Glynn Isaac: Pioneer Of Prehistorical Archaelogy

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Glynn Isaac: Pioneer of Prehistorical Archaeology When looking back at those who have created major impacts on the discipline of archaeology, many names come to light. The Leakey family has made incalculable discoveries to advance our understanding of the past, while Sir Leonard Woolley has furthered our understanding at the Royal Cemetery. The list goes on and on, but one person who has made very unique strides in this field is Glynn Isaac. Through his efforts, we have learned much about our hominin ancestors and their evolutionary changes within the regions of Africa and throughout the world. Glynn Isaac was an incredible archaeologist and his findings are still used today when reviewing both paleolithic and neolithic history of hominin species. Although his origins began in South Africa, he his now remembered throughout the world. Glynn Isaac was born in Cape Town, South Africa on November 19, 1937("Glynn Llewelyn Isaac"). By 1958 Glynn had obtained his first degree at the University of Cape Town and had begun his adventure into the realm of archaeology. He then moved on to Cambridge to continue his education and began actual work within the field of archaeology. Some of the major sites he worked in were the Rift Valleys in Kenya, Olorgesailie area, East Turkana, and at Peninj by Lake Natron. Through the completion of his work at Olorgesailie, Glynn was actually able to publish his doctoral thesis and received his PhD at Cambridge. During this process, he was also revered as a teacher at the University of California, Berkeley and eventually went on to teach at Harvard in 1983. Unfortunately, during a trip to Peking, Glynn became in ill and was rushed to a hospital in Tokyo where he passed away at the age of 47 while preparing for transportation to the United States for treatment (“Dr. Glynn Issac, Anthropologist” 24). Despite Isaac’s brief time in the field,

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