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From Primitives to Primates - A History of Ethnographic and Primatological Analogies in the Study of Prehistory (Hardcover)
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From Primitives to Primates - A History of Ethnographic and Primatological Analogies in the Study of Prehistory (Hardcover)
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Where do our images about early hominids come from? In this
fascinating in-depth study, David Van Reybrouck demonstrates how
input from ethnography and primatology has deeply influenced our
visions about the past from the 19th century to this day – often
far beyond the available evidence. Victorian scholars were keen to
look at contemporary Australian and Tasmanian aboriginals to
understand the enigmatic Neanderthal fossils. Likewise, today’s
primatologists debate to what extent bonobos, baboons or chimps may
be regarded as stand-ins for early human ancestors. The belief that
the contemporary world provides ‘living links’ still goes
strong. Such primate models, Van Reybrouck argues, continue the
highly problematic ‘comparative method’ of the Victorian times.
He goes on to show how the field of ethnoarchaeology has succeeded
in circumventing the major pitfalls of such analogical reasoning. A
truly interdisciplinary study, this work shows how scholars working
in different fields can effectively improve their methods for
interpreting the deep past by understanding the historical
challenges of adjacent disciplines. Overviewing two centuries of
intellectual debate in fields as diverse as archaeology,
ethnography and primatology, Van Reybrouck’s book is one long
plea for trying to understand the past on its own terms, rather
than as facile projections from the present. David Van Reybrouck
(Bruges, 1971) was trained as an archaeologist at the universities
of Leuven, Cambridge and Leiden. Before becoming a highly
successful literary author (The Plague, Mission, Congo…), he
worked as a historian of ideas. For more than twelve years, he was
coeditor of Archaeological Dialogues. In 2011-12, he held the
prestigious Cleveringa Chair at the University of Leiden.
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