Kenyan paleontologist and conservationist Richard Leakey, 77, has died. He provided evidence for the origin of man in Africa and was committed to the fight against the ivory trade and the protection of the African elephant.
Leakey was the son of the anthropologist couple Louis and Mary Leakey. The couple also conducted research into the origin of humans. At the age of 23, he was given permission in the 1960s to excavate on the shores of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya.
His excavations yielded several spectacular remains of early humans, such as a 1.9-million-year-old Homo habilis skull in 1972 and a 1.6-million-year-old Homo erectus skull three years later.
His research group’s best-known find was that of the Turkana boy in 1984, the nearly complete bones of a Homo ergaster. This Homo erectus-like human species lived 1.9 to 1.4 million years ago.
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