Louise Leakey carries on family legacy in anthropology

Chicago dinner launches bright new future for Kenyan research team

The young paleontologist will outline this week an ambitious research agenda for the Turkana Basin region, a fossiliferous area in northern Kenya first explored by Richard Leakey in 1972.

The five-year plan for the Turkana Basin Paleoanthropological Research Initiative identifies key questions still unanswered in the human evolutionary story including the important transition from Australopithicus to Homo which occurred approximately 1.8 million years ago. In an important shift from traditional methodology, the plan calls for an urgent enhancement of the expedition's effectiveness through the transformation of a worn, seasonal camp on the shores of Lake Turkana to a full-time international research center with satellite camps to investigate multiple sites concurrently.

The announcement occurs on the Centennial anniversary of the birth of Louise's famous grandfather, Louis Leakey (1903-1972). A weekend of public programs planned in Chicago to celebrate the Centennial will culminate with a dinner on Saturday, October 11, at which the Leakey Foundation will announce a large financial gift to launch this next phase of the Turkana Basin Paleoanthropological Research Initiative.

First identified as promising by Richard Leakey as he flew over the eastern shore of the lake in 1972, the Turkana region has been the site of many of the Leakey family's famous fossil discoveries. Working from an improvised base camp named Koobi Fora, Richard and his wife Meave led the first fossil teams to explore neighboring exposures. The results over three decades of research have informed the available record of human evolution dramatically, and include the oldest known Homo erectus skull ("1470"), the first ever Homo erectus skeleton ("Turkana Boy"), the earliest evidence of bidpedalism (Australopithecus anamensis), and a potentially new genus of human ancestor, Kenyanthropus platyops.

Under the auspices of the National Museums of Kenya, Meave Leakey assumed the leadership of the summer expeditions when Richard was chosen to head the Kenya Wildlife Force in the mid-1980's. Her elder daughter Louise began to take on logistical responsibilities in the camp by the early 1990's and became co-leader of the expedition by the time of the Kenyanthropus discovery in 1999. During this time, the Leakeys enlisted and trained local Africans as fossil hunters and technicians to encourage a sustainable team infrastructure. International experts have been frequent visitors to Koobi Fora throughout its 30-year history and the camp guest book today reads as a who's who in human origins research.

Current plans seek to formalize the successful elements of the expeditions while addressing new realities. Frequent incursions by local pastoralists into prime fossil fields threaten to remove or destroy critical surface evidence. To address this concern with urgency, Leakey hopes to increase the scope of fieldwork by operating the camp year-round, four times longer than the current three-month season. Recognizing the number of promising sites for investigation, she also intends to leverage the existing expertise by organizing multiple teams in the field at one time. New technologies in the form of global positioning systems (GPS) and imaging devices have radically improved the team's ability to document locations and to communicate emerging data to base camp.

The Centennial Tribute benefit dinner is chaired by Foundation Chairman Gordon Getty and will feature remarks by the world-renowned paleoanthropologist and conservationist Richard Leakey. In addition, Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, will honor Jean M. Auel, the best-selling author of The Clan of the Cave Bear, and the National Geographic Society for raising public interest and awareness in human prehistory in the charismatic tradition of Louis Leakey.

Named for Louis Leakey, the San Francisco-based Leakey Foundation is the largest private funder of human origins research. The Foundation and the Leakey family share a 35-year history searching for clues to the human past. Since its founding in 1968, the Foundation has awarded Louis, Mary, Richard, Meave and Louise, more than $700,000 in grants, in addition to underwriting for Leakey protégés such Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute Galdikas. For more information, please visit http://www. leakeyfoundation.org.