Mary and Louis Leakey were named two of the foremost fossil hunters of the twentieth centaury. They are archeologists (scientists who study the remains of ancient human cultures) who made many discoveries. They are known for their many discoveries relating to early human evolution. The Leakey’s' findings suggested that human life originated in Africa and greatly expanded modern understandings of evolution (the theory that living organisms developed slowly over long periods of time). In 1936 Mary and Louis married, and moved to Kenya Africa to begin their work in finding the fossils that eventually made them famous archeologists. In 1948 Mary and Louis came upon more than thirty fragments of the skull of an apelike creature. The scientists came to the conclusion that this “creature” was a common ancestor of both apes and humans that lived up to 40,000,000 years ago! Mary Leakey discovered the first specimen of paranthropus boisei, a well-preserved cranium, on July 17, 1959, at Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. Not only was this skull the first strong and healthy australopithecine (Southern apes , but not simply apes because they were bipedal) ever found, this skull also did so much in convincing the scientific world that Darwin and Raymond Dart (Two other archeologists) had been right about their claims of Africa being the earliest scene of human evolution. Another fossil discovered by Mary and Louis nearby was named "Able Man" (or Homo Habilis) because the hominid had used stone tools. These two different human-like creatures are thought to have lived in the same place at the same time, which challenged the former belief that humans originated from one place. The Leakey’s also uncovered the remains of more than 100 forms of now-extinct animal life in the Olduvai Gorge. The Leakey’s findings greatly expanded the theory that living organisms developed slowly over long periods of time.

“1976 and 1977, Mary made what she considers the most exciting find of her career.” (A science Odyssey) Searching about thirty miles south of Olduvai Gorge, Mary and her new team discovered fossilized footprints. They found this footprint in what they think was once a wet sandy land. Around the archeologists were human-like footprints showing a small striding primate that walked on two feet. The discovered that the footprints seemed to match the fossils found in the same area, belonging to the species Australopithecus afarensis; Which was discovered by Mary and Louis a few years before. The prints fossilized some 3 to 3.5 million years ago, leaving evidence of the passage of what appeared to be an upright, bipedal hominid. The discovery required major changes in theories about human evolution because it showed that bipedalism may have occurred earlier than brain expansions. The changes in theories were needed to explain as to why some primates, such as human ancestors, evolved to walk on two feet. During this same time period, Mary and her team also found remains of 25 early hominids and an arrangement of 15 new animal species, one of the most important of fossil finds ever.

References

http://www.nndb.com/people/372/000094090/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/databank/entries/boleak.html