Jacques Boucher de Perthes

Jacques Boucher de Crèvecoeur de Perthes [ buˈʃe dəˈpɛʀt ] (born September 10, 1788 in Rethel , Département Ardennes , † August 5, 1868 in Abbeville ) was customs inspector and commander of a small squadron of sloops of the coast guard. He became known for his discoveries of "antediluvian" artifacts in Abbeville ( Moulin Quignon site ) in Picardy ( northern France ).

Archaeological discoveries

In 1838 Boucher de Perthes found Paleolithic hand axes and Neolithic stone axes as well as the bones of extinct animals in the gravels of the Somme and during the dredging of the Somme Canal . In 1847 he first used the stratigraphic position to date them . However, his publications from 1846 met with rejection, because according to the catastrophe theory that Georges Cuvier had put forward 1769-1832, man was only created after the Flood and thus about 6000 years ago. However, Boucher de Perthes' publications on it (first in 1847) contain both artifacts and unmodified pebbles.

Menchecourt-lès-Abbeville hand ax, exhibited at the 1867 World's Fair

A change was initiated in 1855 by one of his opponents, the geologist Marcel Jérôme Rigollot (1786–1854) from nearby Amiens - the other was Albert Gaudry . His 35 years of collecting activity in the gravel pits of Saint-Acheul should refute Boucher de Perthe's views. But the flint tools that he found also convinced Rigollot of the simultaneity of early humans and extinct animal species. From 1858, English scientists (including John Evans , Hugh Falconer and Joseph Prestwich ) came to Abbeville and took his side after inspecting the finds and sites. Like William Pengelly , they had made similar discoveries during careful excavations in the Kents Cavern , which established the "antediluvian" age of man and his coexistence with extinct animals in England.

Gabriel de Mortillet later named the Acheuléen after the locality of Saint-Acheul .

Boucher de Perthes also published novels, travel books, tragedies, books on economics and philanthropy and was one of the founders of the Société d'Émulation in Abbeville, in whose treatises he published. He was made an officer of the Legion of Honor .

Fonts (selection)

Antiquités celtiques et antédiluviennes. Mémoire sur l'industrie primitive et les arts à leur origine. 3 volumes. Treuttel et Wurtz et al., 1847–1857–1864, ( digitized volume 1 , digitized volume 2 , digitized volume 3 ).
De l'homme antédiluvien et de ses œuvres. Jung-Treuttel et al., Paris 1860, ( digitized ).

literature

Claudine Cohen, Jean-Jacques Hublin : Boucher de Perthes. 1788-1868. The origines romantiques de la préhistoire. Belin, Paris 1989, ISBN 2-7011-1038-6 .

Web links

Commons : Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Boucher de Perthes: Les Masques: Biography sans nom. Portraits de mes Connaissances dédiés á mes amis. Volume 2. Jung-Treuttel u. a, Paris 1861, pp. 487-493 .

personal data
SURNAME	Boucher de Perthes, Jacques
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Boucher de Crèvecoeur de Perthes, Jacques (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French archaeologist (prehistoric)
DATE OF BIRTH	September 10, 1788
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rethel
DATE OF DEATH	August 5, 1868
Place of death	Abbeville

[Perthes1861-1] Boucher de Perthes: Les Masques: Biography sans nom. Portraits de mes Connaissances dédiés á mes amis. Volume 2. Jung-Treuttel u. a, Paris 1861, pp. 487-493 .