Men among the Mammoths: Victorian Science and the Discovery of Human Prehistory [Science and Its Conceptual Foundations Ser.] - Softcover

Van Riper, A. Bowdoin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0226849929 ISBN 13: 9780226849928

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1993

Synopsis

Van Riper recreates scientists' first arguments for human antiquity, placing these debates within the context of Victorian science. Using field notes, scientific reports, and previously unpublished letters, he shows also how the study of human prehistory brought together geologists, archeologists, and anthropologists in their first interdisciplinary scientific effort. A vivid account of how the discovery of human antiquity forced Victorians to redefine their assumptions about human evolution and the relationship of science to Christianity.

About this title

Review:

"[A]bove all it is a compelling account of one puff in the howling intellectual wind which buffeted Victorian society. And there is no doubting its importance, for, with the acceptance of an immense human antiquity, 'the bottom dropped out of history."  -- Adrian Desmond, Victorian Studies

"[Van Riper's] elegant and well-written book will be appreciated by any readers concerned with the nineteenth century relationship between science and society and the wide-ranging ramifications of scientific theories for a changing Victorian worldview."  -- Susan H. Farnsworth, Victorian Review

"The story Van Riper tells . . . is an interesting one, well told. He builds on an understanding already achieved by earlier work and adds much to it with material from his own researches in the documentary sources." -- J. W. Gruber, Geoarchaeology

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0226849929
• ISBN 13: 9780226849928
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 267