Anthropology
Around two to three million years ago, the lake was larger and the area more fertile, making it a centre for early hominids. Richard Leakey has led numerous anthropological digs in the area which have led to many important discoveries of hominin remains. The two-million-year-old skull 1470 was found in 1972. It was originally thought to be Homo habilis, but the scientific name Homo rudolfensis, derived from the old name of the Lake Rudolf, was proposed in 1986 by V. P. Alexeev. In 1984, the Turkana Boy, a nearly complete skeleton of a Homo erectus boy was discovered by Kamoya Kimeu. More recently, Meave Leakey discovered a 3.5 million-year-old skull there, named Kenyanthropus platyops, which means "the flat-faced man of Kenya".
Read more about this topic: Lake Turkana
Famous quotes containing the word anthropology:
“I am not a literary man.... I am a man of science, and I am interested in that branch of Anthropology which deals with the history of human speech.”
—J.A.H. (James Augustus Henry)
“History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology.”
—W.H. (Wystan Hugh)