FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE AUSTRALOPITHECUS BOISEI

LEAKEY, L. S. B.

A New Fossil Skull from Olduvai.

London, Macmillian and Co, 1959. Royal8vo. Bound in contemporary full cloth with two black leather title label with gilt lettering to spine. In "Nature", Vol. 184, 1959. Library stamp of Christ Church College, Oxford on title verso and their bookplate on front free endpaper, cancelled bookplate of Department of Agriculture, University of Oxford, on front paste-down and the black label at foot of spine. A fine and clean copy. Pp. 491-3. [Entire volume: CLXXV, (1), 2042 pp.].

First announcement of the landmark discovery of Australopithecus boisei.

The find vindicated Louis and Mary Leakey's work at Olduvai (which had been relatively fruitless over the previous 30 years), which led to renewed research interest in the area, added an important stage in a relatively sparse hominid lineage at the time, and also was important in focusing attention on multidisciplinary research. The fairly complete cranium (sans mandible) was given the species name Zinjanthropus boisei by Louis Leakey, which eventually became known as Australopithecus boisei.

Order-nr.: 46964