Colour Portrait of Boucher De Perthes. French pioneering archaeologist who discovered in situ prehistoric flint implements in the gravels of the Somme

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Colour Portrait of Boucher De Perthes. French pioneering archaeologist who discovered in situ prehistoric flint implements in the gravels of the Somme Valley. In his \Antiquites Celtiques Et Antidiluviennes\" (1847-1849) he argued that man had existed in the time of the mammoths. He was not widely believed because he had a habit of speculating too wildly and his figures of pre-historic tools were so poorly drawn that they were not decisive evidence of human manufacture. De Perthes was vindicated when Hugh Falconer (himself involved in similar investigations in the UK) visited him in France and became convinced of the French material. At Falconer's suggestion Joseph Prestwich and John Evans visited De Perthes in 1859 and confirmed his finding to the satisfaction of London scientific circles."

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Size: 3557px × 4913px
Photo credit: © PAUL D STEWART/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: abbeville, antiquity, archaeologist, artwork, biface, boucher, de, discovery, evans, evolution, falconer, flint, geologist, geology, handaxe, human, illustration, john, joseph, mousterian, palaeontologist, paleolithic, people, person, perthes, prehistoric, prestwich, somme, stone, tool