Tanzania Celebrates 50th Anniversary of Leakeys’ Discovery

Tanzania’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism, through the Department of Antiquities and the National Museum, will mark the discovery 50 years ago by British archeologists Louis and Mary Leakey of a skull now considered to be the earliest fossil of humankind. The ministry will celebrate this historic find with the International Conference on Zinjanthropus in Arusha, Tanzania, Aug. 16 to 22.

The conference will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the discovery as well as explore new information on human origins, conservation and other allied studies. A special workshop on Louis and Mary Leakey has been organized by the East African Association for Paleoanthropology and Paleontology.

Fifty years ago this July 17, Louis and Mary Leakey, working on bone and fossil analysis in Oldupai Gorge in the Ngorongoro Conservation Area (now a UNESCO Heritage Site), discovered a skull that would change all prior scientific hypotheses of human origins. Their discovery was a humanoid skull with huge teeth that they named Zinjanthropus or “Zinj.”

The excellent condition of the skull allowed scientists to date the beginnings of mankind to about 2 million years ago, and to verify that human evolution began not in Asia, as previously thought, but in Africa. In keeping with the significance of this information, Oldupai Gorge is now known as “The Cradle of Mankind.”