Mary Leakey's 100th birthday

New Delhi: British archeologist Mary Leakey has been honoured by Google on her 100th birth anniversary with a doodle depicting her discovery of the Laetoli footprints.

Mary Leakey was born in London, England on February 6, 1913. Her interest in archeology began at the age of 12 when she visited an excavation site in Les Eyzies. She began collecting points, scrapers, and blades from the site and developed her first system of classification.


Leakey's discoveries included the fossilised Proconsul skull, an extinct ape that is believed to be ancestor to humans. Another discovery was that of the Zinjanthropus skull, an early hominin, at Olduvai Gorge. She is also credited with developing a system to classify stone tools found at Olduvai as well as discovering Laetoli footprints. Over the course of her career, Leakey wrote four books. Read More News