An Outstanding Personality of European Culture in Romania: Eugène Pittard

THE PUBLISHING HOUSE MEDICINE OF THE ROMANIANACADEMY Anthropology AN OUTSTANDING PERSONALITY OF EUROPEAN CULTURE IN ROMANIA: EUGÈNE PITTARD Dana POPESCU-SPINENI “Francisc I. Rainer” Institute of Anthropology, Romanian Academy, Bucharest, Romania Corresponding author: Dana POPESCU-SPINENI, E-mail: [email protected] Accepted June 2, 2015 Eugène Pittard, honorific member, correspondent of Romanian Academy, Doctor Honoris Causa of the University of Bucharest, honorific member of the Royal Society of Geography in Romania, Commander of Romanian Crown, decorated by the king Carol II with the order “Romania’s Star”, started his researches in Romania in 1899 and becomes an extremely active presence in the Romanian scientific life for over 35 years. His vision related to anthropological research transmitted up to present, mainly through the Romanian PhD students, Alexandru Donici and Suzana Grinţescu-Pop provide originality and conceptual continuity to Romanian anthropology. Despite all these, his impact on Romanian anthropology is less known. The article intends to synthesize the imprint of Eugène Pittard on the main directions of anthropological research in progress of definition in this period, as well as his role of promoter of Romanian culture in Europe. Keywords: Eugène Pittard, anthropology, Romania. Eugène Pittard; Photo source: www.unige.ch Eugène Pittard1 (5 June 1867–12 May 1962) physical anthropology, he will outline his own is without any doubt a remarkable personality of vision, less common in the context of the era, European scientific life of the beginning of 20th considering that human being cannot be studied century. His scientific career started with the but in his bio-cultural overall, on this view relying studies of zoology taught by Carl Vogt (the first as well the current anthropological researches. translator of Darwin in French) and by his student, During his studies, Pittard, member of the Society Emile Yung. However, a rather new science of Anthropology of Paris, he becomes friend with attracts him more and more: the anthropology. This the future anthropologists of global fame, such as is the reason why Eugène Pittard goes to Paris and George Grant MacCurdy1. In Paris, he meets for attends the courses of French anthropological the first time Nicolae Minovici, Mina Minovici and school of Paul Broca, through his successors, Ion Cantacuzino, members of the same Society of George Hervé and Léonce Manouvrier. During his Anthropology of Paris2. entire life, he will maintain an authentic cult for his Back in Geneva, he approaches in his PhD master Manouvrier, becoming however a very thesis an anthropological topic: study of race good friend of him. A strong personality, Eugène history of his country. Entitled: “Researches of Pittard, although trained in a school part of the comparative anatomy over different series of old evolutionist current, paying a high importance to crania from Rhone Valley”, it will be the first thesis of anthropology accepted by the University of Geneva, in 1899. The results of the wide study 1 Proc. Rom. Acad., Series B, 2015, 17(2), p. 157–164 158 Dana Popescu-Spineni (1895–1906) will be published in the volume of Armenians, Bulgarians, Kurdish, Gypsies, Jewish, reference “Crania Helvetica”, in 19103. As of this etc., who are living together. The overall moment, with the energy and enthusiasm that population reaches ...around 260000 souls”9. characterised him, he dedicates his entire life to the Starting with the second trip, he will be most holistic study of human being, through three accompanied by his wife, the writer Noëlle Roger predilection fields: anthropology, prehistory and (pseudonym for Hélène Pittard, born Dufour), ethnography. Pioneer in each of the three who, under extremely tough conditions sometimes, directions of research mentioned, he will leave will be his collaborator and secretary until his deep marks in their evolution, both in death in 1952. Switzerland and in Europe. Pittard will be the one The first important anthropological works who introduces anthropology as science in romand concerning the anthropological characters of Switzerland by incorporating the Swiss Institute of Romanians and co-living populations from our Anthropology of the University of Geneva in 1912, country belong to Eugène Pittard10. The wide the magazine called “Swiss Archives of General studies were not common in the era. “We were Anthropology” in 1914, of the Department of impressed, when we saw the results of the Anthropology of the University of Geneva in 1916, investigations of Pittard, noticing that he and of the Swiss Society of Anthropology and frequently analysed dozens of thousands of Ethnology (with Otto Schlaginhaufen and Fritz individuals there where his contemporaries usually Sarasin) in 1920. The International Congress of analysed few dozens of individuals, despite any Anthropology and Prehistoric Archaeology chaired statistic rigors”, declares André Langaney, by E. Pittard in Geneva in 1912, had an important professor at the University of Geneva, and head of contribution in this demarche. Professor at the the laboratory of biological anthropology at the University of Geneva starting with 1908 and until Museum of Man of Paris11. According to the same 1948, he will be dean of the Faculty of Science specialist, his work manner was due to the fact that between 1929–1933 and rector of this University Pittard “had in mind this idea that the limits between 1940–19424,5. between populations were arbitrary, that they met Very early in his career, immediately after and that the distribution of characters was not sustaining the PhD thesis in 1899, E. Pittard discontinuous. And this was an idea less common becomes interested of the area of Balkan in his era.”5 The same manner of work is Peninsula. According to his own assertions “it was encountered in Turkey, in 1937, when his necessary to be added little colour to this “land friendship with Kemal Ataturk will facilitate him unknown from anthropological perspective“6. Due an anthropological investigation countrywide, to this friendship with prince George Bibescu, the being gathered on this occasion around 60,000 first trip in the area is in Romania, obtaining a records from both sexes. scientific mission through the minister of public Through the investigations from Balkans, the instruction during that time Spiru Haret, mission French anthropologist studies the anthropological that allows him to establish several useful contacts variations of the populations with very different in the demarche of organisation of the seven ethnic belonging. The rich material resulted will be campaigns on site to follow.7 An excerpt from subsequently processed in several publications, Universal Geography of Elisée Reclus presenting many performed in collaboration with Romanian Dobrogea as “an extraordinary mosaic of races”, researchers instructed in his PhD school draws the attention to the young researcher on this (Alexandru Donici and Suzana Grinţescu-Pop), as area which seemed to synthesize the best “human, well as with other anthropologists of schools from European and Asiatic complexity simultaneously, Cluj and Iasi (E. Sergent, Olga Necrasov). Since of this “almost island” from Balkans”8. Indeed, his 1901 the first works are published, representing researches, although targeting all Romanian series of monographs about Romanians, Serbians, regions, will focus mainly on Dobrogea, “a rather Bulgarians, Turkish, Greeks, Albanians, Tartars, small geographical area, with a rather easy access German colonies, Jewish from Dobrogea, Gagauz, where the anthropological kinds may be Gypsies, Lazio people, Kurdish, Armenians, as encountered in rather high contingences to be able well as on three small samples of Montenegrins, to represent series”6, without ignoring to state: Circassians and Arabians. The same material will “The term of race is used in the common lead to the occurrence of three works of reference geographical sense: Romanians, Tartars, Turkish, in the European anthropology of the time. The An outstanding personality of European culture in Romania: Eugène Pittard 159 first, “Les peuples des Balkans: recherches war period, several anthropological works on anthropologiques dans la Péninsule des Balkans, living populations or bone collections from spécialement dans la Dobroudja”6, will be the base Romania will follow, the majority published with of all subsequent researches of people from Balkan Alexandru Donici and Suzana Grinţescu-Pop. peninsula. One of the basic ideas of this volume is We may say that the achievements in that the entire ethnic complexity of Balkan anthropology considered by Pittard as the most Peninsula may be reduced to two main important are made in collaboration with the anthropological kinds, which have led, in Romanian researchers. Thus, the statistic pre- evolution, to the population from such period: a works for the “law of Pittard” were elaborated on kind of high height, brachycephalic and brown, samples of measurements obtained from Dobrogea, and a kind of high height, dolichocephalic and in collaboration with Alexandru Donici, for blond3. In the conclusions of Pittard related to the “Pittard’s banks“ with Petre Lazăr, and for the anthropological structure of the population from studies of anthropology of skeletons, on the our country (study on populations from Moldova, collection of bones from South Africa, with Suzana Muntenia, Dobrogea and Ardeal) the following are Grinţescu-Pop. During a period when the cephalic

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