Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes

Jacques Boucher de Crèvecoeur de Perthes [ buʃe dəpɛʀt ] ( born September 10, 1788 in Rethel, Ardennes, † August 5, 1868 in Abbeville ) was a tax collector and amateur archaeologist in Abbeville in Picardy ( northern France ).

Life

Boucher de Perthes in 1838 found in the gravels of the Somme and the dredging of the Somme canal Palaeolithic hand axes and Neolithic stone axes and bones of extinct animals. In 1847 he turned to the chronological determination for the first time to the stratigraphy. However, his publications of 1846 were rejected because after the catastrophe theory, his compatriot and naturalist Georges Cuvier had just set up until that man was created after the Flood, thus around 6000 years ago. 1858 were English scientist ( including John Evans, Hugh Falconer and John Prestwich ) to Abbeville and stood officially after visiting the findings and references to his side. Boucher de Perthes, however, made ​​the mistake in his drawings genuine artifacts and pseudo artifacts ( eoliths ) publish together.

A wrap made ​​his calculated by one of his opponents, the geologist Marcel Jerome Rigollot (1786-1854) - the other was Albert Gaudry - from the near Amiens, on. Its made ​​in 35 years of collecting activity finds in the gravel pits of Saint- Acheul should actually serve to refute the views of Boucher de Perthes. But the flint tools found also convinced Rigollot of the simultaneity of early humans and extinct animals. After the locality Saint- Gabriel de Acheul Mortillet later renamed the Acheulean.

Works

• J. Boucher de Perthes: Antiques celtiques et antédiluviennes. Mémoire sur l'industrie et les arts à leur primitive origine. 1864, 3 volumes (Reprint Paris 1947, 1957 & 1964).

• Prehistorians
• Person ( Abbeville )
• Frenchman
• Born in 1788
• Died in 1868
• Man