How did the work of Mary Leakey contribute to our knowledge of early hominids and an understanding of human evolution?

M. Leakey was a paleoanthropologist of no formal university education and British origin. Her major discoveries were;

1. the proconsul skull

2. Zinjanthropus skull at Olduvai Gorge In Tanzania

3, system of classification of discovered stones.

4. Laetoli footprints at Laetoli sites.

However, her most outstanding discoveries were proconsul skull (projecting face with no browridges, and presence of ape-like teeth shapes) and the Laetoli prints. She believed the skull belonged to ancestral Homo habilis, which could be traced to origin of mankind.

The discovery of Laetoli prints showed evidences of bipedalism and the origin of Australopithecus. These prints and the skeletons she unearthed proved that the ancestral of human race actually walked upright, nearly four feet tall in height. Hence she concluded that these prints actually belong to the Australopithecus. This brought a paradigm shift in modern understanding of human evolution of prehistoric times and the origin of mankind,

Her discoveries generally throw light on the evolution of mankind and new understanding of genesis of human race