Louis Leakey (Anthropology)

Introduction

Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (b. 1903–d. 1972) became a prominent paleoanthropologist during the mid-20th century primarily as a result of his excavations at Olduvai Gorge and other sites in East Africa. Leakey discovered the fossil remains of several new hominid species—most importantly Australopithecus (Zinjanthropus) boisei and Homo Habilis—as well as stone artifacts from the Stone Age, and thus made significant contributions to the understanding of primate evolution in Africa. Leakey’s research, which was conducted in close collaboration with his wife Mary (Nicol) Leakey, helped to shift the opinions of the paleoanthropological community to the idea that the earliest phases of human evolution occurred in Africa and therefore the fossil remains of the earliest human ancestors would be found in Africa. Leakey also helped to create institutions dedicated to paleoanthropological research in Africa and did much to promote that research.

General Overviews

There are a large number of biographies that either focus primarily on Louis Leakey or treat Louis and Mary Leakey as a team. These vary from entries in biographical dictionaries to book-length monographs. The biographies that focus primarily on Louis are listed here, while those that treat Louis and Mary together are listed in Changing Personal Life. Many of these works resemble one another in the subjects they cover and the perspective they take, as well as the subjects they do not cover. They devote considerable attention to Leakey’s personal life, to his most famous fossil discoveries, and his views on human evolution. Cole 1975 offers a detailed and integrated account of each of these aspects of Leakey’s career, while Clark 1973 and Gjerløff 2008 focus more on Leakey’s excavations and hominid fossil discoveries. Few of these biographies, however, attempt to investigate Leakey’s discoveries and ideas within the context of paleoanthropological theories, discoveries, or debates during the 20th century. Mulvey 1969 is representative of the sort of short biography written for a popular audience which took advantage of the substantial public interest in Leakey’s work at that time. Silverberg 1964 and Shaw 1973 place Leakey’s major fossil discoveries in the general historical sequence of other major fossil discoveries, illustrating Leakey’s significance in hominid paleontology in the 20th century. It is interesting also that there is extensive English-language scholarship on Leakey, yet while there is also a large body of literature by French scholars on the history of paleoanthropology and Paleolithic archaeology there are few works in French or other languages that focus on Leakey in a similar fashion. This has probably led to a skewed perspective on Leakey’s career and his contributions to paleoanthropology. The few noteworthy exceptions that exist can be found in their relevant places throughout this article and they offer perspectives that could usefully be employed in extending our understanding of Leakey’s historical significance. Isaac and McCown 1976 directly addresses the influence of Leakey’s research and discoveries on late-20th-century paleoanthropology. Historians and biographers interested in Leakey will find Ofcansky 1985 particularly useful for the bibliography it contains of Leakey’s publications.

Clark, John Desmond. 1973. Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey, 1903–1972: Proceedings of the British Academy, 447–471. Oxford: Oxford University Press for the British Academy.
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An informative biographical sketch of Leakey’s life and work. Outlines his early archaeological expeditions and discusses his major publications, his activities during World War II, and the major discoveries at Olduvai Gorge. Contains a useful account of the creation of the Centre for Prehistory and Paleontology and provides a handy list of the awards he received and honorary lectures he delivered during his career. Reprinted in Human origins: Louis Leakey and the East African evidence, cited in this section.
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Cole, Sonia Mary. 1975. Leakey’s luck: The life of Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey, 1903–1972. London: Collins.
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Offers a detailed and very informative biography of Leakey’s life and scientific work utilizing a wide variety of unpublished archival sources such as letters and Leakey’s diary. Cole devotes considerable attention to the people who were instrumental in Leakey’s career, were involved in some way in his research, or were significant in his life.
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Gjerløff, Anne Katrine. 2008. Louis Leakey. In Icons of evolution: An encyclopedia of people, evidence, and controversies. Vol. 2. Edited by Brian Regal, 545–572. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
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One of the best short biographies of Leakey. It covers many aspects of his personal life and scientific career—not just his major discoveries—and successfully represents his work within the context of broader historical developments in paleoanthropology.
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Isaac, Glynn Llywelyn, and Elizabeth R. McCown. 1976. Human origins: Louis Leakey and the East African evidence. Vol. 3, Perspectives on human evolution. Menlo Park, CA: Benjamin.
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A collection of papers intended as a memorial volume honoring the work of Leakey following his death. The papers devoted to Leakey’s life show the ways that Leakey’s ideas and discoveries helped to shape the growing science of paleoanthropology during the 20th century while also arguing that some of his more controversial claims and ideas acted to spur further research.
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Mulvey, Mina White. Digging up Adam: The story of L.S.B. Leakey. New York: D. McKay, 1969.
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A biography of Leakey written for a general audience which covers the major events of his life and his scientific achievements. It is an uncritical work that presents Leakey in a very positive light but does contain a great deal of information about his research and discoveries.
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Ofcansky, Thomas P. 1985. L.S.B. Leakey: A biobibliographical study. History in Africa 12:211–224.
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Useful bibliography of Leakey’s publications because it not only contains his books and scientific papers but also includes his many publications in newspapers in Britain and in Kenya, as well as his articles on nonscientific subjects. The bibliography is divided into two sections: (1) books and pamphlets and (2) articles. The references are listed alphabetically within each section.
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Shaw, Thurstan. 1973. Africa and the origins of man: A memorial lecture in honour of Dr. L. S. B. Leakey. Nigeria: Ibadan Univ. Press.
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A short biographical sketch of Leakey’s career and major scientific discoveries. There is a brief description of the major developments in the history of human origins research and how Leakey’s work fits into that broader history.
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Silverberg, Robert. 1964. Man before Adam: The story of man in search of his origins. Philadelphia: Macrae Smith.
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A history of paleoanthropological research during the 19th and 20th centuries meant for a popular audience. Chapter 8 presents Leakey’s main discoveries and offers an insight into how he was viewed during the height of his career.
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Early Life

Louis Leakey was born on 7 August 1903 at the missionary station in Kabete, near Nairobi, in central Kenya. His parents were Christian missionaries who lived among the Kikuyu and as a boy Louis developed a close connection with the Kikuyu, learning their language and culture and even participating in initiation ceremonies. At a young age he became interested in archaeology and human prehistory, which led him to begin searching for ancient stone artifacts in the region around his home. He soon began to amass an impressive collection of obsidian artifacts that brought him to the attention of Arthur Loveridge, the curator of the Natural History Museum in Nairobi, who encouraged his archaeological interests. Louis’ plans to attend school in England were hindered by the outbreak of World War I, but when the war ended Louis completed his education at Weymouth College in England in 1919. He entered St. John’s College at Cambridge University in 1922, where he began to study modern languages. While at St. John’s he began taking courses in anthropology and archaeology with Alfred Haddon and Miles Burkitt, which further encouraged his interests in prehistory. Smith 2009 offers a useful examination of archaeology at the university at the beginning of the 20th century and discusses the professors that influenced Leakey’s early intellectual development. In 1924 Leakey readily accepted an opportunity to join the British Museum (Natural History) East African Expedition that explored fossil sites in Tanganyika and gave Leakey firsthand experience of a major scientific expedition. Tobias 2003 provides some personal reflections on these formative years for Leakey, while Sutton 2006 and Sutton 2007 examine the influence of the ethnological and archaeological work of W. B. Huntington on Leakey’s early archaeological investigations. After completing his degree in anthropology and archaeology from Cambridge University, in 1926 Leakey organized the first East African Archaeological Expedition and over the course of a year he excavated several archaeological sites that produced large numbers of Stone Age artifacts. Leakey also unearthed some human bones from a site near Lake Elmenteita in deposits with animal bones that suggested the human remains might be very old. Leakey returned to Kenya to lead the second East African Archaeological Expedition (1928–1929) followed by a third expedition to East Africa in 1931, where he was accompanied by German geologist Hans Reck. These expeditions produced human bones and artifacts that convinced Leakey of an early geological presence of Homo sapiens in Africa. Leakey was granted a PhD from Cambridge University in 1930 for his archaeological work in East Africa. Leakey’s archaeological expeditions in East Africa produced enough material to publish Leakey 1931 (The Stone Age Culture of Kenya Colony), his first book on African archaeology.

Leakey, Louis S. B. 1931. The Stone Age cultures of Kenya colony. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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A short book outlining the current (at the time) state of knowledge about the Stone Age in Kenya. It was during Leakey’s archaeological research near Lake Elmenteita that he found Chellean and Acheulian artifacts. He attempts to show that stone artifacts in Kenya can be arranged in a chronological series that corresponded roughly with the European Stone Age.
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Smith, Pamela Jane. 2009. A “splendid idiosyncrasy”: Prehistory at Cambridge 1915–1950. Oxford: Archaeopress.
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A history of archaeology at Cambridge University during the early 20th century that focuses on the careers of Miles Burkitt, Graham Clark, and Dorothy Garrod. Smith offers some context for Leakey’s training in archaeology while he was a student and his intellectual relationship to the Cambridge University archaeological community. Reprinted by Oxford: Hadrian Books, 2009.
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Sutton, John Edward Giles. 2006. Denying history in colonial Kenya: The anthropology and archeology of G. W. B. Huntingford and L. S. B. Leakey. History in Africa 33.1: 287–320.
DOI: 10.1353/hia.2006.0021Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses the archaeological and ethnological researches of Huntingford and Leakey. Huntingford wrote about a supposed vanished Hamitic civilization of “Azanians” in prehistoric Kenya and also studied the present day Nandi people. Sutton examines their work within the context of British colonial politics.
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Sutton, John Edward Giles. 2007. Archeology and reconstructing history in the Kenya highlands: The intellectual legacies of G. W. B. Huntingford and Louis S. B. Leakey. History in Africa 34.1: 297–320.
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Discusses the archaeological work of Leakey and Huntingford, who proposed the existence of a “Hamitic Azanian civilization” in prehistoric East Africa while Leakey’s early archaeological explorations led him to identify a “non-Negroid” prehistoric population in Africa, which he outlined in The Stone Age cultures of Kenya colony (1931, cited in this section).
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Tobias, Phillip V. 2003. Louis Leakey, self-styled white African: Appreciation and some personal recollections. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa 58.1: 41–50.
DOI: 10.1080/00359190309519934Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Tobias offers a personal account of Leakey, with whom Tobias worked for many years when he described the hominid fossils discovered at Olduvai. Tobias investigates the influence that Leakey’s education at Cambridge University and his early East African Archaeological Expeditions had on his subsequent career investigating the Stone Age archaeology and the paleontology and paleoanthropology of East Africa.
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Difficulties at Kanjera and Kanam

After exploring Olduvai, Leakey examined deposits at another site called Kanjera, near Lake Victoria. Here he found two partial human skulls that resembled modern human skulls, but Leakey believed they were about the same geological age as the human bones from Olduvai and represented the same type of Stone Age human. Soon thereafter Leakey found a human mandible at another site called Kanam in deposits that he thought were older than Olduvai or Kanjera. On the basis of these discoveries Leakey argued that anatomically modern-looking humans lived in Africa well into the Pleistocene and that they made the stone artifacts found at Olduvai and elsewhere. Several prominent British paleoanthropologists accepted Leakey’s claims, including Arthur Keith, who had long argued that large-brained anatomically modern humans had evolved early in the course of human evolution. Leakey presented his discoveries at the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland in 1933 and was well received, but there were soon problems. Percy Boswell, professor of geology at Imperial College, London, expressed skepticism about the geological antiquity of the Kanjera and Kanam fossils. To assuage Boswell’s doubts, Leakey invited him to join the fourth East African Archaeological Expedition (1934–1935) and inspect the sites himself. Leakey hoped to convince Boswell that there was no evidence at the site that the human bones had made their way from younger deposits into the older layers. Circumstances turned disastrous when Leakey was unable to locate the precise site where the bones had been excavated, which only contributed to Boswell’s perception that Leakey’s excavation methods had been sloppy and his conclusions hasty if not simply inaccurate. Boswell returned to England and published a damaging paper in the journal Nature explaining what had happened and concluding that Leakey’s claims about the geological antiquity of Homo sapiens in East Africa were not demonstrated. This in turn prompted a response fromLeakey (Leakey 1936a). The episode was damaging to Leakey’s reputation and in the short term to his career prospects. But during the third and fourth East African Archaeological Expeditions Leakey’s team had discovered large numbers of extinct animal bones and stone artifacts representing distinct industries from different periods during the Stone Age. Leakey drew upon this material and discoveries made elsewhere in Africa to produce two books on African prehistory, Leakey 1935 and Leakey 1936c, where he continued to defend his views on the early appearance of Homo sapiens in Africa and outlined the development of stone tool cultures on the continent. He also published the first edition of Adam’s Ancestors (Leakey 1934), an influential explication of his views on human prehistory and evolution. Leakey also wrote on contemporary social and political problems in Kenya, drawing upon his knowledge of both the community of British settlers and the indigenous Kikuyu population he had close connections with. Leakey 1936b offered some perspectives on the problems facing Kenya but many British Kenyans saw Leakey as too sympathetic to the native population of the colony. Prompted by the suggestions of his friends, Leakey also wrote an autobiography (Leakey 1937) of the early years of his life, in which he described the motives and achievements of his archaeological and paleontological research.

Leakey, Louis S. B. 1934. Adam’s ancestors: An up-to-date outline of what is known about the origin of man. London: Methuen.
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A general summary of the current (at the time) state of knowledge about Stone Age humans and human evolution. A discussion of the types of Stone Age artifacts found in Europe and in East Africa and the chronological sequence of Paleolithic cultures and their typical artifacts is followed by chapters that present the current thinking about human evolution and the known species of fossil hominids.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1935. The Stone Age races of Kenya. London: Oxford Univ. Press.
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While the book broadly examines the archaeological and paleontological evidence for the Stone Age inhabitants of Kenya, much of the book presents the results of Leakey’s excavations of Middle and Late Pleistocene deposits in Kenya, along with a detailed anatomical analysis of human fossils and artifacts and geological and paleontological evidence for their geologic age.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1936a. Fossil human remains from Kanam and Kanjera, Kenya Colony. Nature 138:643–645.
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Letter written in response to Percy Boswell’s scathing critique of Leakey’s assertion that the Kanam and Kanjera human fossils dated from the Lower and Middle Pleistocene. Leakey attempts to defend his interpretation of these fossils as genuine early Pleistocene examples of modern humans.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1936b. Kenya: Contrasts and problems. London: Methuen.
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A collection of essays discussing contemporary Kenyan society and politics, including the native African population in Kenya and the problems they pose to the colonial government. Throughout the book Leakey is critical of the British settlers, the colonial administration, and the missionaries, and is supportive of the African population.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1936c. Stone Age Africa: An outline of prehistory in Africa. London: Oxford Univ. Press.
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Published version of the ten Munro Lectures delivered in 1936 at Edinburgh University. It was the first general survey of Stone Age archaeology in Africa written in English. Leakey criticizes much of the previous archaeological research done in Africa for not examining artifacts in their geological and paleontological context.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1937. White African. London: Hodder and Stoughton.
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An autobiography of the first thirty years of Leakey’s life that his friends urged him to write. It was meant to provide some background for his early interest in African prehistory and provides some context for his East African Archaeological Expeditions.
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Changing Personal Life

Leakey married Frida Avern in 1928 and she joined Louis during his early expeditions to East Africa. They soon had a son named Colin. When Leakey delivered his lecture on the Kanjera and Kanam fossils at the Royal Anthropological Institute in 1933 he was introduced to Mary Nicol. Nicol had acquired an early interest in archaeology and in 1930 had begun attending archaeology and geology lectures at the University of London. During the early 1930s she participated in archaeological excavations led by Dorothy Liddell in Wiltshire, England, and as a result of her experience as an artist she worked on the illustrations for Gertrude Caton-Thompson’s book The Desert Fayum (London: Royal Anthropological Institute, 1934). Leakey was impressed by her and by her talents as an archaeological illustrator, so he invited her to produce the illustrations for his new book Adam’s Ancestors (Leakey 1934, cited under Difficulties at Kanjera and Kanam). He also invited Nicol to join the fourth East African Archaeological Expedition as an archaeologist. Louis and Mary soon began a romantic relationship, which led to his divorce from Frida in 1936, followed by Louis and Mary’s marriage the following year. This began a remarkably productive collaboration that lasted for the rest of Louis’ life, but the scandal surrounding Louis’ divorce put an end to his chances of attaining an academic position in Britain due to the social stigma that divorce still carried in Britain at that time. Louis and Mary continued to conduct excavations at Olduvai Gorge and other sites in East Africa where they increased their collection of stone artifacts and animal fossils, which allowed them to reconstruct the fauna of East Africa during the Pleistocene. They excavated a prehistoric campsite at Olorgesalie in 1942 that produced Acheulean tools and while at Olduvai they identified crude stone tools from the oldest deposits that they called Oldowan tools. They also contributed studies (Leakey and Owen 1945) on artifacts collected by Walter Edwin Owen, the Archdeacon of Nyanza Province, from the Winau Gulf, which were attributed to a Tumbian Culture that was thought to extend from Angola to East Africa, and also participated in a study of Iron Age pottery from Kenya (Leakey, et al. 1948). In 1949 Leakey also published a study of the Stone Age cultures of Angola that attempted to link the succession of different cultures to a theory of periodic climatic changes in Africa. Leakey 1984, Mary Leakey’s autobiography, offers a first-hand account of this collaboration, while Morell 1995, Poynter 1997, Bowman-Kruhm 2005, and Henderson 2011 are book-length biographical accounts of the Leakeys’ lives and their major scientific accomplishments. Schellenberg 2007 and Robinson 2012 are shorter reference biographies.

Bowman-Kruhm, Mary. 2005. The Leakeys: A biography. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
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A historical and biographical work covering three generations of the Leakey family. While it surveys Louis’s major scientific discoveries, much of the book is also devoted to portraying the trials of his personal life, the effect of the Mau Mau insurrection on his life, and his relationships with Jane Goodall and Diane Fossey.
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Henderson, Harry. 2011. The Leakey family: Unearthing human ancestors. New York: Chelsea House.
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This book is written for a general audience. It devotes considerable attention to the personalities of Louis and Mary Leakey, their collaboration, and the challenges facing their research.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., and Walter Edwin Owen. 1945. A contribution to the study of the Tumbian culture in East Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: Coryndon Memorial Museum.
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A study of artifacts collected by Walter Edwin Owen, the Archdeacon of Nyanza Province, from the Winau Gulf. These stone blades, axes, and spearheads were attributed to what at that time was called the Tumbian Culture, which was thought to have extended from Angola through the Congo into East Africa.
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Leakey, Mary D. 1984. Disclosing the past. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
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Mary Leakey’s autobiography, which—while it focuses on her life and scientific work—of necessity also speaks a great deal about Louis, their life together, and their collaboration as researchers. Provides her perspective on Louis’ life and work while portraying her role in their research, which is valuable to any scholar studying Louis’ career.
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Leakey, Mary D., W. E. Owen, and Louis S. B. Leakey. 1948. Dimple-based pottery from central Kavirondo, Kenya Colony. Nairobi, Kenya: Coryndon Memorial Museum.
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Detailed study of Iron Age pottery mostly conducted by Mary Leakey. Contains illustrations and photographs of this decorated pottery.
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Morell, Virginia. 1995. Ancestral passions: The Leakey family and the quest for humankind’s beginnings. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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An extensive and detailed account of the personal lives and scientific careers of the Leakey family, especially Louis, Mary, and their son Richard. Much of the book recounts information found in other biographical works but does offer a considerable amount of personal recollections and information derived from interviews with the Leakeys and people who knew them.
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Poynter, Margaret. 1997. The Leakeys: Uncovering the origins of humankind. Springfield, NJ: Enslow.
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Meant for a younger readership or for those with little familiarity with paleoanthropology. It explains why their achievements were important and presents a lively description of their life and work. The book is illustrated with many black-and-while photographs, often lacking in more scholarly works.
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Robinson, Andrew. 2012. Louis Leakey and Mary Leakey: The origins of humankind. In The Scientists: An epic of discovery. Edited by Andrew Robinson, 280–289. London: Thames & Hudson.
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A general overview of the life and research of Louis and Mary Leakey that focuses on their major fossil discoveries.
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Schellenberg, James A. 2007. Louis and Mary Leakey and the dawn of humanity. In Searchers, seers, and shakers: Masters of social science. By James A. Schellenberg, 25–34. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.
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An introductory account of the collaboration of Louis and Mary Leakey, highlighting the significance of their relationship and describing their major discoveries. It takes particular note of Louis’ skills and importance as a popularizer through his books, lectures, and films of their research.
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Miocene Apes of Rusinga Island

Among his other projects, Leakey also explored the Miocene geologic deposits of Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria. In 1942 he announced the discovery of a mandible that he attributed to the genus Proconsul, an extinct Miocene ape (see Leakey 1943). The site was so promising that Leakey organized and led the British-Kenyan Miocene Expedition that conducted excavations at Rusinga Island from 1947 through 1951. The expedition discovered fossils of several extinct primates that were thought to include Proconsul (see Leakey 1948), Sivapithecus, and Limnopithecus. Leakey considered these fossils to be an important clue to the evolution of apes in Africa, which would contribute to an understanding of which group of apes might have evolved into the first hominids. Leakey asked Wilfrid Le Gros Clark, professor of anatomy at the University of Oxford, to collaborate in the analysis and description of the fossils discovered by the British-Kenyan Miocene Expedition, and in 1951 they published Leakey and Clark 1951. Walker 1992 and Walker and Shipman 2005 discuss the history of these discoveries and examine their significance for modern primate paleontology and paleoanthropology.

Leakey, Louis S. B. 1943. A Miocene anthropoid mandible from Rusinga, Kenya. Nature 152.3855: 319–320.
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Description of an ape mandible from Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria that Leakey found during a brief survey in September 1942. He assigned it to Proconsul and notes similarities the jaw has with human jaws.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1948. Skull of Proconsul from Rusinga Island. Nature 162.4122: 688.
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Brief account of Leakey’s discovery of the skull of the Miocene ape Proconsul during the British-Kenya Miocene Expedition’s researches in the Kavirondo region of Lake Victoria. This was important because previous specimens were known mostly from teeth and jawbones while this specimen consisted of most of the skull.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., and Wilfrid Le Gros Clark. 1951. The Miocene Hominoidea of East Africa. London: Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum.
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Presents a description of the primate fossils discovered between 1947 and 1948 by the British-Kenyan Miocene Expedition led by Leakey. This is mostly a taxonomic and descriptive analysis of the fossils, illustrated with a large number of photographs. Ends with a discussion of primate evolution and phylogeny.
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Walker, Alan. 1992. Louis Leakey, John Napier and the history of Proconsul. Journal of Human Evolution 22.4–5: 245–254.
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A historical account of the British Kenya Miocene Expeditions conducted between 1947 to 1950 and Leakey’s excavations of Miocene deposits that led to the discovery of a fossil skull belonging to Proconsul.
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Walker, Alan, and Pat Shipman. 2005. The Ape in the tree: An intellectual and natural history of Proconsul. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.
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Examines the history of primate paleontology while also recounting recent scientific discoveries and interpretations of the Miocene ape Proconsul. It investigates the excavations conducted by Leakey at Rusinga Island in Lake Victoria that led to the discovery of a Proconsul mandible and later a skull, and Leakey’s interpretation of the fossil, and also offers criticisms of Leakey’s work on Proconsul.
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The Pan-African Congress on Prehistory and New Excavations

In 1945 Leakey became curator of the Coryndon Memorial Museum, located in Nairobi and named for Robert Coryndon, a former colonial governor of Kenya. Leakey served as curator until 1961 and after Kenya’s independence the museum was integrated into the new National Museums of Kenya system. Leakey made the museum an important site for natural history and particularly archaeological and paleontological research and the curatorship gave Leakey a more secure income and an institutional home for his own research. Leakey was also beginning to recognize the need for researchers in Africa to collaborate and share information on human prehistory in Africa. This led Leakey to organize the first Pan-African Congress on Prehistory, which met in Nairobi in 1947 (see Leakey 1952). Archaeologists, geologists, paleontologists, and other scientists came from across Africa and from Europe to discuss research pertaining to African prehistory. The congress was a remarkable success, with speakers sharing information from diverse parts of Africa that helped to form a more coherent picture of human prehistory throughout the continent. The Congress also contributed greatly to promoting new research into African archaeology and paleoanthropology at a time when most European and American researchers were focused on Europe and Asia. The first meeting was so successful that a second Pan-African Congress on Prehistory met in Algiers in 1952 and the third Congress met in Livingstone in 1955, with each congress publishing proceedings of its papers. Leakey served as the general secretary of the Pan-African Congresses on Prehistory from 1947 to 1951 and as their president from 1955 to 1959. The congresses have continued to meet, at irregular intervals, ever since, and they became an important proponent of paleoanthropological research in Africa in the 20th century. Meanwhile excavations at Olduvai Gorge were expanded when the American businessman Charles Boise, who lived in London and had a long-standing interest in prehistory, read about Leakey’s research and the financial difficulties in funding large excavations. In 1948 Boise donated a substantial sum of money to support Leakey’s work and even traveled to Kenya to visit Leakey and Olduvai Gorge. Thus began a long relationship between Leakey and Boise, which also marked the expansion of research at the Gorge that continued to produce large numbers of extinct animal bones and stone tools; Leakey 1951a describes these discoveries. Leakey pursued other excavations as well during this period, including excavation of Stone Age sites in Angola (Leakey 1949). He also published the results of excavations of human burials in the Njoro River Cave, largely conducted by Mary Leakey (Leakey and Leakey 1950), as well as at a Mesolithic site in Britain (Leakey 1951b). Furthermore, he revised and published a new edition of Adam’s Ancestors (Leakey 1953) that examined the many new hominid fossils and archaeological discoveries pertaining to the Paleolithic.

Leakey, Louis S. B. 1949. Tentative study of the Pleistocene climatic changes and Stone-Age sequence in North-Eastern Angola. Lisbon, Portugal: Companhia de Diamantes de Angola, Serviços Culturais.
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A study prompted by diamond geologists in Angola who invited Leakey to conduct work in the region. Leakey presents a record of prehistoric archaeological cultures, each represented by their own types of stone artifacts. He correlates this stratigraphic archaeological record with the theory of a succession of pluvial and interpluvial periods in Africa during the Pleistocene.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., ed. 1952. Proceedings of the Pan-African Congress on Prehistory, 1947: Papers presented at the first Pan-African Congress on Prehistory in January 1947, Nairobi, Kenya. Assisted by Sonia Mary Cole. Oxford: Blackwell.
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Contains the papers presented at the first Pan-African Congress on Prehistory, organized by Leakey. The papers—by many of Africa’s leading geologists, paleontologists, archeologists, and paleoanthropologists—discuss a wide range of issues pertaining to the study of Pleistocene Africa and the Paleolithic cultures that existed at that time. The papers attempt to create a comprehensive view of African prehistory and establish new research problems.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1951a. Olduvai Gorge: A report on the evolution of the hand-axe culture in beds I-IV. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
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Leakey’s first major monograph on his archaeological and paleontological discoveries at Olduvai up to that point. Contains a chapter on the geology and stratigraphy of the Gorge and the fossil fauna, but the bulk of the work is an examination of the Oldowan, Chellean, and Acheulean artifacts found in the Gorge.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1951b. Preliminary excavations of a Mesolithic site at Abinger Common, Surrey. Surrey Archaeological Society Research Papers. Guildford, UK: Surrey Archaeological Society.
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A brief account of the excavations and artifacts discovered, which belong to the Mesolithic period in Britain.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1953. Adam’s Ancestors: An up-to-date outline of the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic) and what is known about man’s origin and evolution. 4th ed. London: Methuen.
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A revised and rewritten edition that integrates new archaeological and paleontological discoveries made since the first edition was published. A synthetic summary of the state of knowledge about human evolution at the time. Contains several chapters dedicated to hominid paleontology that review the known species of hominids and extinct apes, discuss hominid phylogeny, and expound Leakey’s ideas about human evolution.
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Leakey, Mary, and Louis S. B. Leakey. 1950. Excavations at the Njoro River Cave: Stone Age cremated burials in Kenya Colony. Oxford: Clarendon.
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Describes the archaeological excavations conducted by Mary and Louis Leakey in 1938 that produced eighty human burials and a large number of artifacts believed to date from about 850 BCE. Mary described the archaeological material and Louis analyzed the human skeletons. Includes many illustrations.
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Leakey and the Mau Mau Movement

During the 1940s and 1950s Leakey was also involved in Kenyan politics. He participated in the colonial war effort in Africa during World War Two and was appointed to the Special Branch of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in Kenya. After the war he continued to work for the CID and, because of his knowledge of the Kikuyu language and his close relationship with the Kikuyu community, he became an important source of information about Kikuyu political movements during the 1950s. There was growing unrest in Kenya and in 1952 the Mau Mau movement, a Kikuyu political movement, began to instigate social unrest. The Mau Mau rebellion, which became increasingly violent, lasted from 1952 until 1960 and created a political emergency in Kenya. Leakey wrote two short books (Leakey 1952, Leakey 1954) during the emergency in which he attempted to outline for the colonial government and British settlers the factors that over many decades had led to the current situation. He wrote about Kikuyu culture and its social and political institutions, and described the grievances that the Kikuyu had in response to colonial rule. He served as a translator during the trial in 1952 of Jomo Kenyatta, a prominent Kikuyu political leader, and this contributed to Leakey’s effort toward understanding the Mau Mau movement. Berman and Lonsdale 1991, Kershaw 1991, and Kershaw 1997 explore the historical context of the Mau Mau movement and offer a modern scholarly perspective of Leakey’s place in it. Leakey also published a book on the Kikuyu language, Leakey 1959. In addition to his writings on social and political issues Leakey collaborated on an illustrated work, Leakey 1953, which utilized his direct experience with African wildlife to offer a very personal account of the diverse wildlife of Africa while also highlighting the value of the national parks system in the various African colonies for conservation and for the opportunities they offered for scientists interested in studying animals in their natural habitat. He also worked on a study of the fossil pig species of East Africa (Leakey 1958) and he collaborated on a study of extinct baboon fossils (Leakey and Whitworth 1958).

Berman, Bruce J., and John M. Lonsdale. 1991. Louis Leakey’s Mau Mau: A study in the politics of knowledge. History and Anthropology 5.2: 143–204.
DOI: 10.1080/02757206.1991.9960811Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Investigates the claims made by Leakey that he possessed a unique knowledge of Kikuyu society and culture and discusses the reasons why his interpretation of the Mau Mau rebellion was accepted by the British colonial government and in academic circles during the 1950s.
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Kershaw, Greet. 1991. Mau Mau from below: Fieldwork and experience, 1955–57 and 1962. Canadian Journal of African Studies 25.2: 274–297.
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Gives an account of anthropological fieldwork Kershaw conducted among the Kikuyu that attempted to understand the Mau Mau rebellion. Kershaw examines how that research challenged ideas suggested by Leakey that the Mau Mau insurrection was a destructive influence on Kikuyu ethnicity.
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Kershaw, Greet. 1997. Mau Mau from below. Athens, OH: Ohio Univ. Press.
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Kershaw lived in Kenya and experienced the aftermath of the Mau Mau movement firsthand during the 1950s. This book describes the movement by drawing upon historical documents and the author’s interviews with surviving Kikuyu participants. Kershaw briefly discusses Leakey’s activities in the colonial government and his interpretation of the insurrection.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1952. Mau Mau and the Kikuyu. London: Methuen.
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An ethnographic study of Kikuyu marriage, initiation, and religious customs covering the period from before their contact with Europeans through the colonial period. Discusses the social and political consequences of European colonization for Kikuyu culture and society and the factors that led to the rise of the Mau Mau movement.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1953. Animals in Africa. Photographed by Ylla. New York: Harper.
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Leakey outlines threats to African wildlife such as the expansion of agriculture and hunting. He notes that game reserves and national parks do not ensure the protection of Africa’s animals, but he argues for the value of national parks and conservation. He also notes the shift from big game hunting to the tourist photographing of animals on safari.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1954. Defeating Mau Mau. London: Methuen.
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Discusses the roots of the Mau Mau movement, and the factors that led many people to become part of the movement, in order to help devise a strategy that could defeat it. Leakey argued that other means than simply military confrontation would be needed to defeat the movement.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1958. Some East African Pleistocene Suidae. Fossil Mammals of Africa 14. London: Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum.
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A taxonomic and descriptive study of fossil pigs collected in East Africa between 1931 and 1955. It includes descriptions of the known species of pig, including two new general and eight new species or subspecies. Contains photographs of the fossils as well.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1959. First lessons in Kikuyu. Nairobi, Kenya: East African Literature Bureau.
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A grammar of the Kikuyu language. One of the first works to make the Kikuyu language accessible to English speakers.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., and Thomas Whitworth. 1958. Notes on the genus Simopithecus, with a description of a new species from Olduvai. Nairobi, Kenya: Coryndon Memorial Museum.
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Anatomical and taxonomic description of fossils belonging to an extinct genus of baboon found at several sites in Africa, including fossils Leakey discovered at Olduvai Gorge.
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Zinjanthropus

Excavations at Olduvai produced hominid teeth and stone tools (Leakey 1958); then on 17 July 1959 Mary discovered a badly crushed hominid cranium protruding from the ground in Bed I, the oldest layer at Olduvai Gorge. Along with the skull were numerous Oldowan stone tools as well as many animal bones. Louis and Mary excavated and reconstructed the fragmented cranium, while Mary began a careful excavation of the living floor recording the position of the animal bones and stone artifacts (Leakey 1960). The cranium posed some challenges for Louis since in many respects it resembled australopithecine skulls but it was found among Oldowan stone tools, which indicated this hominid was a tool-maker and thus possessed what was at the time thought to be a distinctly human trait. Leakey was one of the paleoanthropologists in the 1950s that still did not accept the australopithecines as human ancestors. Leakey concluded from the association of the skull with the Oldowan tools that this hominid was the maker of these stone artifacts. But since he believed australopithecines did not make stone tools he argued that he had discovered a completely new type of hominid that was a direct ancestor of humans. He acknowledged the morphological similarities between this cranium and those of Australopithecus and Paranthropus, but he also noted significant differences that justified a new genus. Leakey published a paper (Leakey 1959) describing the skull (Olduvai Hominid 5) and assigned it to a new species Zinjanthropus boisei (Zinj was an Arabic word referring to East Africa and boisei was to honor Charles Boise). There were immediately critics of Leakey’s new species. Prominent among them was the South African paleoanthropologist John T. Robinson. Robinson had excavated australopithecine sites in South Africa and in Robinson 1960 he argued that the skull from Olduvai was clearly australopithecine and there was no need to create a new genus for this specimen. However the skull was classified, the discovery was treated as a significant one since the fossil was found in Lower Pleistocene deposits and its association with stone tools was valuable evidence about the origins of tool use. The skull assumed a new significance when geologist Garniss Curtis, geophysicist Jack Evernden, and physicist John Reynolds (all from the University of California at Berkeley) used a technique they had recently developed to date the fossil. Their technique relied upon the decay of radioactive potassium (K-40) into argon in volcanic rocks. Volcanic deposits were common in East Africa and many layers at Olduvai Gorge contained volcanic ash and rock. Using the potassium-argon dating method Curtiss, Evernden, and Reynolds determined that the Zinjanthropus fossil was 1.75 million years old, far older than the previous estimates of approximately 600,000 years (Leakey, et al. 1961). The discovery propelled Leakey into the spotlight and he used this to his advantage. The National Geographic Society, located in Washington, DC, gave Leakey a grant to further his research, which began a long relationship between Leakey and that institution. Johanson and Edey 1981, Moser 1996, and Kleinau 2009 discuss the significance of these discoveries and situate them within the context of 20th century paleoanthropology.

Johanson, Donald C., and Maitland A. Edey. 1981. Lucy, the beginnings of humankind. New York: Simon and Schuster.
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Chapter 3 (pp. 71–97) discusses Leakey’s attitude toward the South African australopithecines and his discovery and interpretation of Zinjanthropus and its place in hominid phylogeny. Chapter 4 (pp. 97–107) discusses Leakey’s claims about Homo Habilis and the broader scientific community’s response. Suggests these discoveries and debates prepared the stage for the divergent ways Australopithecus afarensis was received.
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Kleinau, Martina. 2009. Auf den Spuren von Lucy & Co. - Der lange Weg zum Homo sapiens. Munich: GRIN Verlag.
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Uses the history of paleoanthropology to explore questions pertaining to when, where, and how humans evolved in Africa. Discusses Leakey’s major discoveries and his ideas about human evolution in relation to debates over the australopithecines and other hominid species during the 20th century.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1958. Recent discoveries at Olduvai Gorge, Tanganyika. Nature 181.4646: 1099–1103.
DOI: 10.1038/1811099a0Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Describes a living site at the bottom of Bed II at Olduvai Gorge where excavations unearthed Chellean artifacts and a large collection of animal fossils as well as two hominid teeth, which Leakey also describes. Briefly describes a second site containing more advanced Chellean tools and animal fossils.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1959. A new fossil skull from Olduvai. Nature 184.4685: 491–493.
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Describes the skull that he assigns to the new genus and species Zinjanthropus boisei. Suggests this is the hominid that made the Oldowan tools. Describes the anatomical features of the skull and the geological evidence for its age, and provides photographs of the reconstructed skull.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1960. Recent discoveries at Olduvai Gorge. Nature 188.4755: 1050–1052.
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A report on extensive excavations of the living floor where the Zinjanthropus skull was found. Notes that numerous animal bones, nearly all broken so the marrow could be extracted, and Oldowan tools were recovered. Announces that at a nearby site new hominid fossils were unearthed, including rare parts of a hand and foot.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., J. F. Evernden, and G. H. Curtis. 1961. Age of Bed I, Olduvai Gorge, Tanganyika. Nature 191.4787: 478–479.
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The potassium-argon dating method is used for the first time to date a paleoanthropological site. Volcanic rock samples taken from Bed I at Olduvai in 1958 were subjected to the newly developed technique. Presents the results that the Zinjanthropus skull is approximately 1.75 million years old.
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Moser, Stephanie. 1996. Visual representation in archaeology: Depicting the missing-link in human origins. In Picturing knowledge: Historical and philosophical problems concerning the use of art in science. Edited by Brian S. Baigrie, 184–214. Toronto: Univ. of Toronto Press.
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Explores the history of the artistic representations and visual reconstructions of hominids. These images often disclose implicit presumptions about the evolutionary status and culture of hominids. Among the subjects treated are Leakey’s illustrations of Zinjanthropus in Nature and in the Illustrated London News. Moser notes the ways that Leakey used images as a rhetorical strategy.
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Robinson, John T. 1960. The affinities of the New Olduvai Australopithecinae. With a response by Louis S. B. Leakey. Nature 186.4723: 456–458.
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Responds to Robinson, who argued that Zinjanthropus is not sufficiently different from the australopithecines to be placed in a separate genus. Critiques each of Robinson’s claims for the similarity in the morphology of Zinjanthropus to the australopithecines, defending his reasons for assigning the skull to a new genus.
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Homo Habilis

The debate over Zinjanthropus had merely begun when fossils of another hominid were discovered at Olduvai. In May 1960 Louis and Mary’s son Jonathan noticed a tooth protruding from the ground in Bed I, the oldest layer at Olduvai and the same layer where Zinjanthropus had been found. Excavations first unearthed a hominid tooth and finger bone, then a mandible, parts of a skull, and a large number of hand bones (Leakey 1961). These hominid fossils (Olduvai Hominid 7) were part of a campsite or living floor that also contained many animal bones as well as stone tools. Potassium-argon dating of the surrounding rock indicated the bones were approximately 1.75 million years old, the same age as Zinjanthropus. The form of the skull appeared to be very different from Zinjanthropus, however, and looked more humanlike. Leakey quickly announced the new discovery in a paper published in Nature but he refrained from identifying what species the fossils belonged to. Once again he enlisted the assistance of Phillip Tobias, along with British primatologist John R. Napier, to conduct the anatomical analysis of the hominid bones. They published their analysis in Nature (Leakey, et al. 1964) where they argued that the fossils represented a new type of large-brained hominid that possessed traits similar to those of modern humans. They named the new hominid Homo habilis (handy man) because Leakey now argued that it was Homo habilis and not Zinjanthropus that made the Oldowan tools found in Bed I. Moreover, Leakey could now accept that Zinjanthropus was an australopithecine since he now believed that Homo habilis was the direct ancestor of Homo sapiens and not Zinjanthropus. This still supported Leakey’s view that the australopithecines were not human ancestors and that the genus Homo was geologically old. There was resistance by some paleoanthropologists, notably by Wilfrid Le Gros Clark, to including such a small-brained hominid in the genus Homo simply on the basis of evidence for tool use. Tobias, et al. 2008 and Tobias 2009 both offer personal reflections on the interpretation and naming of Homo habilis. Reader 1981a and Reader 1981b discuss the history of the discovery and debate over the fossils, while Martín 2009 examines the discovery in the broader context of paleoanthropological research in the middle of the 20th century.

Leakey, Louis S. B. 1961. New finds at Olduvai Gorge. Nature 189.4765: 649–650.
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Announces the discovery of new hominid bones from Olduvai in a geologically older layer than where Zinjanthropus was found and shows distinct anatomical differences from that specimen. Also announces the discovery of portions of a hominid skull found in Bed II associated with Chellean stone tools.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1966. Homo habilis, Homo erectus and the Australopithecines. Nature 209.5030: 1279–1281.
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Defends the validity of Homo habilis as a distinct species against the criticism of Robinson, who argued that the fossils should be classified as Australopithecus and do not warrant the creation of a new species. Leakey also rejects the idea that Homo habilis represents a stage of evolution lying between Australopithecus africanus and Homo erectus.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., Phillip V. Tobias, and John R. Napier. 1964. A new species of the genus Homo from Olduvai Gorge. Nature 202.4927: 7–9.
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Paper where Leakey announces the creation of a new species of hominid, Homo habilis. Addresses the taxonomic issue of how to define the genus Homo and how to distinguish Homo from Australopithecus. Describes the bones, their geologic age, and the artifacts associated with them, and argues for the new species being responsible for the Oldowan tools at Olduvai.
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Martín, Fernando Diez. 2009. Breve historia del Homo sapiens. Madrid: Nowtilus.
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A general overview of modern theories of human evolution, which uses the history of paleoanthropology to explore changing theories and the effects of fossil discoveries. Offers a discussion of Leakey’s major discoveries and how they influenced modern theories of human evolution.
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Reader, John. 1981a. Missing links: The hunt for earliest man. London: Collins.
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Chapter 8 (pp. 132–156) recounts Leakey’s excavations at Olduvai, the controversy over the Kanam and Kanjera human fossils, and an examination of Leakey’s reconstruction and naming of Zinjanthropus. Chapter 10 (pp. 179–189) discusses the discovery of the hominid fossils that Leakey, Phillip Tobias, and John Napier named Homo habilis as well as the process by which they reached their conclusions.
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Reader, John. 1981b. Whatever happened to Zinjanthropus? New Scientist 89:802–805.
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Examines the heated debate that arose over Leakey’s creation of a new genus, Zinjanthropus, and the naming of Homo habilis.
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Tobias, Phillip V. 2009. Homo habilis—A premature discovery: Remembered by one of its founding fathers, 42 years later. In The First Humans: Origin and Early Evolution of the Genus Homo: Contributions from the third Stony Brook Human Evolution Symposium and Workshop, 3 October–7 October, 2006. Edited by Frederick E. Grine, John G. Fleagle, and Richard E. Leakey, 7–17. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer.
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Outlines the discovery of the first Homo habilis fossils at Olduvai and the process by which Leakey, Tobias, and Napier came to believe that the fossils represented not only a new species of hominid but should be classified in the genus Homo.
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Tobias, Phillip V., Goran Štrkalj, and Jane Dugard. 2008. Tobias in conversation: Genes, fossils and anthropology. Johannesburg: Wits Univ. Press.
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An overview of Phillip Tobias’ career based on interviews with Tobias. He provides a firsthand account of the circumstances surrounding Leakey’s invitation to him to describe the hominid fossils discovered at Olduvai. There is also an account of Tobias’ role in the description and naming of Homo habilis.
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New Primate Fossils and Scenarios of Human Evolution

Later in 1960, Mary Leakey found foot bones belonging to a hominid (Olduvai Hominid 8) in Bed I at Olduvai and these were ascribed to Homo Habilis as well. The Leakeys also recovered a partial braincase (Olduvai Hominid 9) from Bed II that resembled the Asian Homo erectus skulls from Java and China. This sequence of discoveries led Leakey to propose the direct evolution of Homo habilis through Homo erectus to Homo sapiens, but many of his colleagues rejected such a simplistic scheme. Beginning in 1959, which marked the centennial anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, Leakey published a succession of papers on the general topic of human evolution where he outlined a set of ideas that he consistently held to over the next decade. He argued that the new paleontological and archaeological evidence vindicated Darwin’s original conviction that humans had originally evolved in Africa. While many paleoanthropologists had argued throughout the early 20th century that central Asia was likely the cradle of humanity, which the Homo erectus fossils from China and Java seemed to vindicate, Leakey now argued that the hominids found at Olduvai and elsewhere in Africa showed that the genus Homo had evolved there first. At a meeting at the University of Chicago to celebrate the Darwin centenary, Leakey presented a paper (Leakey 1960) outlining the evidence for the evolution of apes during the Miocene (drawing in part from his own discoveries at Rusinga Island) and the evolution of the australopithecines along one lineage and the members of the genus Homo along another. Leakey delivered the prestigious Herbert Spencer Lecture at Oxford University in February 1961 followed by the Thomas Huxley Lecture at the University of Birmingham in March 1961; in both he presented his notions of hominid evolution in Africa (Leakey 1961b), describing his own numerous discoveries and how they illuminated not only the evolution of modern humans but also the development of human culture and civilization in Africa as reconstructed from the archaeological evidence. Leakey 1962b marked a return to the subject again in a paper published by the New York Academy of Sciences, where Leakey drew upon the latest fossil evidence to speculate about the evolution of primates and hominids in Africa. Among that new fossil evidence was an upper jaw and several teeth found in Miocene deposits at Fort Ternan in western Kenya in 1961. In Leakey 1961a, he determined that these fossils belonged to a new type of primate that he named Kenyapithecus wickeri. Leakey later found fragments of another jaw and teeth during excavations at Maboko Island in Lake Victoria in 1965 that he ascribed to Kenyapithecus africanus. The human-like morphology of the teeth suggested to Leakey that Kenyapithecus might be a remote ancestor of humans, and Leakey 1962a was a review of the then-recent hominid and ape fossil discoveries in relation to the general problem of human evolution.

Leakey, Louis S. B. 1960. The origin of the genus Homo. In Evolution after Darwin: Man, culture and society. Vol. 2 of Evolution after Darwin: The evolution of man. Edited by Sol Tax, 17–32. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Reviews recent advances in primate and human evolution in Africa. Discusses Proconsul, Limnopithecus, and Propliopithecus, and how they contribute to our knowledge of ape evolution in Africa. Proceeds to the hominid fossil record, discussing the australopithecines, Pithecanthropus, and his views on the phylogenetic relationship between Zinjanthropus and these other hominids as well as the likely course of human evolution.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1961a. A new Lower Pliocene fossil primate from Kenya. Journal of Natural History 4.47 (Series 13): 689–696.
DOI: 10.1080/00222936108651194Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Announces the discovery of a new fossil primate from Fort Ternan in Kenya that Leakey classifies as Kenyapithecus wickeri.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1961b. The progress and evolution of man in Africa. London and New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
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Discusses the discovery of African hominids, the development of Paleolithic tools, and the subsequent rise of agriculture and civilization in Africa. Describes primate evolution and the origin of the hominids, raising the question of the taxonomy of African hominids while offering his assessment of recent efforts to reform the classification of the hominids.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1962a. The archaeology of East Africa. Nairobi, Kenya: D.A. Hawkins In Association With East African Literature Bureau.
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Presents a brief history of archaeology in East Africa, the discovery of Miocene apes, and the discovery of Zinjanthropus. Defends his creation of a new genus for this fossil and his belief that it is distinct from the australopithecines. Concludes by discussing Middle Stone Age and Neolithic sites and artifacts in East Africa.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1962b. Man’s African origin. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 96:495–503.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1962.tb50144.xSave Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Outlines the fossil evidence for the evolution of humans from apes in Africa. Discusses fossil apes and hominids from Africa and the views of paleoanthropologists about their evolutionary relationships to one another. Describes recent archaeological and fossil discoveries pertaining to the appearance of Homo in Africa and his views on the relationship between early Homo and other hominids.
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Contributions to Primate Research

Leakey was very aware of the value of primatology for understanding early hominids. Since hominids had evolved from an anthropoid ape ancestor it was reasonable to presume that early hominids would share not only many anatomical features but also many behaviors with their ape ancestors. Primatologists had begun to study the behavior of monkeys and apes during the second quarter of the 20th century but many of these studies were of primates in captivity while others were of baboons in the wild. Little was known about chimpanzee, gorilla, or orangutan populations in the wild. Leakey recognized the potential usefulness of such research but had no time to engage in this research himself. It was his good fortune, however, to meet Jane Morris-Goodall, a young British woman visiting Kenya in 1957. Leakey was impressed by Goodall and realized she might be an excellent candidate to conduct a field study of chimpanzees. Goodall agreed and in 1958 Leakey arranged for her to study primate behavior with Osman Hill and primate anatomy with John Napier. Hill was Prosector for the Zoological Society of London and Napier was a primatologist who had worked with Leakey on the analysis of the Homo Habilis fossils. After completing her preparatory studies in England Goodall arrived at the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanganyika in July 1960. She studied a population of chimpanzees, observing their social and family life and their behavior; most surprisingly of all she observed chimpanzees stripping leaves from twigs to use them as tools while fishing for termites. When Leakey learned about this rudimentary form of tool-making and tool use among chimpanzees he stated that “We must now redefine man, redefine tool, or accept chimpanzees as human.” (Barnard 2011, p. 28) since it was widely held that only humans made tools. Leakey obtained funding for her field study and in 1962 arranged for Goodall to study ethology at Cambridge University, where she obtained her PhD in 1965 on the basis largely of her work at Gombe. Greene 2005 and Peterson 2006 examine Goodall’s career and Leakey’s role in it. Goodall was only the first of Leakey’s recruits to primatology. In 1963 Dian Fossey, an American occupational therapist who became interested in the mountain gorillas in Africa, traveled to Kenya and, with Leakey’s assistance, obtained funding to study mountain gorillas. In 1966 she returned to Africa, spending time with Jane Goodall at Gombe to observe her research methods before establishing her own research project in Rwanda called the Karisoke Research Center in 1967. Leakey was also instrumental in enabling the research of Biruté Galdikas, a German anthropology graduate student at the University of California at Los Angeles. Leakey helped her to establish a research project in Borneo in 1971 that led to important insights into orangutan behavior. Montgomery 1991 and Jahme 2000 provide general histories of all three women and their relation to Leakey.

Barnard, Alan. 2011. Social anthropology and human origins. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511974502Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Discusses Goodall’s primate research and records the telegram from Leakey to Goodall about chimpanzee tool use.
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Greene, Meg. 2005. Jane Goodall: A biography. Westport, CT: Greenwood.
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A general biography of Jane Goodall that contains lengthy sections devoted to the paleoanthropological researches of Louis and Mary Leakey. Describes in detail the factors that led Leakey to encourage Goodall to begin studying chimpanzees in the wild, his role in preparing Goodall’s training and her field studies, and his response to her discoveries.
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Jahme, Carole. 2000. Beauty and the beasts: Woman, ape and evolution. London: Virago.
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Provocative study of Goodall, Fossey, and Galdikas. Investigates the role of gender in primate research and seeks reasons for why women are drawn to this research. Also discusses Yerkes, Sherwood Washburn, and Irven DeVore, and devotes many pages to Leakey and his interactions with the broader community of scientists studying living primates.
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Montgomery, Sy. 1991. Walking with the great apes: Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Biruté Galdikas. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
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An intimate account of Goodall’s work with chimpanzees at Gombe, Fossey’s work with gorillas in Rwanda, and Galdikas’s work with orangutans in Borneo. Provides information about their research, the scientific implications of their discoveries, and traces Leakey’s involvement in their careers. One chapter offers an overview of Leakey’s research and his relationship with these primatologists.
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Peterson, Dale. 2006. Jane Goodall: The woman who redefined man. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
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Biography of Goodall that examines Leakey’s role in Goodall’s involvement in wild chimpanzee studies and the bearing of this research on Leakey’s research on human evolution. Contains useful sections on primate research and how it fits into paleoanthropological questions. Helps to illuminate Leakey’s place in the history of primate research.
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Advances in Paleoanthropology

While Leakey was engaged in searching for hominid and ape fossils and archaeological artifacts in East Africa, the field of paleoanthropology was undergoing profound changes (Lewin 1987, Gundling 2005, Carroll 2009). New Fossils were contributing to a changing picture of human evolution, while advances in biology and genetics were offering new perspectives and new tools for understanding the process of human evolution (Tattersall 1995, Regal 2004). Studies of living primates were offering new insights into the nature of early hominids while ethnological studies of hunter-gatherer societies suggested ideas about the culture of prehistoric humans. The “modern evolutionary synthesis,” Sherwood Washburn’s “new physical anthropology,” the growing use of radiometric dating methods, and the advent of molecular anthropology all promised great potential but also introduced new challenges to the rapidly changing discipline of paleoanthropology (Delisle 2007, Gibbons 2006). Leakey’s contributions to these broader developments and his response to them have not been examined in as great detail as his excavations and discoveries have been. In addition to his role in promoting the study of living apes in the wild, Leakey also participated in several major conferences that helped to shape paleoanthropological research during the 1960s. In 1961 Sherwood Washburn organized a conference under the auspices of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. The conference on Classification and Human Evolution met in 1961 and addressed the growing problem of hominid taxonomy in light of the much greater knowledge of the hominid fossil record, the proliferation of genus and species names for hominids, and the new thinking about biological species that had emerged in modern biology. At the conference Leakey presented a paper outlining his ideas for how to reform hominoid taxonomy (Leakey 1963). At yet another Wenner-Gren Foundation conference in 1961, this one devoted to African Ecology and Human Evolution, the work presented in Leakey 1964 discussed the ecological evidence for climate and faunal changes at Olduvai Gorge during the Pleistocene and Leakey’s recent discoveries of hominid fossils at the site.

Carroll, Sean B. 2009. Remarkable creatures: Epic adventures in the search for the origins of species. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
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A general cultural history of biology, paleontology, and other sciences that contributed to modern ideas about biological evolution. Chapter 11 (pp. 207–237) outlines Leakey’s archaeological and paleontological researches and how they fit into the growing understanding of human evolution in the middle of the 20th century.
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Delisle, Richard. 2007. Debating humankind’s place in nature, 1860–2000: The nature of paleoanthropology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.
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Examines paleoanthropologists’ interpretations of the hominid fossil record, their conceptions of human evolution, and the role of primatology and molecular anthropology in reconstructing hominid phylogeny. Discusses Leakey’s views of human phylogeny and the ways that his interpretation of specific hominid fossils was influenced by his conception of human evolution.
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Gibbons, Ann. 2006. The first human: The race to discover our earliest ancestors. New York: Doubleday.
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Situates Leakey’s hominid fossil discoveries within the broader context of the tradition of paleoanthropological research in Africa. Gibbons emphasizes the social and political aspects of paleoanthropological research, showing how the interactions between individuals, institutions, and governments are a fundamental part of paleoanthropological research. Examines Leakey’s relationships with researchers and his institutional affiliations.
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Gundling, Tom. 2005. First in line: Tracing our ape ancestry. New Haven, CT: Yale Univ. Press.
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A detailed history of scientific debates over the interpretation australopithecine anatomy, behavior, taxonomy, and their place in human evolution. Discusses Leakey’s views about the australopithecines and how they related to the opinions of his contemporaries. Situates Leakey’s research and theories within the context of the debates over the australopithecines among European and American paleoanthropologists.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1963. East African fossil Hominoidea and the classification within this super-family. In Classification and human evolution. Edited by S. L. Washburn, 32–49. Chicago: Aldine.
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Addresses the reform of hominoid taxonomy. Believes it is no longer tenable to divide the Hominoidae into only two families, the Pongidae and the Hominidae, and suggests introducing five families instead. Suggests reform to simplify and reduce the number of hominid genera. Discusses the species of fossil apes and hominids and the implication of his suggested taxonomic reforms.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1964. Very early East African Hominidae and their ecological setting. In African ecology and human evolution. Edited by F. C. Howell and François Bourlière, 448–457. Chicago: Aldine.
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Addresses the ecological conditions present at Olduvai Gorge during the Pleistocene and examines the geological and paleontological evidence for the climate and the flora and fauna of the various Beds. Discusses the hominid fossils found at Olduvai and their possible taxonomic relationship to other known hominids.
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Lewin, Roger. 1987. Bones of contention: Controversies in the search for human origins. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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Describes the major paleoanthropological debates that arose during the 1960s and 1970s. Outlines the challenges that New Fossils, newly invented dating methods, and recently developed molecular anthropology techniques posed for researchers working in Africa. Chapter 7 (pp. 128–151) examines Leakey’s ideas about human phylogeny and human evolution and the responses of paleoanthropologists to his ideas.
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Regal, Brian. 2004. Human evolution: A guide to the debates. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-Clio.
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A general introduction to the history of paleoanthropology that discusses the major discoveries, theories, and debates from the mid-19th to early 21st centuries pertaining to human evolution. Leakey’s discoveries and theories are discussed in relation to these general themes.
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Tattersall, Ian. 1995. The Fossil trail: How we know what we think we know about human evolution. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
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A comprehensive history of paleoanthropology during the 20th century. Leakey’s discoveries and ideas are discussed within the context of other major fossil discoveries. In passages showing the extent to which Leakey’s opinions agreed with his peers and the ways in which they were idiosyncratic, Leakey’s contributions to paleoanthropology acquire a perspective missing in many works that focus exclusively on Leakey.
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New Fossils

In the meantime, excavations at Olduvai and elsewhere continued to produce new hominid and ape fossils, described in Leakey and Leakey 1964. Leakey was busy defending the validity of Homo Habilis as a valid species distinct from Australopithecus, while at the same time fending off suggestions that Homo habilis was an evolutionary link between Australopithecus and Homo erectus. In 1965 he presented a paper (Leakey 1967b) at a Wenner-Gren Foundation conference on the Background to Evolution in Africa that examined the extensive new fossil evidence for the evolution of primates, especially apes, since the Miocene. This was an important and increasingly contentious subject during the 1960s and Leakey published several papers, including Leakey 1967a and Leakey 1968b, on ape evolution and the taxonomic relationships between the growing number of Miocene apes such as Kenyapithecus, Ramapithecus, Sivapithecus, and Proconsul. In 1967 he found a new fossil mandible of Kenyapithecus on Rusinga Island and in 1968 he published a paper (Leakey 1968a) describing new primate fossils belonging to several different genera. There were critics of his identification of Kenyapithecus as a distinct species, prominent among them David Pilbeam and Elwyn Simons. It was also during this period that Leakey 1965, the first volume of the Olduvai Gorge series, was finally published.

Leakey, Louis S. B. 1965. Olduvai Gorge, 1951–61. Vol. 1, A preliminary report on the geology and fauna. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.
DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511897788Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
The first volume in the Olduvai Gorge series. Scientific report describing the geology and stratigraphy of Olduvai Gorge and its animal fossils. Descriptions of mammal (especially bovid) and other fossils with numerous photographs. Contains chapters devoted to his ideas about East African climate during the Pleistocene and the newly developed potassium-argon dating method.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1967a. An Early Miocene member of Hominidae. Nature 213.5072: 155–163.
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Examines the taxonomic relationship between Kenyapithecus, Ramapithecus, and a fossil classified as Sivapithecus, and the opinions of Leakey in relation to Elwyn Simons and David Pilbeam over the status of Miocene apes. Describes several ape fossils previously collected from sites in East Africa that Leakey now designates Kenyapithecus africanus and examines their phylogenetic status.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1967b. Notes on the mammalian faunas from the Miocene and Pleistocene of East Africa. In Background to evolution in Africa. Edited by W. W. Bishop and J. D. Clark, 7–29. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
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Lists mammal species collected from East Africa. Introductory remarks address questions of the geologic age of some of these fossils and certain sites he has excavated as well as how to correctly determine whether certain incongruities can be explained by geologic age or ecological differences between different locations of the same age.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1968a. Lower dentition of Kenyapithecus africanus. Nature 217.5131: 827–830.
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Describes a mandible of Kenyapithecus africanus found on Rusinga Island in 1967 and provides a detailed analysis of its teeth.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1968b. Upper Miocene primates from Kenya. Nature 218.5141: 527–528.
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Describes specimens of Limnopithecus, Dryopithecus, Oreopithecus, Proconsul, and two fossil monkeys from the same site at Fort Ternan in Kenya where Leakey had previously discovered fossils belonging to Kenyapithecus wickeri.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., and Mary Leakey. 1964. Recent discoveries of fossil hominids in Tanganyika: At Olduvai and near Lake Natron. Nature 202.4927: 5–7.
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Announces the discovery of new hominid fossils from Bed II at Olduvai in 1963, including parts of one skull and fragments of a second skull and mandible as well as other fossils, representing five individuals in all. In addition, an australopithecine jaw was found near Lake Natron.
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The International Omo Research Expedition and the Calico Early Human Site

The International Omo Research Expedition grew out of preliminary explorations by a French expedition led by Camille Arambourg during 1932–33, and later by University of Chicago paleoanthropologist F. Clark Howell in 1959, of the fossil-rich deposits along the Omo River junction with Lake Turkana (formerly Lake Rudolf) in Ethiopia just across the Kenyan border. Leakey had even sent one of his Kenyan excavators, Heselon Mukiri, to explore and collect fossils from the region during World War Two while he was otherwise engaged in war efforts. Howell met with Arambourg in 1961 to discuss a possible expedition to the Omo and Leakey spoke with the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie about the prospects of finding hominid fossils along the Omo. Haile Selassie was intrigued and work began on organizing a large-scale international expedition that would be composed of an American contingent led by Clark Howell, a French contingent to be led by Arambourg, and Leakey leading the Kenyan contingent. This would be one of the first large multidisciplinary paleoanthropological expeditions specifically designed to search for hominids and it served as a model for later paleoanthropological research in East Africa over subsequent decades. The expedition began its first field season in 1967, but due to Leakey’s poor health Richard Leakey, Louis and Mary’s son, led the Kenyan group. The International Omo Research Expedition continued work until 1974 and unearthed large numbers of animal fossils and a few poorly preserved hominid fossils, but its long term significance lay in establishing the model for future paleoanthropological expeditions. Coppens 1979, Coppens 1988, and Torre Sainz 2008 examine the significance of this expedition to modern paleoanthropology. It was also important for being the impetus for Richard Leakey’s initial explorations of the deposits around Lake Turkana in 1968, which led to the creation of the Koobi Fora Research Project. Separately, in 1959, Leakey first learned of possible stone tools found in the Calico Mountains in California in the United States. He was immediately intrigued by the possible evidence for the early occupation of humans in the New World and in 1963 he arranged for funds to support excavations at the site by Ruth Simpson, the San Bernardino County archaeologist. She worked at the site for the next six years recovering what she and Leakey considered to be legitimate stone artifacts that, if authentic, would indicate that humans lived in North America tens of thousands of years earlier than generally accepted. Leakey and Schuiling 1972 reviews the evidence and their interpretation of it while Rudgley 1999 offers some historical context for this episode. However, many archaeologists and anthropologists doubted the objects collected were actually tools made by humans. Leakey however continued to support their authenticity until his death.

Coppens, Yves. 1979. Camille Arambourg et Louis Leakey ou un 1/2 siècle de paléontologie africaine. Bulletin de la Société Préhistorique Française 76.10–12: 291–323.
DOI: 10.3406/bspf.1979.5159Save Citation »Export Citation »E-mail Citation »
Examines the careers of Arambourg and Leakey as two equally important contemporaries whose scientific careers and accomplishments both occurred within the context of French and British colonial rule in Africa. They were pioneers of large multidisciplinary expeditions that later dominated African paleoanthropology.
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Coppens, Yves. 1988. Pré-ambules: Les premiers pas de l’homme. Paris: Odile Jacob.
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Integrates many of the major historical events in 20th century paleoanthropology into a broad analysis of contemporary ideas about human evolution and human prehistory. Offers a broader perspective on Leakey’s paleoanthropological research in Africa and how important it is for historians to include French scientists in their accounts of paleoanthropology in Africa.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., and Walter C. Schuiling. 1972. Pleistocene Man at Calico: A report on the international conference on the Calico Mountains excavations, San Bernardino County, California. San Bernardino County Museum, San Bernardino Valley College, 22–25 October, 1970. San Bernardino, CA: San Bernardino County Museum Association.
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Transcript of papers on the early human site at Calico. Leakey presents arguments for why he believed the site indicates human occupation of the New World as early as 50,000 years ago, far earlier than was accepted by contemporary archaeologists.
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Rudgley, Richard. 1999. The lost civilizations of the Stone Age. New York: Free Press.
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Chapter 12 discusses the problem of determining whether certain stones were true artifacts or simply mistaken as artifacts. Discusses Leakey’s participation in excavations at the Calico Mountains site where Ruth Simpson discovered supposed artifacts in the 1950s. Leakey visited the site in 1963 and remained involved in the work at the site until his death.
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Torre Sainz, Ignacio de la. 2008. La arqueología de los orígenes humanos en África. Madrid: Ediciones Akal.
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Informative account of the geological and archaeological exploration of Africa. Situates Leakey’s archaeological investigations within the broader context of archaeological research being conducted in many parts of colonial Africa that produced a picture of Africa’s geology and Stone Age cultures. Discusses Leakey’s participation in contemporary debates over how to interpret the African archaeological evidence.
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Acclaim and Legacy

By the late 1960s, Leakey was recognized by paleoanthropologists as an important researcher and was well known to the public, especially through the articles published in the National Geographic Magazine that introduced his discoveries to an eager readership. But paleoanthropology as a discipline was changing and increasingly the new generation of paleoanthropologists possessed specialized training that made the exploits of a maverick like Louis Leakey (who possessed no academic training in geology, paleontology, anatomy, or biology) nearly impossible to replicate (see Pickford 1997). As it also became more difficult for Leakey to continue working in the field due to his age and health he turned his attention to publishing large scientific monographs or writing popular books on human evolution and the history of paleoanthropology. He was one of the editors of Leakey, et al. 1969–1976, a massive work that offered a systematic description of many Miocene and Pleistocene fossils. He published a lavishly illustrated book on African wildlife (Leakey 1969), coauthored a history of paleoanthropological research over the last century (Leakey and Goodall 1969), and collaborated on a sourcebook of significant works in the history of paleoanthropology with the provocative title Adam, or ape: A sourcebook of discoveries about early man (Leakey, et al. 1971). He continued to be active lecturing in Europe and America. In 1971 he participated in a debate (Leakey 1971) at the California Institute of Technology over the question of the nature of early hominids with the popular writer on human evolution Robert Ardrey, whose African Genesis (New York: Atheneum, 1961) and The Territorial Imperative (New York: Atheneum, 1966) presented an image of early hominids as hunters who were violent and aggressive, Shortly before his death Leakey completed an autobiography, Leakey 1974, that covered the period between 1932 and 1951, but unfortunately he did not live long enough to write the volume that would have covered the last portion of his career. Leakey died of a heart attack on 1 October in London in 1972. He left a powerful legacy. In 1961 he founded the Centre for Prehistory and Paleontology, located on the grounds of the Coryndon Museum in Nairobi, and became its director. Supporters of Louis and Mary Leakey’s research succeeded in establishing the Leakey Foundation in 1968—with its headquarters in San Francisco, California—as an institution that would promote research and provide funding for projects. The Foundation has played a significant role in fostering research, but it has also contributed to continuing Leakey’s legacy. In Kenya the government established the International Louis Leakey Memorial Institute for African Prehistory in Nairobi after his death and the facilities opened in 1977 (Lewin 1977). Mary Leakey continued to conduct excavations after Louis’s death and made a number of significant discoveries that contributed to her reputation as a researcher independent of Louis. Their son Richard and his wife Meave have also had a remarkably successful career as paleoanthropologists since the late 1960s as the driving force behind the Koobi Fora Research Project.

Leakey, Louis S. B. 1969. Animals of East Africa: The wild realm. Washington, DC: National Geographic Society.
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Presents the reader with intimate accounts of his observations of Africa’s wildlife. Mentions the scientific expeditions and researchers who have studied Africa’s fauna. Highlights the importance of national parks, emphasizes the value of fieldwork in understanding Africa’s animals, and makes an argument for conservation. Contains a chapter on the extinct fauna of Africa.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1971. Aggression and violence in man: A dialogue between Dr. Louis Leakey and Mr. Robert Ardrey. Munger Africana Library Notes 9. Pasadena, CA: Munger Africana Library.
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Leakey argued that throughout much of human evolution our ancestors were not violent toward their own species; it was only when humans became psychologically and socially modern that violence among humans began. Ardrey argued that throughout much of human evolution our hominid ancestors were aggressive and violent toward their own kind.
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Leakey, Louis S. B. 1974. By the evidence: Memoirs, 1932–1951. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
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Leakey discusses a wide range of subjects including his excavations at Olduvai Gorge, his relations with the Kikuyu, his involvement with the colonial government during World War II, and the organization of the first Pan-African Congress on Prehistory. The book offers insights into Leakey’s scientific research, his personal life, and his relationship with the colonial government.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., and Vanne Morris Goodall. 1969. Unveiling man’s origins: Ten decades of thought about human evolution. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman.
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A history of paleoanthropology from 1859 to 1959 that reviews the ideas behind evolution theory; most of the book, however, is a summary of the major hominid fossil discoveries and the ways they had been interpreted.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., Robert J. G. Savage, and Shirley C. Coryndon. 1969–1976. Fossil vertebrates of Africa. 4 vols. New York and London: Academic Press.
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These volumes describe the Miocene and Pleistocene vertebrate fossils that have been collected in Africa since the 1940s. Many were discovered by expeditions led by or prompted by Leakey. Papers by experts who examine the fossil fauna of Africa, raise issues concerning the evolution of various groups of animals, including primates, and discuss paleoecology.
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Leakey, Louis S. B., Jack Prost, Stephanie Prost, and Ronald Goodman, eds. 1971. Adam, or ape: A sourcebook of discoveries about early man. Cambridge, MA: Schenkman.
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Collection of primary texts from the 19th and 20th centuries. Contains many useful documents, but the value of this work is diminished by the fact that often the texts are not from the original editions, there are numerous errors pertaining to the dates of certain works, and there is poor bibliographic information that doesn’t allow readers to locate the original text.
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Lewin, Roger. 1977. A new focus for African prehistory. New Scientist 75:792–794.
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Discusses the founding of the International Louis Leakey Memorial Institute for African Prehistory in Nairobi, its aims and organization, but also its legacy and debt to Leakey.
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Pickford, Martin. 1997. Louis S. B. Leakey: Beyond the evidence. London: Janus.
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Controversial and arguably biased critique of paleoanthropological research in Africa between 1920 and 1970 that particularly criticizes Leakey’s role in that research. Argues that Leakey was not a competent researcher when he led his first archaeological expeditions, that he consistently misinterpreted fossils, and that he acted to exclude researchers from excavations sites and from examining the fossils he discovered.
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Posthumous Works

After Leakey’s death ethnographic material on the Kikuyu collected early in his career was published (Leakey 1977). Clark 1989 examines this work in historical context.

Leakey, Louis S. B. 1977. The Southern Kikuyu before 1903. 3 vols. London and New York: Academic Press.
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Ethnographic work on Kikuyu culture based upon interviews with Kikuyu elders in 1937. Describes Kikuyu society, the roles of men and women, organization of villages, agriculture and domesticated animals, craft industries, practices relating to birth, initiation rites, marriage and funeral practices, religious ideas and practices, and ideas pertaining to witchcraft and magic.
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Clark, Carolyn M. 1989. Louis Leakey as ethnographer: On the Southern Kikuyu before 1903. Canadian Journal of African Studies 23.3: 380–398.
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Examines Leakey’s book as an ethnographic document and as a product of the British colonial administration. Argues that Leakey’s background as the son of missionaries and as a British colonial influenced his understanding of the Kikuyu. Clark argues that this document can be read as a criticism of elitist British colonial politics.
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