Louis Leakey

Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey(7 August 1903 – 1 October 1972) was a Kenyan-Britishpalaeoanthropologistandarchaeologistwhose work was important in demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa, particularly through discoveries made atOlduvai Gorgewith his wife, fellow palaeoanthropologistMary Leakey.Having established a programme ofpalaeoanthropologicalinquiry in eastern Africa, he also motivated many future generations to continue this scholarly work. Several members of theLeakey familybecame prominent scholars themselves.

Louis Leakey
Louis Leakey with his wife Mary in 1962
Born	Louis Seymour Bazet Leakey (1903-08-07)7 August 1903 Kabete,East Africa Protectorate
Died	1 October 1972(1972-10-01)(aged 69) London, England
Nationality	Kenyan, British
Known for	Pioneering the study ofhuman evolutionin Africa
Spouses	Frida Avern ​ ​ (m.1928;div.1936)​ Mary Leakey ​ (m.1936)​
Children	5, including Colin Leakey Richard Leakey Philip Leakey
Awards	Hubbard Medal(1962) Royal Geographical Society's Founder's Medal(1968) Prestwich Medal(1969)
Scientific career
Fields	Archaeology,paleoanthropology,paleontology

Another of Leakey's legacies stems from his role in fostering field research of primates in their natural habitats, which he saw as key to understandinghuman evolution.He personally focused on three female researchers,Jane Goodall,Dian Fossey,andBirutė Galdikas,calling them "The Trimates."Each went on to become an important scholar in the field of primatology. Leakey also encouraged and supported many other PhD candidates, most notably from theUniversity of Cambridge.As well, Leakey played a role in creating organizations for future research in Africa and for protecting wildlife there.

Background

See also:Leakey family

When I think back... of theservalcat and ababoonthat I had as pets in my childhood days—and that eventually I had to house in large cages—it makes me sad. It makes me sadder still, however, and also very angry, when I think of the innumerable adult animals and birds deliberately caught and locked up for the so-called 'pleasure' and 'education' of thoughtless human beings.

— Louis Leakey,By the Evidence,Chapter 4

Louis's parents, Harry (1868–1940) and Mary (May) Bazett Leakey (died 1948), wereChurch of Englandmissionaries inBritish East Africa(now Kenya). Harry was the son of James Shirley Leakey (1824–1871), one of the eleven children of the portrait painterJames Leakey.Harry Leakey was assigned to an established post of theChurch Mission Societyamong theKikuyuatKabete,in the highlands north ofNairobi.The station was at that time a hut and two tents. Louis's earliest home had an earthen floor, a leakythatched roof,rodents and insects, and no heating system except for charcoalbraziers.The facilities slowly improved over time. The mission, a center of activity, set up a clinic in one of the tents, and later agirls' school.Harry was working on atranslation of the Bibleinto theGikuyu language.He had a distinguished career in the CMS, becomingcanonof the station.

Louis had a younger brother, Douglas, and two older sisters, Gladys and Julia. Both sisters married missionaries: Gladys marriedLeonard Beecher,AnglicanBishop of Mombasaand thenArchbishop of East Africafrom 1960 to 1970; Julia marriedLawrence Barham,the secondBishop of Rwanda and Burundifrom 1964 to 1966; their sonKen Barhamwas later the Bishop ofCyanguguin Rwanda.

The Leakey household came to contain Miss Oakes (agoverness), Miss Higgenbotham (another missionary), and Mariamu (a Kikuyu nurse). Louis grew up, played, and learned to hunt with the native Kikuyus. He also learned to walk with the distinctive gait of the Kikuyu and speak their language fluently, as did his siblings. He was initiated into the Kikuyu ethnic group, an event of which he never spoke, as he was sworn to secrecy.

Louis requested and was given permission to build and move into a hut,Kikuyustyle, at the end of the garden. It was home to his personal collection of natural objects, such as birds' eggs and skulls. All the children developed a keen interest in and appreciation of the pristine natural surroundings in which they found themselves. They raised baby animals, later turning them over to zoos. Louis read agift book,Days Before History,byH. R. Hall(1907), a juvenile fictional work illustrating theprehistory of Britain.He began to collect tools and was further encouraged in this activity by a role model,Arthur Loveridge,the first curator (1914) of the Natural History Museum in Nairobi, the predecessor of theCoryndon Museum.This interest may have predisposed him toward a career in archaeology. His father was also a role model: Canon Leakey co-founded East Africa and Uganda Natural History Society.

Neither Harry nor May were of strong constitution. From 1904 to 1906 the entire family lived at May's mother's house inReading, Berkshire,in England, while Harry recovered fromneurasthenia,and again in 1911–1913, while May recovered from general frailty and exhaustion. During the latter stay, Harry bought a house inBoscombe,Hampshire.

Formative years

Attendance at Cambridge

In Britain, the Leakey children attended primary school; in Africa, they had a tutor. The family spentWorld War Iin Africa. When the sea lanes opened again in 1919, they returned to Boscombe, and Louis was sent toWeymouth College,a private boys' school, when he was 16 years old. In about three years, he did not do well and complained of hazing and rules that he considered an infringement on his freedom. Advised by one teacher to seek employment in a bank, he secured help from an English teacher in applying toSt John's College, Cambridge.He received a scholarship for his high scores on the entrance exams.

Louis matriculated at theUniversity of Cambridge,his father's alma mater, in 1922, intending to become a missionary to British East Africa.

He frequently told a story about his final exams. When he had arrived in Britain, he had notified the registrar that he was fluent inSwahili.When he came to his finals, he asked to be examined in this language, and the authorities agreed. Then one day, he received two letters. One instructed him to report at a certain time and place for aviva voceexamination in Swahili. The other asked if, at the same time and place, he would examine a candidate in Swahili.

Archaeological and paleontological research

In 1922, the British had been awardedGerman East Africaas part of the settlement of World War I. Within theTanganyika Territorythe Germans had discovered a site rich indinosaurfossils,Tendaguru.Louis was told byC. W. Hobley,a friend of the family, that theBritish Museum of Natural Historywas going to send a fossil-hunting expedition led by William E. Cutler to the site. Louis applied and was hired to locate the site and manage the administrative details.In 1924 they departed for Africa. They never found a complete dinosaur skeleton, and Louis was recalled from the site by Cambridge in 1925.

Louis switched his focus to anthropology, and found a new mentor inAlfred Cort Haddon,head of the Cambridge department. In 1926, Louis graduated with a "double first",or high honours, in anthropology and archaeology. He had used some of his preexisting qualifications; for example, Kikuyu was offered and accepted as the secondmodern languagein which he was required to be proficient, even though no one there could test him on it. The university accepted an affidavit from a Kikuyu chief signed with a thumbprint.

From 1925 on Louis lectured and wrote on African archaeological and palaeontological topics. On graduation he was such a respected figure that Cambridge sent him to East Africa to study prehistoric African humans. He excavated dozens of sites, undertaking for the first time a systematic study of the artifacts. Some of his names for archaeological cultures are still in use; for example, theElmenteitan.

Research Fellow

St. John's College, Cambridge.

In 1927, Louis received a visit at a site called Gamble's Cave, nearLake Elmenteita,by two women on a holiday, one of whom was Frida Avern (1902–1993). Avern had done some coursework in archaeology. Louis and Frida began a relationship, which continued upon his return to Cambridge. In 1928, they married and continued work near Lake Elmenteita. Finds from Gamble's Cave were donated by Leakey to theBritish Museumin 1931.At that time he discovered theAcheuleansite ofKariandusi,which he excavated in 1928.

On the strength of his work there, he obtained a post-graduate research fellowship atSt. John's Collegeand returned to Cambridge in 1929 to classify and prepare the finds from Elmenteita. His patron and mentor at Cambridge were nowArthur Keith.While cleaning two skeletons he had found, he noticed a similarity to one found inOlduvai Gorgeby ProfessorHans Reck,a German national, whom Louis had met in 1925 in Germany while on business for Keith.

Olduvai Gorge 2011.

The geology of Olduvai was known. In 1913, Reck had extricated a skeleton from Bed II in the gorge wall. He argued that it must have the date of the bed, which was believed to be 600,000 years, in the mid-Pleistocene.Early dates for human evolution were not widely accepted by the general public at the time. Reck became involved in a media uproar. He was barred from going back to settle the question by the war and then the terms of the transfer of Tanganyika from Germany to Britain.In 1929, Louis visited Berlin to talk to the now skeptical Reck. Noting anAcheuleantool in Reck's collection of artifacts from Olduvai, he bet Reck he could find ancient stone tools at Olduvai within 24 hours.

Louis received his PhD in 1930 at the age of 27. His first child, a daughter named Priscilla Muthoni Leakey, was born in 1931. His headaches and epilepsy returned, and he was prescribedLuminal,which he took for the rest of his life.

Reversals of fortune

Defense of Reck

In November 1931, Louis led an expedition to Olduvai whose members included Reck,whom Louis allowed to enter the gorge first. Leakey had bet Reck that Leakey would find Acheulean tools within the first 24 hours, which he did.These verified the provenance of the 1913 find, now called Olduvai Man. Non-humanoid fossils and tools were extracted from the ground in large numbers. Frida delayed joining her husband and was less enthusiastic about him on behalf of Priscilla. She did arrive eventually, however, and Louis put her to work. Frida's site became FLK, for Frida Leakey's Karongo ( "gully" ).

Back in Cambridge, the sceptics were not impressed. To find supporting evidence of the antiquity of Reck's Olduvai Man, Louis returned to Africa, excavating atKanamandKanjera.He easily found more fossils, which he namedHomo kanamensis.While he was gone, the opposition worked up some "evidence" of the intrusion of Olduvai Man into an earlier layer, evidence that seemed convincing at the time, but is missing and unverifiable now. On his return, Louis' finds were carefully examined by a committee of 26 scientists and were tentatively accepted as valid.

Scandal

Following their marriage in 1928, Louis and Frida lived inFoxtonnear Cambridge. In November 1932, Frida used an inheritance to purchase a large brick house inGirton,which the family named "The Close".

The following year, Frida was pregnant, suffered frommorning sicknessmost of the time, and was unable to work on the illustrations for Louis's second book,Adam's Ancestors.At a dinner party given in his honor, after a lecture of his at theRoyal Anthropological Institute,Gertrude Caton-Thompsonintroduced her own illustrator, the twenty-year-oldMary Nicol.Louis convinced Mary to take on the illustration of his book, and a few months later companionship turned into an affair.Frida gave birth toColinin December 1933, and the next month Louis left her and his newborn son.She would not sue for divorce until 1936.

A panel at Cambridge investigated his morals. Grants dried up, but his mother raised enough money for another expedition to Olduvai, Kanam, and Kanjera, the latter two on theWinam Gulf.His previous work there was questioned byP. G. H. Boswell,whom he invited to verify the sites for himself. Arriving at Kanam and Kanjera in 1935, they found that the iron markers Louis had used to mark the sites had been removed by theLuotribe for use as harpoons and the sites could not now be located. To make matters worse, all the photos Louis took were ruined by a light leak in the camera. After an irritating and fruitless two-month search, Boswell left for England, promising, as Louis understood it, not to publish a word until Louis returned.

Boswell immediately set out to publish as many words as he was able, beginning with a letter inNaturedated 9 March 1935, destroying Reck's and Louis's dates of the fossils and questioning Louis's competence. Despite the searches for the iron markers, Boswell averred that "the earlier expedition (of 1931–32) neither marked the localities on the ground nor recorded the sites on a map."In a field report of March 1935, Louis accused Boswell of reneging on his word, but Boswell asserted he had made no such promise, and now having public opinion on his side, warned Louis to withdraw the claim. Louis was not only forced to retract the accusation in his final field report in June 1935 but also to recant his support of Reck. Louis was through at Cambridge. Even his mentors turned on him.

On the road in Africa

Meeting Mary in Africa, he proceeded to Olduvai with a small party. Louis' parents continued to urge him to return to Frida, and would pay for everyone in the party but Mary. Mary joined him under a stigma but her skill and competence eventually won over the other participants. Louis and his associates did the groundwork for future excavation at Olduvai, uncovering dozens of sites for a broad sampling, as was his method. They were named after the excavator: SHK (Sam Howard's karongo), BK (Peter Bell's), SWK (Sam White's), MNK (Mary Nicol's). Louis and Mary conducted a temporary clinic for theMaasai,made preliminary investigations ofLaetoli,and ended by studying the rock paintings at theKisese/Chekeregion.

Return to England

Steen Cottage, Nasty, Great Munden in 2011

Louis and Mary returned to England in 1935 without positions or any place to stay except Mary's mother's apartment. They soon leased Steen Cottage inGreat Munden.This settlement was inHertfordshireand had an unusual name which Louis, with his sense of humor noted in hisMemoirs,Chapter 5, as "the village ofNasty."They lived without heat, electricity, or plumbing, fetching water from a well and writing by oil lantern. They lived in poverty for 18 months at this low point of their fortunes, visited at first only by Mary's relatives. Louis gardened for subsistence and exercise and improved the house and grounds. He appealed at last to theRoyal Society,who relented with a small grant to continue work on his collection.

In British East Africa

Return to British East Africa

Louis had already involved himself in Kikuyu tribal affairs in 1928, taking a stand againstfemale genital cutting.He got into a shouting match in Kikuyu one evening withJomo Kenyatta,later thepresident of Kenya,who was lecturing on the topic. R. Copeland at Oxford recommended he apply to theRhodes Trustfor a grant to write a study of the Kikuyu and it was given late in 1936 along with a salary for two years. In January 1937 the Leakeys travelled to Kenya. Colin would not see his father for 20 years.

Louis returned toKiambaanearNairobiand persuaded Senior Chief Koinange, who designated a committee of chiefs, to help him describe the Kikuyu the way they had been. Mary excavated at Waterfall Cave.She fell ill with double pneumonia and was near death for two weeks in the hospital in Nairobi, during which time her mother was sent for. Contrary to expectation, she recovered and began another excavation atHyrax Hilland thenNjoro River Cave.Louis got an extension of his grant, which he used partially for fossil-hunting. Leakey discoveries began to appear in the newspapers again.

Tensions between the Kikuyu and the settlers increased alarmingly. Louis jumped into the fray as an exponent of the middle ground. InKenya: Contrasts and Problems,he angered the settlers by proclaiming Kenya could never be a "white man's country."

Fossil police

The government offered Louis work as a policeman in intelligence, which he accepted. He traveled the country as apedlar,reporting on the talk. In September 1939, when Britain went to war, the Kenyan government drafted Louis into its African intelligence service.Apart from some bumbling around, during which he and some settlers stalked each other as possible saboteurs of theSaganaRailway Bridge,his first task was to supply and armEthiopian guerrillasagainst the Italianinvaders of their country.He created a clandestine network using his childhood friends among the Kikuyu. They also hunted fossils on the sly.

Louis conducted interrogations, analyzed handwriting, wrote radio broadcasts and took on regular police investigations. He loved a good mystery of any sort. The white leadership of theKing's African Riflesused him extensively to clear up many cultural mysteries; for example, he helped an officer remove a curse he had inadvertently put on his men.

Mary continued to find and excavate sites. In 1940, their son Jonathan Leakey was born. She worked in the Coryndon Memorial Museum (later called theNational Museums of Kenya) where Louis joined her as an unpaid honorary curator in 1941. Their life was a melange of police work and archaeology. They investigatedRusinga IslandandOlorgesailie.At the latter site they were assisted by a team of Italian experts recruited from the prisoners of war and paroled for the purpose.

In 1942, the Italian menace ended, but the Japanese began to reconnoiter with a view toward landing in force. Louis found himself in counter-intelligence work, which he performed with zest and imagination. In the same year, their daughter Deborah was born, but died at the age of three months. They lived in a rundown and bug-infested Nairobi home,provided by the museum.Jonathan was attacked byarmy antsin his crib.

Turn of the tide

In 1944Richard Leakeywas born. In 1945 the family's income from police work all but vanished. By now Louis was getting plenty of job offers but he chose to stay on in Kenya as Curator of the Coryndon Museum, with an annual salary and a house, but more importantly, to continue palaeoanthropological research.

In January 1947 Louis conducted the first Pan-African Congress of Prehistory at Nairobi. Sixty scientists from 26 countries attended, delivering papers and visiting the Leakey sites. The conference restored Louis to the scientific fold and made him a major figure in it. With the money that now poured in Louis undertook the famous expeditions of 1948 and beyond atRusinga IslandinLake Victoria,where Mary discovered the most completeProconsulfossil up to that time.

Charles Watson Boisedonated money for a boat to be used for transport on Lake Victoria,The Miocene Lady.Its skipper, Hassan Salimu, was later to deliverJane Goodallto Gombe.Philip Leakeywas born in 1949. In 1950, Louis was awarded an honorary doctorate byOxford University.

Kenyan affairs

... I sought a personal interview with the governor, hoping to make him appreciate that it was no longer possible to continue along the lines of the old colonial regime.... Colonial governors and senior civil servants are not easy people to argue with; and, of course, I was not popular, because of my criticism of the colonial service... Had it been possible to make the government open its eyes to the realities of the situation, I believe that the whole miserable episode of what is frequently spoken of as 'the Mau Mau rebellion' need never have taken place.

— By the Evidence,Chapter 18

While the Leakeys were at Lake Victoria, the Kikuyu struck at the European settlers of the Kenyan highlands, who seemed to have the upper hand and were insisting on a "white" government of a "white" Africa. In 1949 the Kikuyu formed a secret society, theMau Mau,which attacked settlers and especially loyalist Kikuyu.

Louis had attempted to warnSir Philip Mitchell,governor of the colony, that nocturnal meetings and forced oaths were not Kikuyu customs and foreboded violence, but was ignored. Now he found himself pulled away from anthropology to investigate the Mau Mau. During this period his life was threatened and a reward placed on his head. The Leakeys began to pack pistols, termed "European National Dress." The government placed him under 24-hour guard.

In 1952, after a Mau Mau massacre of pro-British chiefs, the government arrestedJomo Kenyatta,president of theKenya African Union.Louis was summoned to be a court interpreter, but withdrew after an accusation of mistranslation because of prejudice against the defendant. He returned on request to translate documents only. Because of lack of evidence linking Kenyatta to the Mau Mau, although convicted, he did not receive the death penalty, but was sentenced to several years of hard labour.

The government brought in British troops and formed a home guard of 20,000 Kikuyu. During this time, Louis played a difficult and contradictory role. He sided with the settlers, serving as their spokesman and intelligence officer, helping to ferret out bands of guerrillas. On the other hand, he continued to advocate for the Kikuyu in his 1954 bookDefeating Mau Mauand numerous talks and articles. He recommended a multi-racial government, land reform in the highlands, a wage hike for the Kikuyu, and many other reforms, most of which were eventually adopted.

The government then realized the rebellion was being directed from urban centers, institutedmartial lawand detained the committees. Following Louis' suggestion, thousands of Kikuyu were placed in re-education camps and resettled in new villages. The rebellion continued from bases underMount Kenyauntil 1956, when, deprived of its leadership and supplies, it had to disperse. The state of emergency lasted until 1960. In 1963 Kenya became independent, with Jomo Kenyatta as prime minister.

Work in palaeoanthropology

Olduvai Gorge

We know from the study of evolution that, again and again, various branches of animal stock have become over-specialized, and that over-specialization has led to their extinction. Present-dayHomo sapiensis in many physical respects still very unspecialized... But in one thing man, as we know him today, is over-specialized. His brain power is very over-specialized compared to the rest of his physical make-up, and it may well be that this over-specialization will lead, just as surely, to his extinction.... if we are to control our future, we must first understand the past better.

— Adam's Ancestors,4th ed., final page

Beginning in 1951, Louis and Mary began intensive research at Olduvai Gorge. A trial trench in Bed II at BK in 1951 was followed by a more extensive excavation in 1952. They found what Louis termed anOldowan"slaughter-house", an ancient bog where animals had been trapped and butchered. Excavations stopped in 1953 but were briefly resumed in 1955 with Jean Brown.

In 1959, excavations at Bed I were opened. While Louis was sick in camp, Mary discovered the fossilized skullOH 5at FLK,Paranthropus boisei,famously identified as "Zinjanthropus"or" Zinj. "The question was whether the fossil belonged to a previous genus discovered byRobert Broom,Paranthropus,or a member of a different genus ancestral to humans. Louis opted forZinjanthropus,a decision opposed byWilfrid Le Gros Clark,but one which attracted the attention ofMelville Bell Grosvenor,president of theNational Geographic Society.That contact resulted in an article inNational Geographicand a large grant to continue work at Olduvai.

In 1960, geophysicistsJack EverndenandGarniss Curtisdated Bed I from 1.89 to 1.75 million years ago, confirming the great antiquity of fossil hominids in Africa.

In 1960, Louis appointed Mary director of excavation at Olduvai. She brought in a staff ofKambaassistants, includingKamoya Kimeu,who later discovered many of eastern Africa's most famous fossils. At Olduvai, Mary set up Camp 5 and began work with her own staff and associates.

At "Jonny's site", FLK-NN, Jonathan Leakey discovered two skull fragments without theAustralopithecinesagittal crest,which Mary connected with Broom's and Robinson'sTelanthropus.The problem with it was its contemporaneity withZinjanthropus.When mailed photographs, Le Gros Clark retorted casually "Shades ofPiltdown."Louis cabled him immediately and had some strong words at this suggestion of his incompetence. Clark apologized.

Not long afterwards, in 1960, Louis, his son Philip and Ray Pickering discovered a fossil he termed "Chellean Man", (Olduvai Hominid 9), in context withOldowantools. After reconstruction Louis and Mary called it "Pinhead." It was subsequently identified asHomo erectus,contemporaneous withParanthropusat 1.4 million years old.

In 1961 Louis got a salary as well as a grant from theNational Geographic Societyand turned over the acting directorship of Coryndon to a subordinate. He created the Centre for Prehistory and Paleontology on the same grounds, moved his collections to it, and appointed himself director. This was his new operations center. He opened another excavation atFort Ternanon Lake Victoria. Shortly after, Heselon discoveredKenyapithecus wickeri,named after the owner of the property. Louis promptly celebrated withGeorge Gaylord Simpson,who happened to be present, aboard theMiocene Ladywith "Leakey Safari Specials", a drink made ofcondensed milkandcognac.

In 1962 Louis was visiting Olduvai when Ndibo Mbuika discovered the first tooth ofHomo habilisat MNK. Louis and Mary thought it was female and named her Cinderella, or Cindy.Phillip Tobiasidentified Jonny's Child with it andRaymond Dartcame up with the nameHomo habilisat Louis' request, which Tobias translated as "handyman."It was seen as intermediary between gracileAustralopithecusandHomo.

Calico Hills

Main article:Calico Early Man Site

In 1959 Leakey, while at theBritish Museum of Natural Historyin London, received a visit fromRuth DeEtte Simpson,an archaeologist from California. Simpson had acquired what looked like ancientscrapersfrom a site in the Calico Hills and showed it to Leakey.

In 1963, Leakey obtained funds from theNational Geographic Societyand commencedarchaeological excavationswith Simpson. Excavations at the site carried out by Leakey and Simpson revealed that they had located stoneartifactswhich were dated 100,000 years or older, suggesting a human presence in North America much earlier than others had estimated.

The geologistVance Hayneshad made three visits to the site in 1973 and had claimed that the artifacts found by Leakey were naturally formedgeofacts.According to Haynes, the geofacts were formed by stones becoming fractured in an ancient river on the site.

In her autobiography,Mary Leakeywrote that because of Louis's involvement with the Calico Hills site she had lost academic respect for him and that the Calico excavation project was "catastrophic to his professional career and was largely responsible for the parting of our ways".

The Trimates

Main article:The Trimates

One of Louis's legacies stems from his role in fostering field research ofprimatesin their natural habitats, which he understood as key to unraveling the mysteries ofhuman evolution.He personally chose three female researchers,Jane Goodall,Dian Fossey,andBirutė Galdikas,calling themThe Trimates.Each went on to become an important scholar in the field of primatology, immersing themselves in the study ofchimpanzees,gorillasandorangutans,respectively. Leakey also encouraged and supported many other PhD candidates, most notably from Cambridge University. Louis believed that women were better at studying primates than men, as shown in the bookPrimates.

Last years

During his final years Louis became famous as a lecturer in the United Kingdom and United States. He did not excavate any longer, as he was impaired byarthritis,for which he had a hip replacement in 1968. He raised funds and directed his family and associates. In Kenya he was a facilitator for hundreds of scientists exploring theEast African Riftsystem for fossils.

In 1968, Louis refused an honorary doctorate from theUniversity of Witwatersrandin Johannesburg, primarily because ofapartheidinSouth Africa.Mary accepted one, and they thereafter led separate professional lives.

In the last few years Louis' health began to fail more seriously. He had his first heart attacks and spent six months in the hospital. An empathy over health brought him andDian Fosseytogether for a brief romance, which she broke off. Richard began to assume more and more of his father's responsibilities, which Louis resisted, but in the end was forced to accept.

Death and legacy

On 1 October 1972, Louis had aheart attackin Vanne Goodall's apartment in London (Jane Goodall's mother). Vanne sat up all night with him in St. Stephen's Hospital and left at 9:00 a.m. He died 30 minutes later at the age of 69.

Mary wanted to cremate Louis and fly the ashes back to Nairobi. Richard intervened. Louis' body was flown home and interred atLimuru,near the graves of his parents.

In denial, the family did not face the question of a memorial marker for a year. When Richard went to place a stone on the grave he found one already there, courtesy of Louis' former secretary Rosalie Osborn. The inscription was signed with the letters,ILYUA,"I'll love you always", which Rosalie used to place on her letters to him. Richard left it in place.

Prominent organizations

• In 1947, Leakey was central to the organisation of the firstPanAfrican Archaeological Associationcongress, held in Nairobi. From 1955 to 1959 he was its president.
• In 1958, Leakey founded the Tigoni Primate Research Center with Cynthia Booth, on her farm north of Nairobi. Later it was the National Primate Research Center, currently the Institute of Primate Research, now in Nairobi.As the Tigoni center, it funded Leakey's Angels.
• In 1961, Leakey created the Centre for Prehistory and Paleontology on the same grounds as Coryndon Museum, appointing himself director.
• In 1968, Leakey assisted with the founding of The Leakey Foundationto ensure the legacy of his life's work in the study of human origins.

Prominent family members

Louis Leakey was married toMary Leakey,who made the noteworthy discovery of fossil footprints atLaetoli.Found preserved in volcanic ash inTanzania,they are the earliest record of bipedal gait.

He is also the father ofpaleoanthropologistRichard Leakeyand the botanistColin Leakey.Louis's cousin,Nigel Gray Leakey,was a recipient of theVictoria Crossduring World War II.

Leakey family tree
James Leakey (1775–1865) Eliza Hubbard Woolmer (1793–1855) James Shirley Leakey (1824–1871) Caroline Woolmer Leakey (1827–1881) 9 others Rev. Arundell Leakey (1853–1924) Rev. Harry Leakey (1868–1940) Elizabeth Laing (1873–1925) Arundell Gray Arundell Leakey (1885–1954) 5 others Henrietta Wilfrida Avern (1902–1993) Louis Seymour Bazett Leakey (1903–1972) Mary Douglas Nicol (1913–1996) 3 others Nigel Gray Leakey (1913–1941) Robert Dove Leakey (1914–2013) Maj. Gen. Arundell Rea Leakey (1915–1999) Agnes Florence Leakey (1917–2006) Colin Louis Avern Leakey (1933–2018) Meave Epps (b. 1942) Richard Erskine Frere Leakey (1944–2022) Margaret Cropper Jonathan Harry Erskine Leakey (1940–2021) Philip Leakey (b. 1949) Lt. Gen. Arundell David Leakey (b. 1952) Louise Leakey (b. 1972) Emmanuel, Prince de Mérode (b. 1970)
Notes:

Books

Leakey's books are listed below.The gaps between books are filled by too many articles to list. It was Louis who began the Leakey tradition of publishing inNature.

First publication date	Title	Notes
1931	The Stone Age Culture of Kenya Colony	Written in 1929. Illustrated by Frida Leakey.
1934	Adam's Ancestors: The Evolution of Man and His Culture	Multiple editions with rewrites, the 4th in 1955. Illustrated by Mary Leakey. Book reviews:
1935	The Stone Age races of Kenya	Proposes Homo kanamensis.
1936	Kenya: Contrasts and Problems	Written in 1935.
1936	Stone Age Africa: an Outline of Prehistory in Africa	Ten chapters consisting of the ten Munro Lectures delivered in 1936 by Louis toEdinburgh Universityand intended by him as a textbook. Illustrated by Mary Leakey.
1937	White African: an Early Autobiography	Louis described it as a "pot-boiler" written in 1936 for Hodder & Stoughton.
1951	The Miocene Hominoidea of East Africa	WithWilfrid Le Gros Clark.Volume I of the seriesFossil Mammals of Africapublished by theNatural History Museumin London.
1951	Olduvai Gorge: A Report on the Evolution of the Hand-Axe Culture in Beds I–IV	Started in 1935. Names theOlduwanCulture.
1952	Mau Mau and the Kikuyu	Online at
1953	Animals in Africa	Photographs byYlla.
1954	Defeating Mau Mau	With Peter Schmidt. Online at
1965	Olduvai Gorge: A Preliminary Report on the Geology and Fauna, 1951–61	Volume 1.
1969	Unveiling Man's Origins	With Vanne Morris Goodall.
1969	Animals of East Africa: The Wild realm
1970	Olduvai Gorge, 1965–1967
1974	By the Evidence: Memoirs, 1932–1951	Written in 1972 and published posthumously. Louis finished writing on the day before his death.
1977	The Southern Kikuyu before 1903	Published posthumously. The manuscript remained in Louis' safe for decades for lack of a publisher. It was 3 volumes. He refused to follow editorial advice and shorten it.

See also

• Calico Early Man Site
• Campaign against female genital mutilation in colonial Kenya
• Nigel LeakeyLouis' cousin
• Leakey family
• List of fossil sites(with link directory)
• List of hominina (hominid) fossils(with images)

Bibliography

• Virginia Morell,Ancestral Passions: The Leakey Family and the Quest for Humankind's Beginnings,1995.
• Mary Bowman-Kruhm,The Leakeys: a Biography,Greenwood Press, 2005.ISBN0-313-32985-0
• Roger Lewin,"The Old Man of Olduvai Gorge",Smithsonian Magazine,October 2002.

External links

• LeakeyFoundation.org– The Leakey Foundation: a non-profit organization committed to increasing scientific knowledge, education, and public understanding of human origins, evolution, behavior and survival.
• "Louis Leakey",TalkOrigins Archive
• "Louis S. B. Leakey",the leakey biography.
• Brian M. Fagan,"Louis Leakey",in CD Groliers Encyclopedia.
• Petri Liukkonen."Louis Leakey".Books and Writers.
• Works by or about Louis Leakeyat theInternet Archive