Mary Leaky was a British archaeologist and anthropologist. She made a lot of valuable fossil discoveries around the Great Rift Valley of East Africa.

Mary discovered Proconsul  skull, belonging to an extinct species of primates that existed from 23 to 5 million years ago. She also discovered skull of Zinjanthropus (name given to extinct early human species). Her findings also include a long trail of fossilized footprints of early humans.

Mary’s discoveries of ‘early human’ fossils helped scientists across the world to peek in the past and figure out how humans were millions of years ago.

Today is Mary Leakey’s 100th birthday, let us remember Mary today and imagine how little we would have known about history if it was not for her discoveries. :)