Mary Douglas Leakey, FBA (née Nicol, 6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) was a British paleoanthropologist who discovered the first fossilised Proconsul skull, an extinct ape which is now believed to be ancestral to humans.

The Nicol family moved to numerous locations in thе United States, Italy, and Egypt where Erskine painted watercolours that he brought back and sold in England.

The Frere family had been active abolitionists in the British colonial empire during the 19th century and established several communities for freed slaves.

[citation needed] The Nicols spent much of their time in southern France where young Mary became fluent in French.

In 1925, when Mary was 12, the Nicols stayed at the commune, Les Eyzies, at a time when Élie Peyrony, a French archaeologist and prehistorian, was excavating a cave there.

Mary's particular interests centered on illustration and archaeology, but formal university admission was impossible with her academic record.

Her mother contacted a professor at Oxford University about possible admission, and was encouraged not to apply, as it would be a waste of her time.

[6] Through Caton Thompson, an English archaeologist, Mary met Louis Leakey, who was in need of an illustrator for his book Adam's Ancestors (1934).

[citation needed] Mary and Louis Leakey had three sons: Jonathan, born in 1940, Richard in 1944, and Philip in 1949.

[7] The three boys received much of their early childhood care at various anthropological sites and, whenever possible, the Leakeys excavated and explored as a family.

[12][13] Mary Leakey also recorded and published the Kondoa Irangi Rock Paintings in central Tanzania.

[citation needed] On the morning of 17 July 1959, Louis felt ill at Olduvai and stayed at camp while Mary went out to the field.

[14] After dusting the topsoil away, she found "two large teeth set in the curve of a jaw", and she drove back to camp exclaiming "I've got him!

"[15] Active excavation began the following day and a partial cranium was unearthed within a few weeks, though it had to be reconstructed from fragments scattered in the scree.

[citation needed] From 1976 to 1981, Leakey and her staff uncovered the Laetoli hominin footprint trail which had been tracked through a layer of volcanic ash some 3.6 million years ago.

The subsequent years were filled with research at Olduvai and Laetoli, follow-up work to discoveries, and preparing publications.

[19] In April 2013, Leakey was honoured by Royal Mail in the UK, as one of six people selected as subjects for the "Great Britons" commemorative postage stamp issue.