OLDUVAI GORGE, 1951-61.

3 volumes. (109 pages, 97 pages of plates; xvi, 263 pages, 42 pages of plates; xviii, 306 pages, 41 pages of plates): illustrations, frontispieces, maps, 8 folding charts in pocket laid down on rear endpaper of volume 3). Quarto. Cloth.

Contents: Volume 1. (1965). A PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY AND FAUNA; by L.S.B. Leakey; with contributions by P.M. Butler [et al.]. Volume 2. (1967). THE CRANIUM AND MAXILLARY DENTITION OF AUSTRALOPITHECUS (ZINJANTHROPUS) BOISEI; by P.V. Tobias; foreword by Sir W.E. Le Gros Clark. Volume 3. (1971). EXCAVATIONS IN BEDS I and II, 1960-1963; by M.D. Leakey; with a foreword by J.D. Clarke.

The Olduvai Gorge on the edge of the Serengeti in northern Tanzania is 48 km long, and is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. The depositing of volcanic ash over the area and the diverting of a river after seismic activity saw the water cut down into the sediment, revealing layers in the walls of the Gorge that can be dated. Some of the settlements traced date back to about 2 million years ago. Stone tools, artifacts and bones from primitive hominid forms have been found. In one area "the butchering site" large numbers of bone fragments from animals have been found. The Leakey family worked on site at the Gorge for a number of years. The three volumes are seldom found as a set.