The Idea of Human Prehistory: The Natural Sciences, the Human Sciences, and the Problem of Human Origins in Victorian Britain (2012)
Goodrum, Matthew R. (Author)
History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
Volume: 34
Pages: 117--146
Edition Details: Part of a special issue on the history, philosophy, and social studies of paleoanthropology.
Language: English
The idea of human prehistory was a provocative and profoundly influential new notion that took shape gradually during the nineteenth century. While archaeology played an important role in providing the evidence for this idea many other sciences such as geology, paleontology, ethnology, and physical anthropology all made critical contributions to discussions about human prehistory. Many works have explored the history of prehistoric archaeology but this paper examines the conceptual content of the idea of human prehistory as it developed in the British scientific community. Both the natural and the human sciences contributed to what was in fact a complex collection of individual elements that together constituted the prevailing idea of human prehistory, although there were other competing conceptions of human prehistory endorsed by various scientists and critics of the new view of early human history.
...MoreArticle Delisle, Richard G. (2012) Human Evolution: An Agenda for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies. History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (p. 3).
Similar Citations
Article
Pettitt, Paul B.;
White, Mark J.;
(2011)
Cave Men: Stone Tools, Victorian Science, and the “Primitive Mind” of Deep Time
(/isis/citation/CBB001022767/)
Article
Richard, Nathalie;
(2012)
Archeology, Biology, Anthropology: Human Evolution According to Gabriel de Mortillet and John Lubbock (France, England c. 1860--1870)
(/isis/citation/CBB001210305/)
Article
Sommer, Marianne;
(2011)
Human Tools of the European Tertiary? Artefacts, Brains and Minds in Evolutionist Reasoning, 1870--1920
(/isis/citation/CBB001022769/)
Article
Murray, Tim;
(2005)
The Historiography of Archaeology and Canon Greenwell
(/isis/citation/CBB000931110/)
Article
Delisle, Richard G.;
(2012)
The Disciplinary and Epistemological Structure of Paleoanthropology: One Hundred and Fifty Years of Development
(/isis/citation/CBB001210316/)
Article
Lucas, Peter;
(2007)
Charles Darwin, “Little Dawkins” and the Platycnemic Yale Men: Introducing a Bioarchaeological Tale of the Descent of Man
(/isis/citation/CBB000774088/)
Book
Massimo Tarantini;
(2012)
La nascita della paletnologia in Italia (1860-1877)
(/isis/citation/CBB491933042/)
Article
Guidi, Allesandro;
(2010)
The Historical Development of Italian Prehistoric Archaeology: A Brief Outline
(/isis/citation/CBB001210561/)
Article
Gamble, Clive;
Moutsiou, Theodora;
(2011)
The Time Revolution of 1859 and the Stratification of the Primeval Mind
(/isis/citation/CBB001022768/)
Chapter
Murray, Tim;
(2008)
Prehistoric Archaeology in the “Parliament of Science,” 1845--1900
(/isis/citation/CBB000952378/)
Article
Delisle, Richard G.;
(2012)
Welcome to the Twilight Zone: A Forgotten Early Phase of Human Evolutionary Studies
(/isis/citation/CBB001210165/)
Book
Schmalzer, Sigrid;
(2008)
The People's Peking Man: Popular Science and Human Identity in Twentieth-Century China
(/isis/citation/CBB000970011/)
Article
Bender, Renato;
Tobias, Phillip V.;
Bender, Nicole;
(2012)
The Savannah Hypotheses: Origin, Reception and Impact on Paleoanthropology
(/isis/citation/CBB001210311/)
Article
Delisle, Richard G.;
(2012)
Human Evolution: An Agenda for History, Philosophy, and Social Studies
(/isis/citation/CBB001210304/)
Article
Goulden, Murray;
(2007)
Bringing Bones to Life: How Science Made Piltdown Man Human
(/isis/citation/CBB000831461/)
Article
Sommer, Marianne;
(2004)
Eoliths as Evidence for Human Origins? The British Context
(/isis/citation/CBB000600319/)
Article
Richmond, Jesse;
(2012)
Discipline and Credibility in the Post-War Australopithecine Controversy: Le Gros Clark versus Zuckerman
(/isis/citation/CBB001210307/)
Book
McNabb, John;
(2012)
Dissent with Modification: Human Origins, Palaeolithic Archaeology and Evolutionary Anthropology in Britain 1859--1901
(/isis/citation/CBB001212609/)
Thesis
Pauly, Roger Alphonse, Jr.;
(2000)
Unnatural Selections: British Evolutionary Anthropology and the Civilizing Mission
(/isis/citation/CBB001560876/)
Chapter
Hunt, Alexander J.;
(2005)
A Brief History of Field Archaeology in the UK: The Academy, the Profession and the Amateur
(/isis/citation/CBB001022833/)
Be the first to comment!