This account of Meave Leakey’s search for human
ancestors in the Turkana region of Kenya is at once intensely personal and
scientifically sound.
Born Meave Epps in 1942 she read marine biology at Bangor but found herself without a job because research ships lacked facilities for women. On a whim she answered an advertisement by Louis Leakey who was recruiting for a primate research centre in Kenya. Once there she soon found herself looking for hominin fossils with Louis’s son Richard whom she later married. Their life together was full of drama as Richard suffered both kidney failure and the loss of his legs in a plane crash.
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| Reconstruction of Homo rudolfensis (KNM-ER 1470) discoved by Meave Leakey Photo byy Don Hitchcock CC BY-SA 4.0 |
Meave soldiered on and discovered or co-discovered
significant specimens of several hominins ranging from australopithecines
through early members of our genus (above) to Homo erectus. The first part of
the book details this story and gives a fascinating account of work in the
field (with no facilities for men or women!) and the ever present need to find
fossils attractive enough to ensure continued funding. In the second part the
emphasis shifts towards putting individual fossils in the context of work by
others (including mother-in-law Mary Leakey) and painting a broader view of
human evolution. The final part continues the story of exploration while explaining
the changes in biology that led to evolution of our species.
Meave and Richard had two daughters. Louise followed
in the Leakey family business of finding fossils while Samira co-authored this
book. One chapter considers the importance of grandmothers for human
reproduction and indeed there are grandchildren. Who knows if a fourth
generation of Leakeys will search for clues to our past?
There are excellent photos from life in the field and
some very useful line drawings. But surprisingly few photos of the fossils
themselves. That is really my only criticism of an excellent book. I found it
useful to have the well illustrated book Our Human Story to hand as a complement to the text (reviewed here).
