Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey the First Family of Palaeoanthropology

GENERAL ¨ ARTICLE Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey The First Family of Palaeoanthropology Rajan Gaur Louis and Mary Leakey are two famous palaeoanthropologists and archaeologists of the twentieth century whose discoveries have had a major influence on our understanding of human evolution. These discoveries were spectacular and brought popular attention to the field of palaeoanthropology, though at times they also courted controversies. Though, debate on the proper interpretation of many of the fossil hominid finds Rajan Gaur is a Professor made by them continues even today, no one questions their at the Department of tremendous contribution to our knowledge about evolution of Anthropology, Panjab humankind. This article is focussed on their life and works. University,Chandigarh. His major area of research has been Introduction palaeoanthropology, mammalian palaeontology, Ever since Darwin published his monumental work in his book palaeoecology and physical ‘On the Origin of Species’ in 1859, the idea of evolution has anthropology. Over the gradually caught the imagination of the scientific community. last thirtyyears he has led However, it took a while for the concept of human evolution to be several palaeoanthropological accepted, in the face of the millennia-old and deeply entrenched fieldworks in the Siwaliks biblical view of the universe as a static representation of God’s of Northwest India and the creative device. Before Darwin’s theory, most scholars believed Narmada Basin and the explanation of Archbishop James Ussher of Armagh, Ireland collected a number of vertebrate fossils. and John Lightfoot (Vice Chancellor of the University of Cam- bridge), who in the early 1600s had deduced from a careful study of the Bible that earth had been created at 9 o’clock on October 23, 4004 BC. By the middle of the nineteenth century, fossilized remains of human ancestors had begun to be unearthed from various localities in Europe. One of the earliest was perhaps some cranial and limb bones Keywords recovered in 1856 from the limestone cave in ‘Neander Valley’ Palaeoanthropology, human evolution, Louis Leakey, Mary near Düsseldorf, Germany, which, a few years later, were re- Leakey, Africa, Olduvai gorge, ferred to as the ‘Neanderthal Man’ (or, Homo neanderthalensis, fossil hominids. RESONANCE ¨ August 2015 667 GENERAL ¨ ARTICLE It was the efforts of a name first used by an English geologist William King in 1864 ). Louis and Mary For a major part of the 19th century, most discoveries of human Leakey, the patriarchs fossils were reported from Europe. It was in 1892 that Eugene of the first palaeo- Dubois, a Dutch doctor working in the army in Dutch East Indies anthropologyfamily, (now Indonesia), reported the first hominid from outside Europe whichconclusively and named it Anthropopithecus erectus, popularly known as the brought into spotlight ‘Java Man’ (subsequently named as Pithecanthropus erectus and the significance of finally as Homo erectus). Africa as the cradle of In the 1920s, several hominid finds were reported from humankind. Zhoukoudian in China (named as Sinanthropus by Davidson Black in 1927 and now known as Homo erectus). Thus, for some time (even beyond the first quarter of the twentieth century), after the discoveries from Java and Zhoukoudian in China, it was believed that humans had had Asian origins and Asia was the cradle of human evolution. The discovery of the fossil skull of a baby from a lime quarry at Taung in the Northern Cape, South Africa by Raymond Dart in 1924 was a significant palaeoanthropological event. This find was published as Australopithecus africanus in 1925 in Nature as the first evidence of an early fossil link between the apes and humans and Dart boldly proposed Africa as the cradle of humanity, a claim that was largely dismissed by scholars at the time. This find was dismissed as a relative of either a chimpanzee or a gorilla with little bearing on human ancestry, more so, because the specimen was of a child and for the authorities of the time, the matter was not even worth discussing until an adult specimen was discovered [1]. In the middle and late 1930’s, fossil remains of adult hominid ancestors were discovered by Robert Broom from South African cave deposits (Australopithecus transvaalensis from Sterkfontein in 1936 and Paranthropus robustus from Kromedraii in 1938), which lent support to Dart’s contention. However, it was the efforts of Louis and Mary Leakey, the patriarchs of the first palaeoanthropology family, which conclusively brought into spotlight the significance of Africa as the cradle of humankind. Figure 1 shows the timeline of the evolution of the genus Homo. 668 RESONANCE ¨August 2015 GENERAL ¨ ARTICLE Figure 1. Evolutionary timeline of the hominids. With this background, the readers will be able to better appreciate the life and works of Louis and Mary Leakey, two of the pioneers of palaeoanthropology and archaeology of Africa, which are being presented here. Louis and his wife Mary Leakey are known worldwide for their several landmark discoveries in Africa con- nected with early human evolution. Their discoveries helped to shift the opinion of the scientific community to the notion that the earlier phases of human evolution happened in Africa. Louis Leakey Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey was the patriarch of a family that stands out due to its profound contributions to the field of palaeoanthropology and archaeology in particular; a family that has dominated the field of anthropology as no other before. The members of the Leakey family have made crucial discoveries Besides which have fashioned our understanding of human origins and palaeoanthropology, evolution. It would not be an exaggeration to state that very few Louis made significant people have had more influence on human origin studies than the contributions to passionate, enthusiastic, brilliant and sometimes unconventional palaeontology, and controversial Louis Leakey. Besides palaeoanthropology, he primatology and made significant contributions to palaeontology, primatology and archaeology of Africa. archaeology of Africa. RESONANCE ¨ August 2015 669 GENERAL ¨ ARTICLE Louis was more Early Years interested in studying Louis Leakey was born at Kabete, near Nairobi, Kenya on August birds and while searching for birds in 7, 1903. His British parents, Harry Leakey and Mary Leakey, were missionaries sent to live among the Kikuyu, the largest tribe theKenyanbushhe stumbled upon stone of Kenya. As a child, Louis lived among the Kikuyu and learned their language and culture. He grew up in conditions which most artefacts in river beds at the age of 13 years. people would consider as rough and his first home just had a thatched roof. These early tough experiences probably helped him face the harsh work environments at fossil localities. All through his life, he remained a supporter for the cause of the Kikuyu. In his childhood, Louis was more interested in studying birds and while searching for birds in the Kenyan bush he stumbled upon stone artefacts in river beds at the age of 13 years. These initial finds were to shape his lifetime interest in human origins. Education and Family Life In 1922, Louis went to study in England at St John’s College, Cambridge University. There he was not very popular for several reasons: his peculiar accent that was tinted with the Kikuyu rhythm, his unique gait, his shyness and his strange stories of life in Kenya [2]. He was forced to postpone his studies on account of aheadinjurysufferedduringarugbymatch,whichdoctors diagnosed as post-traumatic epilepsy [2]. With no cure known at the time, he was advised prolonged rest away from Cambridge. In a way, the injury was to shape his destiny that would lead him to become a legendary figure in palaeoanthropology. While recov- ering from the injury, he left England to take up the management of a palaeontological expedition sponsored by the British Mu- seum of Natural History in what is now Tanzania. He later returned to England in 1925 to resume his education and gradu- ated from Cambridge University in 1926 with degrees in archaeology and anthropology. Soon after graduating, Louis set out for his first archaeological expedition in East Africa. It is interesting to note that a year 670 RESONANCE ¨August 2015 GENERAL ¨ ARTICLE before, Raymond Dart had reported the discovery of first hominid fossil (Australopithecus africanus, also popularly knownas Taung Child) from the African continent. Louis’s main aim was to find the earliest fossils of Homo, a genus to which we belong. Contrary to prevailing beliefs of the day that humanity originated in Asia, Louis was of the firm belief that man had arisen in Africa – a notion originally put forward by Charles Darwin. However, for the subsequent nearly two decades, his expeditions could recover mainly stone tools and no early hominid fossil was found. His works, nevertheless, attracted admiration and he was awarded a doctorate degree in 1930. Meanwhile, in 1928, Louis Leakey married an English lady, Farida Avern, whom he had met in Africa, and the couple had two children. This marriage did not last long and when Farida Avern was pregnant with her second child, Leakey left her and married Mary Nicols in 1936 [3]. Louis had met a very young Mary Nicols in England in 1933. She had been introduced to Louis by Canton– Thompson at the Royal Anthropological Institute. Impressed by her talents, Louis invited her to illustrate for his book Adam’s Ancestors (first edition, 1934, Box 1). Mary was shy and intelli- gent while Louis was charming, gregarious and very charismatic. Mary was a distant relative of John Frere, who had done pioneer- ing work on the stone tool culture of Europe and she had had a very unconventional education before becoming a promising archaeologist. She became his field assistant [4]. They soon struck a chord and the ensuing affair culminated in marriage. This launched the beginning of what would prove to be Contrary to prevailing a mutually beneficial and scientifically a very rewarding relation- beliefs of the day that ship.

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