Louis Leakey Essays - Louis Leakey, Mary Leakey, Leakey, Stone Age

Louis Leakey Essays - Louis Leakey, Mary Leakey, Leakey, Stone Age Louis Leakey Louis Leakey Discovering the Secrets of Humankind's Past Louis Leakey was born to be an archaeologist, for his childhood in Africa truly prepared him for the field life he would later lead. The son of missionaries Harry and Mary Leakey, Louis grew up in Kenya near Nairobi, among the Kikuyu African tribe who the elder Leakeys were trying to convert. Despite intervening periods in which the Leakeys moved back to England, Louis grew up practically as a Kikuyu tribe member, and at the age of eleven he not only built his own traditional hut in which to live but was also initiated as a member of the Kikuyu tribe. It was within this hut that the beginnings of Leakeys archaelogical aspirations took place. In one section he started a personal museum, collected all things naturalistic, from bird eggs to animal skulls. It was in 1916, at the age of fourteen, when Leakey first truly realized that he was meant for archaeology; after reading the account of stone-age men entitled Days Before History he was hooked. After reading about the arrowheads and a xeheads created by these people, Louis began collecting and classifying as many pieces of obsidian flakes and tools as he could find. After confirmation by a prehistory expert that these were truly stone tools of ancient Africans, truly links to the past, Leakey knew that the rest of his life would be devoted towards discovering the secrets of the prehistoric ancestors of humankind. Despite not being accustomed to the school structure back in England and the accompanying problems he had in public school, Leakey was accepted into Cambridge in 1922. However, blows to the head sustained during rugby games resulted in epilepsy and headaches for Leakey, and he had to leave school in 1923. This, however, was a blessing in disguise, for Leakey landed a job as an African expert on an archaeological mission to Tendaguru in what is now Tanzania. He was to accompany the archaeologist and dinosaur bone expert William E. Cutler. With his fluency in Swahili, Leakey soon orgainized an entire safari to the site. Working with and observing Cutler, Leakey learned more about the technical side of the search for and preservation of fossil bones than [he] could have gleaned from a far longer period of theoretical study. Many dinosaur bones were dug up although a complete skeleton was never found. After several months Leakey was forced to leave, leaving Cutler to continue. Back in En gland, Leakey wrote many articles and letters about the dig. Cutler, however, died in Africa a few months later, a victim of Blackwater fever. Leakey returned to Cambridge and studied anthropology. From these studies and independent ones, Leakey developed the view that early man had originated in Africa, not in Asia as most scholars believed at the time. He became fascinated with the Olduvai Gorge site and the Homo sapiens skeleton discovered by German paleontologist Hans Reck. Great controversy surrounded Recks find because the age of the skeleton could not be proven. Further, Reck could not return to the site because, as he was German and Britain had won that region of Africa in World War I, he was not able to go there. Leakey was fascinated with the site and told Reck that they would one day go back. For the time being, this had to be put on hold. Finishing finals, Leakey graduated with excellent marks and recieved many grants for research in Africa. He was twenty-three, and he was about to lead his own expeditions. Over the next few years Leakey dug at many sites, finding many stone tools, animal bones, and other artifacts. His search, however, was for proof of the use of a specific Chellean hand-axe style found in other parts of the world. This he found in 1929, and its discovery pushed back the age of the Great Rift Valley in Africa a great deal. Further, it provided critical evidence for a level of sophistication in East Africa equal to that of European cultures at the time. By this time Leakeys work at caught the attention of the archaeological community and he began to receive much acclaim. In November 1929 he returned to England with a

5 Fun ACT Test Facts For a Study Break

5 Fun ACT Test Facts For a Study Break SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips As stressful as the ACT can be, you shouldn’t take it too seriously. It’s an important test, sure, but just a test all the same. Here are fiveweird facts about the ACT to help you feel less overwhelmed by studying. Fact #1: Harvey Mudd was the last college to start acceptingthe ACT Although the SAT was the original college admission test, most schools have been treating the ACT equally for decades. A major exception wasengineering college Harvey Mudd, which didn't allow applicants to submit ACT scores until 2007- making it the very last school to do so. Fact#2: The ACT was originally intended to be a placement test as well as an admissions test When it was first designed, the ACT was meant to compete with the SAT by testing knowledge rather than potential. Given that the testwas meant to showwhat students actually knew, founderE. F. Lindquistwanted the ACT tobe used for placement as well as admissions. Alas, that use never really caught on (except with some community colleges). But the ACT's curriculum-based testing approach has influenced the College Board's many changes to the SAT, especially next year's major overhaul. Fact #3: The ACT is now more popular than the SAT In the past few years, the ACT’s popularity has actually surpassed the SAT’s. 1.85 million students from the class of 2014 took the ACT and 1.67 million took the SAT. If you have questions about the differences between the two tests, check out our comparison guides for the current SAT and the ACT and the new SAT and the ACT. Fact #4: Cheating on the ACT can get you arrested In 20, a group of college students who were caught taking the ACT for others were brought up on criminal charges in New York (although ultimately none of them went to jail). Another case of ACT cheating involvedteachers at one Kentucky schoolhelpingtheir students with difficult questions. The New York cheating scandal is the reason ACT admission tickets now include a photo. Fact #5: Colorado and Illinois were the first states to require all juniors to take the ACT If you live in the Midwestor Southeast, there’s a good chance you’ll be required to take the ACT in your high school. Although 16 states now require the test, the practice started back in 2001 with just two: Colorado and Illinois. Ironically, the ACT is no longer required of all Illinois juniors: the state decided last year to allow districts to opt out of the testing. Further Reading If you're having trouble motivating, try these tips for beating procrastination. Are you struggling to improve or have actually seen your scores go down? Try these strategies to turn it around. For tons of other free ACTprep resources, take a look at the right sidebar to find our posts sorted by topic. Disappointed with your ACT scores? Want to improve your ACT score by 4+ points? Download our free guide to the top 5 strategies you need in your prep to improve your ACT score dramatically. Have friends who also need help with test prep? Share this article! Tweet Alex Heimbach About the Author Alex is an experienced tutor and writer. Over the past five years, she has worked with almost a hundred students and written about pop culture for a wide range of publications. She graduated with honors from University of Chicago, receiving a BA in English and Anthropology, and then went on to earn an MA at NYU in Cultural Reporting and Criticism. In high school, she was a National Merit Scholar, took 12 AP tests and scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and ACT. Get Free Guides to Boost Your SAT/ACT Get FREE EXCLUSIVE insider tips on how to ACE THE SAT/ACT. 100% Privacy. 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