EVOLUTION

Mary and Louis Leakey → Their excavations at Olduvai Gorge (Tanzania) and discoveries of Homo habilis and Paranthropus boisei confirmed Africa as the “cradle of humankind.”
Donald Johanson → Discovered Lucy (Australopithecus afarensis, 3.2 million years), key evidence of early bipedalism.
Richard Leakey → Found the Turkana Boy (Homo erectus), crucial for understanding anatomical and cultural evolution.
Tim White → Lead researcher on Ardipithecus ramidus (4.4 million years), strengthening evidence for early hominid evolution.

👉 They argue the fossil record strongly supports the theory of evolution.

(Do not reject evolution, but question Darwinian gradualism or propose different frameworks).

Stephen Jay Gould (paleontologist, highly influential in archaeological and biological debates) → Proposed the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium, suggesting evolution is not always slow and gradual but includes rapid bursts of change followed by stability.
Niles Eldredge (paleontologist, Gould’s colleague) → Co-author of Punctuated Equilibrium; argued that “gaps” in the fossil record reflect this jump-like evolutionary pattern.
Ian Tattersall (paleoanthropologist, American Museum of Natural History) → Criticized overly linear views of human evolution, emphasizing a more branching and complex evolutionary tree.
Milford Wolpoff (paleoanthropologist, University of Michigan) → Advocate of the Multiregional Hypothesis, suggesting modern humans arose in multiple regions with genetic exchange, not only in Africa.