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htm A major cause in the rise of human fossil localities was the changing
Cultural Biases Reflected in the Hominid Fossil Record view of man by the scientific community. In this view, the integration of
By Joshua Barbach and Craig Byron 35 Darwins theory of natural selection, Mendels principles of heredity and
genetics, and the molecular evidence for DNA combined to forge the
Abstract: An examination of the published hominid fossil record reveals political New Evolutionary Synthesis or otherwise referred to as the Neo-
5 and cultural bias. An example of this societal influence is the Age of Enlightenment Darwinian Synthesis. This new paradigm opened the Asian and African
of the mid-19th century. Prevailing European ideology established specifically continents to a changed collecting pattern.
Eurocentric recovery patterns. Later developments, such as the Neo-Darwinian
Synthesis in the mid-1900s, led to an increasingly sophisticated understanding of 40 Methods
humanitys origins. These developments are reflected by an increase in the We used Oakley et als Catalogue of Fossil Hominids, Parts I, II, III as
10 recovery and publication of Asian and African fossil hominid sites.
well

Introduction Discussion
The discipline of Anthropology has served the data for several ethnocentric 45 Of extreme importance when considering human fossils is the notion of
arguments interpreting human antiquity. Biometrics and modern human mans place in nature and the understanding of evolutionary processes
variation have been the vehicle for racist programs throughout the 19th and by the culture that discovers and describes these fossils. An
15 early 20th century. A significant factor of this equation is the prevailing view interpretation always operates according to the limits set by the
of human origins. Specifically, the geographic location of fossil humans has interpreter and the environment in which the interpretation takes place. A
been used to argue for continuity of modern people and their pre-historic 50 severely limiting notion held by the Western community throughout the
fossil counterparts. Given this factor, a differential recovery of fossils past two millennia was Platos Typology represented by such works as
between continental regions could lead to misunderstood notions of human Republic. It is in the seventh book of this collection, The Allegory of the
20 evolution. Cave, that deals with the notion of typology. This long-accepted notion of
An examination of the published human fossil record reveals a significant physical reality posited that all objects, including animals and people,
bias favoring the European continent. The early stages of human fossil 55 were unable to mimic their ideal form. As a result, variation in attributes
recovery are near entirely contained within Europe throughout the 1800s. reflects the imperfection in nature which is attempting to produce ideal
As discussed below, we believe this to be the product of several cultural types.
25 biases. Of these were prevailing notions of science and mans place in Specifically, the work of Johann F. Blumenbach, 1752-1840, is shaped
nature. Also, the individual biases inherent with each researcher severely according to this philosophy. Blumenbach was committed to the idea of
limited any collecting or interpretational activities. Not until the modern 60 monogenism, in which proponents interpreted the human races as
theoretical framework of human evolution was established do significant unified and descended from a single origin. Operating under this view of
human fossil localities create a more representable spatial and temporal the human races and Platos Typology, Blumenbach created an
30 pattern of pre-history. As evidenced by the line graph in figure 1, the early argument that helped forge the early paradigm for the search of human
to mid-1900s (~ 1900-1950) saw a surge of fossil localities being recorded fossils. It was his belief that Caucasians represented the Platonic Ideal
from the Asian and African continents. 65 and that all other human races, descended from the same origin
according to the monogenist philosophy, were divergences from this
ideal type (Wolpoff and Caspari 1997:62). Essentially, Blumenbach
emplaced a search and recovery model for human fossils according to the having to do with mans ancestry were contingent upon the paradigms
regional location of the ideal human type, i.e. Europe. 105 set in place by the Age of Enlightenment.
70 Also during this time, early 1800s, the scientific community at large was One of the most influential ideas to come from the Age of Enlightenment
dealing with the notion of mans place in the natural world. Chevalier de was Darwins theory of Natural Selection. This theory synthesized what
Larmarck, 1744-1829, first presented the notion of evolution as an had been floating in the circles of progressive philosophy. By the end of
explanation for the diversity but yet unity of all life on earth. His Zoological the 1800s, most of Western and Eastern European naturalists accepted
Philosophy, of 1809, presented a natural philosophy for the plants and 110 this view (Birx 1984:18). Unfortunately, Darwins view of mans ancestral
75 animals around the world (Birx 1984:12). Where humans figured into this affinities to apes and the location of those fossils was ignored by many.
naturalist philosophy was controversial. If man was a product of this natural The idea of deep human ancestry in Africa or Asia was difficult to accept
process of evolution, some felt their view of religion, and more specifically and a full realization of this notion does not occur until the mid-20th
Christianity, was compromised. It was through the work of Ludwig century.
Feuerbach, 1804-1872, that helped place man in this natural realm of 115 Arthur Shopenhauer, 1788-1860, was an early proponent of mans ape
80 evolution. Feurbach was a German theologist and philosopher who broke origins. His was a metaphysical approach as evidenced by The World as
from the German idealists (Leibniz, Kant and Hegel) by positing a new
school of thought known as naturalist humanism. This philosophy featured Conclusion
a scientific and rational attitude towards man in nature. More importantly, The Neo-Darwinian Synthesis, otherwise known as the New
our species was seen as an evolved animal; we were the product of an 120 Evolutionary Synthesis, was the product of several scientific endeavors
85 evolutionary process (Birx 1984:8). including Mendels experiments in heredity and genetics with pea plants,
The Age of Enlightenment, mid-1800s, synthesized many of these newly Darwins theory of natural selection, and Watson and Cricks molecular
emerging philosophies as well as sciences such as geology, paleontology identification of DNA. Evolution now had a theoretical means, process
and archaeology. A new worldview was gleaned from this growing body of and mechanism. The integration of these fields were, in part, done at the
evidence arguing for human evolution (Birx 1984:12). The Age of 125 urging of paleontologist George Gaylord Simpson and others in the
90 Enlightenment saw a new view for European pre-history provided by 1930s. With this new synthesis came new fossil discoveries. The Taung
Jacques Boucher de Perthes and Christian Thomson. Boucher de Perthes Skull in 1924, Peking Man in 1926 and Mary and Louis Leakeys
published his study of hominid fossils associated with Paleolithic artifacts in excavations at Olduvai Gorge provided fossil evidence to alter the
1836. The evidence of these artifacts associated with extinct faunal misunderstood notions of mans deep antiquity in Europe. It is our belief
remains argued for the antiquity of man in France (Schick and Toth 130 that this history of evolutionary thought is sufficient to explain the
95 1993:61). Thomson was from Denmark and invented the three age system, European human fossil bias as seen in figure 1.
(Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age), which was used throughout the world.
This system was created to interpret European pre-history. A major bias Literature Cited
Birx, James H. 1984. Theories of Human Evolution. Charles C. Thomas, Publisher.
occurs simply as the result of applying this specifically European concept to 135 Springfield, Illinois.
the pre-history of the other continents. Brace, C.L. 1995. Race is a Four Letter Word, Course Manuscript, University of Michigan.
100 Throughout this time, the revolution of scientific philosophy was an insular Day, M.H. 1986. Guide to Fossil Man. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
occurrence. The European continent saw this change in worldview. Africa Oakley, K.P., B.G. Campbell, and T.I. Molleson. 1971. Catalogue of Fossil Hominids, Part
II: Europe. British Museum (Natural History), London.
and Asia were little, if at all, affected by this paradigm shift. We think it 140 Oakley, K.P., B.G. Campbell, and T.I. Molleson. 1975. Catalogue of Fossil Hominids, Part
follows then that the recovery of fossils in Europe and their interpretation as III: Americas, Asia, Australia. British Museum (Natural History), London.
Oakley, K.P., B.G. Campbell, and T.I. Molleson. 1977. Catalogue of Fossil Hominids, Part I:
Africa (Second Edition). British Museum (Natural History), London.
Schick, K.D., and N. Toth. 1993. Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn
145 of Technology. Simon and Schuster, New York, NY.
Wolpoff, W., and R. Caspari. 1997. Race and Human Evolution. Simon and Schuster, New
York, NY.

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