Pithecometra principle
The Pithecometra principle or Pithecometra thesis (German: Pithecometra-Satz) describes the evolution of humans; the pithecometra law is analogous to the concept that "man evolved within apes" or "man descended from apes" as advocated by Thomas Henry Huxley.
In evolution, Huxley first developed the concept of the "Pithecometra principle" which was discussed by Charles Darwin and Ernst Haeckel, when Huxley wrote the 1863 essay "On the Origin of Species" stating that humanity was more closely related to apes than the apes were to monkeys.[1] Huxley added that to hunt evidence of this close ancestry between apes and humans, the regions where modern apes are found should be the focal point, hence, Africa.[1]
The pithecometra principle has been most notable in
Impact
Another of Darwin's colleagues was
The pithecometra thesis with the work of Darwin, Huxley and Haeckel helped liberate the European scientific community of its Eurocentric biases.[1] However, their work did not directly produce a change. It required the later revolution in evolutionary thought, of the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis of the mid-20th century, to cause a change in the recovery of fossils from regions outside Europe. Evidence of refusals to accept the fossils that began to be found in Asia and Africa after the late 19th century was the Piltdown Hoax.[1]
The perpetrator of the Piltdown hoax is uncertain but the year and location indicate a rejection of growing evidence for man's ancestry outside of Europe. In 1912 in England, a fossil was presented and named
See also
- On the Origin of Species - 1859 book by Charles Darwin.
Notes
References
- Joshua Barbach and Craig Byron, "Cultural Biases in Fossil Record" (impact of Pithecometra), 2005, ArchaeologyInfo.com webpage: ArchaeologyInfo-3.