Boucher de Perthes and the Discovery of Human Antiquity

Abstract

Why did Boucher de Perthes’ discoveries of handaxes in the Somme River’s gravels need to be verified by English geologist Joseph Prestwich, and antiquarian John Evans, before members of the French Academy of Sciences changed their minds about evidence for the antiquity of humanity? The problem was not with the evidence itself, but with the way Boucher de Perthes interpreted and published it. Teetotal, but an over-imaginative Romantic, a provincial bureaucrat and an antiquarian scholar, an autodidact, and a generous provider of charity to local workers and early advocate for women’s education, Boucher de Perthes was not only eccentric and remarkable, but also his own worst enemy. He was easily dismissed by the scientific elite of Paris until more handaxes were found at other sites and in different countries, and were recognised as being similar to those found at Abbeville.