Olduvai Gorge: Excavations in Beds III, IV and the Masek Beds, 1968-1971

by Mary Leakey (Editor), Derek Roe (Primary Contributor)

At Olduvai Gorge in northern Tanzania, natural erosion exposed a series of superimposed geological beds containing rich artifacts and fossil assemblages spanning the past 1.8 million years. The site is famous as a result of excavations conducted there since 1951 under the direction of Mary Leakey and her husband, the late Louis Leakey. This book records the archaeological finds in the upper part of the Olduvai Gorge sequence, covering the period 1.2 to 0.4 million years ago, and includes artifacts and faunal remains excavated from sites in Beds III, IV and the Masek Beds.

341 pages, Hardcover

First published February 24, 1995

About the author

Mary Douglas Nicol Leakey was a British archaeologist and anthropologist, who discovered the first fossilized Proconsul skull, an extinct ape now believed to be ancestral to humans, and also discovered the robust Zinjanthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge. For much of her career she worked together with her husband, Louis Leakey, in Olduvai Gorge, uncovering the tools and fossils of ancient hominines. She developed a system for classifying the stone tools found at Olduvai. She also discovered the Laetoli footprints. In 1960 she became director of excavation at Olduvai and subsequently took it over, building her own staff. After the death of her husband she became a leading palaeoanthropologist, helping to establish the Leakey tradition by training her son, Richard, in the field.