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URI [dataset] University of Southampton Faculty of Humanities Department of Archaeology The Paragon of Animals: Anthropocentrism and Human Origins by Merline Evans ORCID ID 0000-0001-9469-6245 Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2018 1 2 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON ABSTRACT FACULTY OF HUMANITIES Department of Archaeology Thesis for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy THE PARAGON OF ANIMALS: ANTHROPOCENTRISM AND HUMAN ORIGINS by Merline Evans Recent years have seen the development of the “animal turn” and the rise of animal studies as a multi-disciplinary field dedicated to moving beyond anthropocentrism. Yet its ripples have been barely felt within archaeology, and not at all within the study of human origins, arguably the domain where these insights are most keenly needed given its focus on “what it means to be human”. This thesis takes the form of a critical history of the discipline, that we might better understand the way forward. I seek to illuminate the degree to which there has been intellectual continuity in the discourse, and the degree to which this discourse has been driven by anthropocentric political ideology. To this end I examine two themes within human origins research, phylogeny and mind, looking firstly at texts from the earlier decades of the discipline and subsequently at those from recent decades. I show that, both in phylogenetic and mental/cultural terms, the loaded dichotomy between human and animal, as well as “moderns” and “archaics”, has been continually forced upon the data to meet political ends, with a priori conclusions having made the recognition of contrary evidence virtually impossible. This is as true now as it was a century or more ago. Having exposed the long and continuing hegemony of anthropocentric ideology I argue it is high time for a decisive break with it, and advocate a metahumanist approach that both affirms the “animality” of the human and the “humanity” of other animals. I conclude with a case study showing how we may begin to actually apply such an approach to the subject, looking at hyenas, now recognized as conscious agents, and their interactions with prehistoric humans, no longer defined in opposition to the animal or by an archaic-modern dichotomy. 3 4 Table of Contents List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... 7 Research Thesis: Declaration of Authorship............................................................................ 9 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ 11 Chapter 1: Introduction .......................................................................................................... 13 1a. Aim ............................................................................................................................... 13 1b. Research Questions ...................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2: Background .......................................................................................................... 15 2a. Human Origins ............................................................................................................. 15 2b. Anthropocentrism ........................................................................................................ 19 2c. Metahumanism ............................................................................................................. 26 2d. Methodology ................................................................................................................ 28 Chapter 3: Literature Review: Historiography and Epistemology of Human Origins Research ................................................................................................................................. 32 3a. An Empty Niche ........................................................................................................... 32 3b. Studies in Epistemology .............................................................................................. 36 3c. The Uses of History ..................................................................................................... 40 3d. Palaeoanthropology is Politics By Other Means .......................................................... 45 3e. Histories of the Human ................................................................................................ 52 Chapter 4: Phylogeny and Pithecophobia: Master Race vs Universal Kinship ..................... 56 4a. Introduction .................................................................................................................. 56 4b. Pre-Darwinian Classification ....................................................................................... 59 4c. Wallace’s Orangs ......................................................................................................... 76 4d. Summary of subsequent developments ........................................................................ 94 4e. Conclusion.................................................................................................................... 96 Chapter 5: Phylogeny and Pithecophobia Part 2: The 1% ..................................................... 99 5a. The Human-Chimpanzee Clade ................................................................................... 99 5b. The Great Ape Project ............................................................................................... 108 5c. Mitochondrial Eve and Noah’s Ark ........................................................................... 114 5d. Racial Politics ............................................................................................................ 123 5e. Palaeogenetics ............................................................................................................ 131 5f. Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 140 Chapter 6: Human Mind and Animal Instinct: Supreme Reason or Dominant Beast? ........ 143 6a. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 143 6b. Pre-Darwinian ............................................................................................................ 147 5 6c. Darwinian Developments ........................................................................................... 170 6d. Huxley ........................................................................................................................ 183 6e. Haeckel ....................................................................................................................... 197 6f. Wallace ....................................................................................................................... 210 6g. Eclipse of Darwinism ................................................................................................. 219 Chapter 7: Human Mind and Animal Instinct: Man the Symboller ..................................... 235 7a. Cognitive ethology and Symbolic thought ................................................................. 235 7b. Archaics Reappraised ................................................................................................. 249 7c. Human Mind and Animal Instinct: Conclusion ......................................................... 261 Chapter 8: Case Study .......................................................................................................... 266 8a. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 266 8b. Perceiving Hyenas ..................................................................................................... 270 8c. Conclusion.................................................................................................................. 288 Chapter 9: Final Conclusion ................................................................................................ 290 9a Concluding Statement ................................................................................................. 290 9b. Future Research ......................................................................................................... 295 References ...........................................................................................................................