Article ID: CBB140384123

The Great Eolith Debate and the Anthropological Institute (2020)

unapi

From the 1880s onwards, the Anthropological Institute played a key role in arguments surrounding eoliths, both as a venue for significant events and through the pages of its journals. Eoliths, stone objects claimed to be man-made and regarded by ‘eolithophiles’ as the precursors of handaxes, had become an issue almost as soon as the first chipped flints had been accepted as artifacts in the mid-nineteenth century. The ensuing debate, that drew in many luminaries of the age – such as Edward Tylor, John Evans, Alfred Russel Wallace and Joseph Prestwich – in many ways exemplified the changing relationship between amateurs and professionals in the affairs of the Institute, and between the different branches of evolutionist anthropology, addressing questions of scientific method, the use of ethnographic analogies, and contributing to the splits between the branches, and the eventual supremacy of the professionals by the eve of the Second World War.

...More
Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB140384123/

Similar Citations

Chapter Anna Gattiglia; Paolo Vingo (de); Maurizio Rossi; (2021)
Una cava di pietra ollare arcaica e postmedievale in val di Susa (Torino): Cormeano 1 a Condove (/isis/citation/CBB487128782/)

Article Michelle J. Richards; Jasmin Günther; (2019)
The Past, Present and Future Values of the Polynesian Stone Adzes and Pounders Collected on the Pandora (/isis/citation/CBB346033461/)

Book Shea, John J.; (2013)
Stone Tools in the Paleolithic and Neolithic near East: A Guide (/isis/citation/CBB001422617/)

Article Sommer, Marianne; (2004)
Eoliths as Evidence for Human Origins? The British Context (/isis/citation/CBB000600319/)

Book Gosden, Chris; Larson, Frances; Petch, Alison; (2007)
Knowing Things: Exploring the Collections at the Pitt Rivers Museum, 1884--1945 (/isis/citation/CBB000830510/)

Book Willis, Martin; (2011)
Vision, Science, and Literature, 1870--1920: Ocular Horizons (/isis/citation/CBB001451576/)

Chapter Lewcun, Marek; (2008)
Trenches and Tunnels: Discovering Roman Bath (/isis/citation/CBB001022817/)

Book Gange, David; (2013)
Dialogues with the Dead: Egyptology in British Culture and Religion, 1822--1922 (/isis/citation/CBB001450668/)

Article Ellen, Roy Frank; (2011)
The Eolith Debate, Evolutionist Anthropology and the Oxford Connection between 1880 and 1940 (/isis/citation/CBB001212979/)

Book Roger Smith; (2013)
Free Will and the Human Sciences in Britain, 1870-1910 (/isis/citation/CBB728787091/)

Article Arapostathis, Stathis; (2013)
Meters, Patents and Expertise(s): Knowledge Networks in the Electricity Meters Industry, 1880--1914 (/isis/citation/CBB001211901/)

Article Tagliacozzo, Eric; (2005)
The Lit Archipelago: Coast Lighting and the Imperial Optic in Insular Southeast Asia, 1860-1910 (/isis/citation/CBB000830407/)

Authors & Contributors
Sommer, Marianne
Maurizio Rossi
Richards, Michelle J.
Günther, Jasmin
Anna Gattiglia
Paolo de Vingo
Concepts
Archaeology
Technology
Human evolution
Anthropology
Stone
Controversies and disputes
Time Periods
19th century
20th century, early
Prehistory
Stone age
Renaissance
Medieval
Places
Great Britain
Piedmont
Middle and Near East
Bath (England)
Polynesia
Central America
Institutions
Pitt Rivers Museum (University of Oxford)
Oxford University
British Museum
Crystal Palace
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment