 2017
By: Agustina

Facts about Mary Leakey make you realize the figure of a British paleoanthropologist. She took the credit as the discoverer of the first Proconsul skull. People believe that this extinct ape was an ancestor of human beings. Leakey was born on February 6th, 1913 and died on December 9th, 1996.

Facts about Mary Leakey 1: another discovery

She worked at Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania and discovered Zinjanthropus skull.

Facts about Mary Leakey 2: the working partner

Louis Leakey was the husband of Mary Leakey. She worked a lot with her husband in the discovery at Olduvai Gorge.

Mary Leakey Discovery

Mary Leakey Discovery

Facts about Mary Leakey 3: the important discovery

The couple was successful to discover fossils of ancient hominines and showed them to the world. They were also capable to uncover the stone tools created by the earliest hominins.



Facts about Mary Leakey 4: a classification system

After finding the stone tools at Olduvai, Mary created a classification system related to the tools.

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Facts about Mary Leakey 5: the hominin fossils

The hominin fossils that she found were located at Laetoli site. She followed a lead from Laetoli footprints. The age of the fossils is around 3.75 million years old.

Mary Leakey Facts

Mary Leakey Facts

Facts about Mary Leakey 6: the new species of animals

Do you know that Leakey also discovered 15 new species of animals throughout her career?

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Facts about Mary Leakey 7: the death of her husband

Her husband passed away in 1972. Since the family was always involved with palaeoanthropology, she trained Richard, her son to follow the footpath of her parents. Mary was appointed as a director of excavations at Olduvai after the death of her husband.

Facts about Mary Leakey 8: early life

The birthplace of Mary was located in London, England. Her birth name was Mary Douglas Nicol. Her mother was Cecilia, while her father was Edward Nicol. The family had to live in different countries like in US, Egypt and Italy. During the travel, Mary was interested with Egyptology.

Facts about Mary Leakey

Facts about Mary Leakey

 

Facts about Mary Leakey 9: the interest

The main interest of Mary was on archaeology and illustration. Due to her bad academic record, she could not pursue formal university education. Her mother made a contact to a professor at Oxford University. She was informed that it was better for Mary not to apply in the university.

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Facts about Mary Leakey 10: an honorary doctoral degree

In 1951, Mary Leakey earned an honorary doctoral degree from Oxford University due to her discovery.

Are you wondered after reading facts about Mary Leakey?


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