Mary Leakey, archaeologist and anthropologist, died in 1996.

Mary Leakey, one half of paleoanthropology’s most famous couple, was responsible for discovering some of the most important fossil evidence in the study of hominids believed to be the ancestors of human beings. Unlike her husband, Louis, who often involved himself in public debate, Mary enjoyed solitude, research and writing. She was scrupulous in her application of the scientific method. This devotion to careful research and methodology helped her find some of the most important evidence in the hominid fossil record.

In 1948, she found on Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria the skull of Proconsul africanus, a 16 million-year-old ape from the Miocene period, at that time the only ape skull fossil known. In 1959, she made what is considered to be her most spectacular find. In the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, she reconstructed a skull from over 400 small fragments. The skull became identified as Australopithecus boisei, known as “Nutcracker Man.”

After Louis Leakey’s death in 1972, Mary went on to make an incredible find: three trails of fossilized hominid footprints, dated at 3.6 million years old, which she discovered at Laetoli in Tanzania in 1978 and 1979. The importance of this discovery was that it demonstrated that the hominids thought to be ancestors of modern humans were walking upright much earlier than had been previously believed. One of the Leakey’s sons, Richard, has followed in his parents’ footsteps, becoming himself a paleontologist of some renown.

Science NetLinks
The Science Update Hominid Diet (6–12) focuses on the diets of certain early hominid species, and on recent changes to certain long-held beliefs about what these potential ancestors of man may have eaten. Students learn about the work of Lucinda Backwell of the University of Witwatersand in South Africa, who has discovered certain tools that may have been used by this early species to break open termite nests.

In Artifacts 1: What Can We Learn from Artifacts? (3–5), the first of a two-part series on archaeology, students determine what artifacts are, how they are discovered and what information can be learned from them. They also learn how artifacts are initially buried and then excavated.

Students learn that anthropology is divided into four main subdivisions (archaeology, linguistics and cultural and physical anthropology) in Exploring Human History (9–12). They also explore the careers of several contemporary anthropologists and their fieldwork, comparing the methods and applications of their work.

EDSITEment
For a different spin on the use of artifacts to learn about history, students may use the lesson American Colonial Life in the Late 1700s: Distant Cousins (3–5). In this lesson, students examine colonial artifacts available for viewing online to determine similarities and differences among American colonists of the late 16th century.

In Traces: Historic Archaeology (3–5), students "recover" and analyze artifacts from sites in use from the settlement period to the second half of the 19th century. They look for similarities and differences among the artifacts and explore what they may reveal about the lives of those who used them. Finally, students look at some common objects of today (eventual artifacts of the future) and consider how we may be viewed when those artifacts are recovered someday.

Xpeditions
Xpeditions offers several lessons in which students explore the field of paleoanthropology and consider how National Geographic Emerging Explorer Dr. Zeray Alemseged chose paleoanthropology as his career.

In Paleoanthropology—A Complex Career Choice (6–8), students learn about individual fields of science and how those fields complement each other in the ongoing study of human origins.

A primary focus of the lesson Paleoanthropology—What Is Bipedalism? (3–5) is on how bipedalism developed in hominids, and the significance of that development in the quest to understand human origins.

In Paleo-what? The Life and Work of Emerging Explorer Zeray Alemseged (9–12) students review several developments in paleoanthropology and discuss its importance.

Students focus on what bipedalism is and why it is an important characteristic of human development in Bipedalism—Did Hominids Ride Bikes? (K–2).