Mary Leakey

1913 – 1996

Mary Douglas Leakey was a British paleoanthropologist whose discoveries at Olduvai Gorge and Laetoli in Tanzania reshaped the modern understanding of human evolution. In 1959 she unearthed the 1.75-million-year-old Zinjanthropus (Paranthropus boisei) skull, and in 1978 she discovered the Laetoli footprints—a 3.6-million-year-old trail of bipedal hominin tracks preserved in volcanic ash that proved upright walking predated the development of large brains. Her meticulous fieldwork over six decades, much of it conducted alongside her husband Louis Leakey, established East Africa as the cradle of hominin evolution.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM