Young Archaeologist issue 143

Spring 2010

The Spring Issue of Young Archaeologist was published in March 2010 and explores how climate change affects archaeology.

Emily Hellewell discovers how climate change affected the UK and the people who lived there during the Mesolithic period and Sue Morecroft from the Council for British Archaeology tells us more about the possible future effects of climate change on archaeology.

In this issue of ‘Where in the World’ YAC visits the Solomon Islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean to see how their archaeology is being affected by climate change.

YAC catches up with YAC UK member and competition winner Madeleine, following her V.I.P. visit to the newly opened Jorvik Viking Centre in York.

We talk to with Raksha Dave as she tells us about her favourite sites from the upcoming, new series of Time Team.

Also in this issue, YAC Attack! shows you how to package archaeological finds and gives you the chance to create your own chocolate finds!

Climate Change

This issue of the magazine is themed around Climate Change and its effects on archaeology both now and in the past. Did you check out the article about the proposed wind farm at Kelmarsh Estate in Northamptonshire on page 14?

It looked at how renewable energy is made from wind power. A new wind farm has been suggested at a place in Northamptonshire that is near to a famous Civil War battlefield and an historic house called Kelmarsh Hall. The article discussed whether there is a right and wrong place to build wind turbines. We all know that it is important to make more electricity in green ways that don’t harm the environment, but can things like wind turbines have a bad impact on historic landscapes?

What do you think? Why not get in touch through our Contact Us page and tell YAC whether you think wind turbines should be built near historic places

Crossword:

Did you have a go at the Crossword on the Just for Fun page? If you did then you will know that the mystery archaeologist is Mary Leakey.

Well done for solving the puzzle, now it’s time to find out more about your mystery archaeologist.

Mary Leakey

Mary Leakey was one of the first female archaeologists, and is still one of the most famous. She was born in February 1913 and died in December 1996 aged 83.

Mary Leakey’s Early Life

Mary Leakey’s interest in archaeology started at a very young age. In fact, she was a Young Archaeologist herself. It’s just a shame that she was about 60 years too early to be a member of YAC.

In 1925, when she was 12 years old, Mary Leakey helped out on an early excavation of some caves in France. She made a collection of stone tools, points, scrapers and blades from the caves, which started her interest in prehistory. As a young teenager, she also explored other caves in France at Font de Guame and La Mouthe where she saw prehistoric paintings of bison and horses.

Mary Leakey’s school days were not very happy. She rebelled against the strict convent schools that her mother sent her too after her father’s death in 1926. In fact, she was expelled from two schools. Part of the problem was that Mary was really only interested in two things, drawing and archaeology. Despite having no formal qualifications, Mary did later attend lectures in archaeology at University College London, where she was taught by another very famous archaeologist, Mortimer Wheeler.

Mortimer Wheeler was the site director of the first dig that Mary Leakey worked on, at the Roman site of Verulamium at St Albans. Her next dig took her back to her prehistoric love the Neolithic site called Hembury in Devon, which was run by Dorothy Liddell. Mary did lots of the illustrations for the site.

Mary Leakey’s Career

In her archaeological career, Mary Leakey discovered many fossils and remains that have helped to tell the story of the very earliest humans. She worked with her husband (another famous archaeologist called Louis Leakey) in the Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania in eastern Africa. Their discoveries included lots of very ancient stone tools, such as axes. These are amongst the oldest human-made objects known, and could be as much as 1.4 million years old. (See page 8 in the Spring 2010 issue of Young Archaeologist Issue 143 magazine.

Mary Leakey’s Discoveries

One of Mary’s most famous discoveries was an incredibly well-preserved trail of early human footprints found at Laetoli in Tanzania in 1979. The footprints are about 3.6 million years old and their discovery proved that our ancestors were walking upright on two feet like we do today.

Mary Leakey also uncovered fossilised skulls of apes and very early hominids (which modern-day humans evolved from). Some of the fossils Mary discovered were from previously unknown species, and some were more than 3.75 million years old.

Where can I find out more?

For more information about Mary Leakey’s life and work on the Leakey website

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