Alfred Russel Wallace, antropólogo: contribuciones a la antropología física

Abstract

The figure of Alfred Russel Wallace as an anthropologist has scarcely been recognised in the history of the discipline. An important point is to place the author within the anthropological discussions of the Victorian era, from his early interest as a naturalist in historicizing human beings, to his institutional work as the first president of an anthropology department in England. In this context, the paper seeks to present Wallace’s perspective on physical anthropology, based on his anthropological work, which includes references to the origin of human races in naturalistic terms, the development of distinctive physical characteristics of human beings, or the evolutionary relationship between primates. With this, perspective on the development of physical anthropology in the nineteenth century is broadened, opening up the spectrum to authors who contributed significantly to its development.