From primitives to primates : a history of ethnographic and primatological analogies in the study of prehistory

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. Preface......Page 11 Introduction......Page 13 Analogies in science......Page 25 Analogies in archaeology......Page 26 Models and analogies......Page 28 Analogy as a process......Page 30 The structure of analogy......Page 31 Truth and validity......Page 33 Entities and relations......Page 35 An ideal case......Page 38 Strengthening the analogy......Page 39 The practice of analogy......Page 44 The analogical algorithm......Page 45 A reading grid......Page 48 A corpus of texts......Page 50 A choice of focus......Page 53 Conclusion......Page 54 The comparative method......Page 55 Early ethnographic parallels......Page 56 A revolution in antiquarian thought?......Page 60 The dualism of Sven Nilsson and Daniel Wilson......Page 63 Comparative ethnography, folklore and ‘the parallax of man’......Page 66 An important device......Page 70 The antiquity of man and early social evolutionism......Page 71 The first generation of social evolutionists......Page 72 The function of contemporary savagery......Page 75 Ethnographic enthusiasm......Page 81 Degenerationism and classical evolutionism......Page 83 Degenerationist doubts......Page 84 A second round......Page 86 Morgan’s scheme......Page 91 A zenith of similarity......Page 92 Archaeology and anthropology diverge......Page 94 Tylor and the Tasmanians......Page 96 The comparative method’s swan-song: Sollas......Page 101 Divergence of opinion......Page 103 Conclusion......Page 104 The dormancy of ethnographic analogy......Page 107 Innovations in the Interbellum......Page 109 Marxism and folklore......Page 113 Postwar pessimism in Britain......Page 117 The situation in the United States......Page 124 Cultural continuity......Page 126 The new analogy and the New Archaeology......Page 127 Fieldwork and cautionary tales......Page 132 Hypothetico-deductive reasoning or the benefits of testing......Page 136 Between critique and inspiration......Page 140 The heyday of ethnoarchaeology......Page 141 The impossibility of independent testing......Page 142 A thriving subdiscipline......Page 147 Beyond analogy?......Page 150 Place and population: a case study......Page 157 Source and subject-side strategies......Page 166 Decline and fall of ethnoarchaeology......Page 169 The isolation of hunter-gatherer ethnoarchaeology......Page 170 Anthropological doubts about hunter-gatherers......Page 175 Contextual ethnoarchaeology......Page 177 Post-processual archaeology......Page 187 An age of extremes......Page 197 Conclusion......Page 198 The strength of ethnoarchaeological analogies......Page 200 Optimism, pessimism and the redundancy of analogy......Page 204 The idea of a primate model......Page 207 First episode: from primate anatomy to human anatomy......Page 209 Second episode: from living to fossil anatomy......Page 212 Third episode: from primate behaviour to human behaviour......Page 214 Fourth episode: from primate behaviour to early human behaviour......Page 217 Converging circumstances......Page 222 Baboons......Page 224 Washburn’s baboons: from typical primates to terrestrial specialists......Page 225 The canonization of the baboon model......Page 239 Why baboons?......Page 243 Social carnivores and geladas......Page 246 From subsistence to society: the social carnivore analogy......Page 247 From dentition to diet: the gelada analogy......Page 252 Remote sources and logical consistency......Page 257 Chimpanzees......Page 259 The feminist critique......Page 260 A perfect analogy......Page 265 The seductiveness of similarity......Page 270 The disputed bonobo model......Page 271 Bonobo behaviour......Page 277 Entrapped by resemblance......Page 279 The crisis of traditional modelling......Page 280 The weaknesses of referential modelling......Page 281 Phylogenetic comparison or cladistics of behaviour......Page 286 Behavioural ecology......Page 290 Ethoarchaeology......Page 293 The ongoing lure of referential models......Page 296 Beyond single-species models......Page 298 The strength of primate models......Page 300 A change in approach......Page 303 Primate modelling, primatology and archaeology......Page 305 Projections and processes......Page 309 The impact of functionalism......Page 312 Archaeologists and primate models......Page 313 Primatologists and ethnographic models......Page 315 Divergent debates......Page 321 Proximity, privilege, projection and paradoxes......Page 324 Differences......Page 328 Similarity but no continuity......Page 329 Conclusion......Page 333 Epilogue......Page 341 References......Page 343 Curriculum Vitae......Page 385 David Van Reybrouck. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 331-371).