DAR-ES-SALAAM, TANZANIA

GV MUSEUM

SV MRS LEAKEY SEATED WITH PRESIDENT NYERERE, SKULL IN FOREGROUND COVERED WITH SHEET

DR. LEAKEY MAKES SPEECH, PAN TO PRESIDENT NYERERE AND MRS LEAKEY WITH COVERED SKULL IN FOREGROUND

GV CROWD AT CEREMONY

SV MRS LEAKEY UNCOVERS SKULL IN GLASS CASE, AND PRESENTS IT TO PRESIDENT NYERERE, THEY SHAKE HANDS

CU SKULL IN GLASS CASE

LV SCIENTIST SPEAKING

CU SIGN NATIONAL MUSEUM

GV INT. DR. AND MRS LEAKEY SHOW SKULL TO MEMBER OF PRESS

CU SKULL (GLASS CASE REMOVED)

SV LEFT TO RIGHT MRS LEAKEY, PROFESSOR TOBIAS, DR. LEAKEY POSING WITH SKULL

CU SKULL
Background: THE SKULL OF TANZANIA'S 1,750,000-YEAR-OLD "NUTCRACKER MAN" MADE ITS FINAL PUBLIC APPEARANCE YESTERDAY (TUESDAY). THE PREHISTORIC SKULL OF "NUTCRACKER MAN", SO NAMED BY JOURNALIST BECAUSE OF THE SIZE OF THE TEETH, WAS UNEARTHED AT THE OLDVUAI GORGE, IN NORTHERN TANZANIA, FIVE YEARS AGO. IN AN OPEN-AIR CEREMONY AT DAR-ES-SALAAM YESTERDAY, THE SKULL WAS FORMALLY HANDED OVER TO PRESIDENT NYERERE OR PLACING IN A SPECIAL STRONGROOM IN TANZANIA'S NEW NATIONAL MUSEUM.

THE SCIENTIFIC NAME OF "NUTCRACKER MAN" IS ZINJANTHROPUS BOSEI, MEANING "MAN OF ZINJ" - ZINJ BEING THE OLD NAME FOR EAST AFRICA. THE SKULL WAS FOUND BY MRS MARY LEAKEY WHILE SHE WAS ON AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPEDITION IN THE OLDVUAI GORGE WITH HER HUSBAND, KENYA-BORN DR. L.S.B. LEAKEY.

NOW THAT THE SKULL HAS BEEN FULLY STUDIED AND PLASTER-CASTS MADE, IT WILL DISAPPEAR AGAIN FROM PUBLIC SIGHT IN THE TANZANIA MUSEUM'S STRONGROOM. THE HANDING OVER CEREMONY WAS WATCHED BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND SCIENTIST FROM THE UNITED STATES, BRITAIN, FRANCE, AFRICA AND THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA.


PRESIDENT NYERERE RECEIVING SKULL ROM MRS MARY LEAKEY; CROWD LOOKS ON AS MRS LEAKEY UNCOVERS SKULL IN GLASS CASE; DR. L.S.B. LEAKEY AND MRS LEAKEY SHOW SKULL TO THE PRESS; THEY POSE WITH THE SKULL AND PROFESSOR PHILIP TOBIAS, WHO PREPARED THE REPORT ON IT.