Leakey examines fossil find, 1972. Mary Leakey (February 6, 1913 - December 9, 1996) was an English archaeologist and anthropologist, who discovered the first fossilized Proconsul skull, an extinct ape now believed to be ancestral to humans, and also discovered the robust Zinjanthropus boisei skull ( AKA Australopithecus boisei, now classified as Paranthropus boisei) at Olduvai Gorge. For much of her career she worked together with her husband, Louis Leakey, in Olduvai Gorge, uncovering the tools and fossils of ancient hominines. She developed a system for classifying the stone tools found at Olduvai. She also discovered the Laetoli footprints. In 1960 she became director of excavation at Olduvai and subsequently took it over, building her own staff. After the death of her husband she became a leading paleoanthropologist, helping to establish the Leakey tradition by training her son, Richard, in the field. She died in 1996 at the age of 83.