Oral History of Human Origins Research
The Oral History of Human Origins Research is a growing collection of interviews intended to preserve the personal stories of the people who shape our understanding of human origins, evolution, and behavior. These firsthand accounts are an essential part of scientific history that’s often missing from formal publications.
By sharing these stories, we aim to reveal the human element behind scientific discoveries and inspire future generations of researchers.
Oral History Archive
Explore the Oral History of Human Origins Research. This collection includes videos, transcripts, narrative supplements, and short highlight videos for use by teachers or online learners.
This project is led by Bernard Wood with Alexis Uluutku.
Kay Behrensmeyer
Kay Behrensmeyer is a taphonomist and paleontologist who has worked in the Department of Paleobiology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History since 1981; she has been a Senior Scientist there since 2009. She was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011, a Member of the National Academy of Sciences in 2020, and a Member of the American Philosophical Society in 2021. She received The Leakey Foundation’s Gordon P. Getty Award in 2024.
Behrensmeyer is a ‘big-picture’ scientist with an overarching interest in the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems. In lay terms, this means understanding how animals interacted with their environment and with each other in deep time.
Field of study: Paleontology, taphonomy
Interviewer: Bernard Wood
Components: Video, Transcript, Narrative Supplement, Highlight Videos
Maxine R. Kleindienst
Maxine R. Kleindienst is a Pleistocene geoarcheologist who worked as a researcher in the Department of Anthropology of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, and then in the Department of World Cultures (Egyptology) of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, before moving to the main campus of the University of Toronto in 1978. She later transferred to University of Toronto Mississauga, where she was a Full Professor until her retirement in 1998.
Kleindienst has a long and impressive record of field work in Africa, beginning in the mid-1950s in Tanzania, and in what is now Zambia. More recently her research has focused on Dakhla Oasis and then the Kharga Oasis in Egypt’s Western Desert; the latter site was discovered by Gertrude Caton Thompson.
Field of study: Geoarcheology
Interviewer: Bernard Wood
Components: Video, Transcript, Narrative Supplement, Highlight Videos
This oral history project was made possible by the generosity of Camilla and George Smith, with additional support from the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation and the Joan and Arnold Travis Education Fund.
The Leakey Foundation is grateful to Bernard Wood for creating and leading this project.