Contribution of Leakey family to our increased understanding of human evolution.

Mary 1959 discovery of Zinjanthropus cranium at Olduvai Started modern science of paleoanthropology (Study of Human Origins) Louis and Mary Leakey found fossils in Tanzania and Kenya that indicated man's evolution began in East Africa 2 million years ago, far earlier than was believed at the time of the discovery. in Kenya in 1947, Mary Leakey discovered the skull of Proconsul africanus, an ape-like ancestor of both apes and prehistoric man that ived about 25 million years ago. 1978 she …

…human ancestors, concentrating on sites between 8 and 4 million years old. In 1994, remains of some of the earliest hominids known were discovered at Kanapoi, south west of the lake region. Not only do these finds represent a new species Australopithecus anamensis (a likely ancestor of Australopithecus afarensis, the earliest hominid species previously recognized), but the dating of the find at four million years old has called for revising the accepted timeline for the evolution of hominids.