Men among the mammoths : Victorian science and the discovery of human prehistory

書誌事項

Men among the mammoths : Victorian science and the discovery of human prehistory

A. Bowdoin Van Riper

(Science and its conceptual foundations)

University of Chicago Press, 1993

  • : cloth
  • : paper

大学図書館所蔵 件 / 10

この図書・雑誌をさがす

注記

Revision of thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1990

Includes bibliographical references (p. 239-258) and index

内容説明・目次

内容説明

A. Bowdoin Van Riper provides an account of how Victorian scientists raised and resolved the question of human antiquity. During the early part of the 19th century, scientists divided the history of the earth into a series of "former worlds," populated by mammoths and other prehistoric animals, and a "modern world," in which humans lived. According to this view, the human race was no older than 6000 years. The discovery of tools with mammoth bones, however, prompted a group of British geologists to argue in 1859 that the origin of humankind dated back to prehistoric times. The idea of prehistoric human origins threatened long-cherished religious beliefs and set off an intense debate among scientists as well as members of the clergy and the educated public. Van Riper chronicles this debate within the context of Victorian science, showing how the notion of human antiquity forced Victorians to redefine their assumptions about human evolution and the relationship of science to Christianity. The new study of human prehistory also crossed the boundaries of scientific disciplines, and the once-distinct fields of geology, archaeology and anthropology were drawn together to study early human life. Van Riper shows how, from the beginning, the study of human prehistory was an interdisciplinary endeavour.

「Nielsen BookData」 より

関連文献: 1件中  1-1を表示

詳細情報

ページトップへ