Article ID: CBB161384862

Making Historicity: Paleontology and the Proximity of the Past in Germany, 1775–1825 (2021)

unapi

This article analyzes the making of a novel consciousness of historicity in Germany around 1800, one that regarded mountains as vaults of a shared and palpable past. Revisiting a paleontological debate about the origin of large mammal bones found in caves, it reads the science of Johann Christian Rosenmüller (1771–1820) as a social and political accomplishment. By attributing the fossils to an indigenous "cave bear," and communicating an elite scientific debate to a lay audience, Rosenmüller presented an account of Germany's primordial past that fed seamlessly into its present, nurturing an idea of nationhood grounded in the (sub)soil.

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Authors & Contributors
Ross J. Wilson
Cataldi, Maddalena
Nicolescu, Valentin Quintus
Mattson, Greggor
Hansen, Jason
Ziolkowski, Theodore
Concepts
Science and politics
National identity
Public understanding of science
Science and culture
Diffusion of innovation; diffusion of knowledge; diffusion of technology
History as a discipline; chronology; study of the past
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century
20th century, late
20th century, early
Modern
Places
Germany
France
Copenhagen (Denmark)
Romania
Pyrenees (France and Spain)
Scotland
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