Darwin-L Message Log 2:129 (October 1993)

Academic Discussion on the History and Theory of the Historical Sciences

This is one message from the Archives of Darwin-L (1993–1997), a professional discussion group on the history and theory of the historical sciences.

Note: Additional publications on evolution and the historical sciences by the Darwin-L list owner are available on SSRN.

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<2:129>From idavidso@metz.une.edu.au  Wed Oct 27 18:22:29 1993

Date: Thu, 28 Oct 1993 09:26:00 +0700
To: darwin-l@ukanaix.cc.ukans.edu
From: idavidso@metz.une.edu.au (Iain Davidson)
Subject: Re: caveman

>I found myself intrigued by the recent request for the first use of
>"caveman."  Can anyone who knows the history of the image of the
>caveman and its hypothetical cultural reconstructions fill me in?  Or
>any references to historical work on the imagery of this late 19th
>century version of human evolution?

I think there are all sorts of interesting questions of this sort (mine is
who first suggested that all Australian Aborigines were
fisher-gatherer-hunters?  After all the first colonists of the Americas had
found fghs side by side with agriculturalists.  And of Africa had found
agriculturalists side by side with fghs.)  On this one Stephanie Moser at
University of Sydney has done some wonderful work on imagery of prehistory.
 It is forthcoming in the proceedings of the first Women and Archaeology
conference published by the Australian National University later this year.
 I suspect the imagery drives the narrative more frequently than we care to
admit.  How else could the tales about huts at Terra Amata and elephant
drives at Torralba/Ambrone survive but through the graphic images?

Iain Davidson
Archaeology and Palaeoanthropology
University of New England
Armidale NSW 2351
AUSTRALIA
Tel (067) 732 441
Fax  (International) +61 67 73 25 26
      (Domestic)   067 73 25 26

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