Between the History of the Earth and the History of Men

Abstract

This article aims at deconstructing the transdisciplinary circulation of knowledge between scientists and society in Liberal Italy. More specifically, I discuss the diffusion of human prehistoric studies in the first decades after the Unification of Italy (1861) and the important role thereby played by mountaineering. Particular attention will be paid to the following issues: 1) the mediating role played by geologists in the process of spreading knowledge about prehistoric archeology; 2) the impact of this interdisciplinary link between prehistoric archeology and geology in the creation of the interchange between archeologists and society.