Life › Life & humans today › The genus Homo
The Leakey family
Louis, Mary, Richard & Meave; key finds 1948–today· Scientist· Human ancestors & us
Well establishedStrong fossil, genetic or geological evidence.
A Kenyan-British family of fossil hunters whose East African finds over three generations put Africa at the center of human origins.
See it on the Life map →What happened
Louis (1903–1972) and Mary Leakey (1913–1996) worked mainly at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Mary found the ape Proconsul's skull in Kenya in 1948, the robust 'Zinj' skull in 1959 and, in 1978, the 3.66-million-year-old Laetoli footprints. Louis co-named Homo habilis in 1964 and launched the ape studies of Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Biruté Galdikas. Their son Richard led the team whose Kamoya Kimeu found the 'Turkana Boy' skeleton in 1984; Richard's wife Meave named two new hominin species.
Why it matters
Their finds, dated by new radiometric methods, pushed human ancestry back millions of years and helped confirm Darwin's 1871 guess that humans arose in Africa.
Discoveries and legacy
Fossils held by the national museums of Kenya and Tanzania; Zinj was one of the first hominin fossils dated by potassium-argon dating, at 1.75 million years (1961).
Still debated
Louis's showmanship and some claims, such as very ancient stone tools in California, drew criticism; how Homo habilis relates to later humans is still debated.
Connections (4)
▸The Leakey family found a famous skull of ProconsulWell established
The connection
Proconsul had been named in 1933 from teeth and jaw pieces. In 1948 Mary Leakey found a nearly complete skull on Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria, Kenya, the first fossil ape skull ever found. About 18 million years old, it and later skeletons revealed an early tailless ape near the split between apes and Old World monkeys.
When and how
Rusinga Island, Kenya, October 1948, found by Mary Leakey; the skull was flown to England amid wide press attention.
The evidence
The skull, now in the National Museums of Kenya, and many later Proconsul bones from Rusinga; it remains a key reference for early apes.
Debates and open questions
Whether Proconsul is an ancestor of living apes or a side branch; in 2015 the Rusinga species was moved to a new genus, Ekembo.
▸The Leakey family uncovered Laetoli footprintsWell established
The connection
Mary Leakey led excavations at Laetoli from the mid-1970s, and in 1976 her team spotted fossil animal tracks. In 1978 they exposed the hominin trail, carefully cleaned it, cast it and reburied it, adding footprints to the family's long record of East African discoveries.
When and how
Laetoli, northern Tanzania, 1976–1979; Mary Leakey's team, with geochemist Paul Abell spotting the first hominin print in 1978.
The evidence
Mary Leakey and Richard Hay's 1979 Nature paper and field records document the find; the trail was re-excavated and conserved in the 1990s with the Getty Conservation Institute.
Debates and open questions
Little about the discovery is disputed. The open question is conservation: reburial protects the trail, but tree roots and erosion have damaged parts of it.
▸The Leakey family named Homo habilisWell established
The connection
Louis and Mary Leakey worked at Olduvai Gorge for decades. Their son Jonathan found the key fossil, a juvenile's jaw, skull pieces and hand bones (OH 7), in 1960. Louis, with Phillip Tobias and John Napier, argued it was a new, larger-brained species and named it Homo habilis in 1964.
When and how
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, 1960–1964; Louis, Mary and Jonathan Leakey, with anatomist Phillip Tobias and hand specialist John Napier.
The evidence
The 1964 Nature paper and the fossils themselves, catalogued as OH 7 and others, document the naming.
Debates and open questions
Critics then and now say habilis was too apelike for Homo, or mixes two species; some prefer 'Australopithecus habilis'. The 1972 skull KNM-ER 1470, found by Richard Leakey's team, sharpened the debate.
▸The Leakey family found the 1959 'Nutcracker Man' skull of Paranthropus: the robust homininsWell established
The connection
On 17 July 1959, Mary Leakey found a skull with huge molars at Olduvai Gorge. Louis named it Zinjanthropus boisei, and its dating to 1.75 million years, using the then-new potassium–argon method, made the Leakeys famous. It is now placed in Paranthropus boisei.
When and how
Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania, 1959 (Olduvai Hominid 5); dated in 1961 by Jack Evernden and Garniss Curtis using potassium–argon dating.
The evidence
The skull, catalogued as OH 5, is held in Tanzania. Later isotope studies of P. boisei teeth show it ate mostly grasses and sedges, not nuts.
Debates and open questions
Why Paranthropus died out about 1.2 million years ago while Homo survived is still debated; climate change and competition are both suggested.