The Great Paleolithic War: How Science Forged an Understanding of America’s Ice Age Past

691 Pages·2015·6.166 MB·English

by  David J. Meltzer

THE GR E AT
PA L EOLITHIC WA R

THE GR E AT
PA L EOLITHIC WA R
How Science Forged an Understanding
of America’s Ice Age Past
DAVID J. MELTZER
THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS | CHICAGO AND LONDON
David J. Meltzer is the Henderson- Morrison Professor of Prehistory at Southern Methodist University, and
a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of Folsom and First Peoples in a New World.
He lives in Dallas.
Th e University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
Th e University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2015 by Th e University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2015.
Printed in the United States of America
24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 29322- 6 (cloth)
ISBN- 13: 978- 0- 226- 29336- 3 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226293363.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Meltzer, David J., author.
Th e great Paleolithic war : how science forged an understanding of America’s ice age past / David J. Meltzer.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-226-29322-6 (cloth : alkaline paper) — ISBN 978-0-226-29336-3 (ebook) 1. Archaeology—
United States— History. 2. Paleoanthropology— United States— History. 3. Natural history— United
States— History. I. Title.
CC101.U6M45 2015
930.1'2— dc23
2015006581
Th is paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (Permanence of Paper).
For Suzanne,
who has been there since the beginning of this lengthy project,
and was mostly sure I’d see it through to the end.

CONTENTS
Roster of Individuals • xiii
CHAPTER ONE A Study in Controversy • 1
1.1 Beginning and ending • 3
1.2 A powerful lens • 9
1.3 Approaching the inquiry • 14
1.4 Th e data of history • 16
1.5 Th e scope and structure of controversy • 18
CHAPTER TWO Setting the Stage • 23
2.1 Establishing the parameters • 25
2.2 Bringing the Paleolithic to America • 32
2.3 Rude Americans? • 35
2.4 Looking anew • 37
2.5 Where to next? • 40
CHAPTER THREE Establishing the American Paleolithic,
1872– 1881 • 41
3.1 Charles Abbott builds the foundation • 43
3.2 Frederic Ward Putnam comes aboard • 48
3.3 Firming up the structure • 50
3.4 Th e Trenton paleoliths go public • 54
3.5 Subdividing the glacial epoch • 56
3.6 Abbott’s Primitive Industry • 58
3.7 Th e sound of the applause • 61
3.8 Th e creed of George Frederick Wright • 64
3.9 Seeking his just reward • 68
viii CONTENTS
CHAPTER FOUR The American Paleolithic Comes of Age,
1882– 1889 • 71
4.1 Th e Paleolithic comes in quartz • 72
4.2 Lest Trenton be forgotten • 76
4.3 Th e American Paleolithic comes together • 78
4.4 Abbott takes center stage • 84
4.5 Pushing the antiquity envelope • 86
4.6 Th omas Chamberlin and the question of glacial history • 87
4.7 Th e Kettle Moraine moves east • 90
4.8 Mapping the Pennsylvania moraine • 94
4.9 An uneasy association • 97
4.10 Hard times for the USGS • 99
4.11 Wrangling over the glacial boundary • 103
4.12 Synthesis and antithesis • 107
4.13 Wright’s Ice Age in North America • 109
4.14 Th e bandwagon rolls • 114
4.15 Looking to the future of the past • 119
CHAPTER FIVE The Great Paleolithic War, 1890– 1897 • 124
5.1 Th e Bureau of Ethnology takes the fi eld • 125
5.2 William Henry Holmes and the lessons of Piney Branch • 129
5.3 Abbott returns fi re • 136
5.4 Th e gathering storm • 138
5.5 Th e preliminary skirmish • 140
5.6 Th e Great Paleolithic War • 142
5.7 Th e “Betinseled Charlatan” aff air • 151
5.8 Mounting a defense • 156
5.9 Collateral damage • 160
5.10 Holmes’s march through the American Paleolithic • 163
5.11 Point/counterpoint • 167
5.12 On the unity or diversity of the glacial period • 173
5.13 Showdown in Madison • 178
5.14 Interregnum • 181
CONTENTS ix
5.15 Returning to the fi eld of battle • 184
5.16 An end and a beginning • 187
CHAPTER SIX Cro-M agnons in Kansas, Neanderthals in Nebraska,
1899– 1914 • 192
6.1 Human skeletal remains emerge from the Trenton Gravel • 193
6.2 Aleš Hrdlička • 195
6.3 Th e Trenton femur: A preliminary look • 197
6.4 Hrdlička fi nds his method • 199
6.5 Holmes gets his man • 202
6.6 Cro- Magnons in Kansas? • 203
6.7 On the origin and age of loess • 209
6.8 Loess and the Lansing man • 213
6.9 Remedial lessons • 219
6.10 Dressed for battle, no one to fi ght • 223
6.11 Neanderthals in Nebraska? • 229
6.12 Hrdlička’s Skeletal Remains Suggesting or Attributed to Early Man in
North America • 234
6.13 Over before it began • 237
6.14 Lansing to Long’s Hill: Loess to dust • 240
6.15 Trenton redux? • 244
CHAPTER SEVEN Dangerous to the Cause of Science,
1915– 1925 • 253
7.1 Oliver Hay off ers a faunal solution • 255
7.2 Men and mammoth at Vero • 257
7.3 A nonharmonic convergence • 261
7.4 Spinning the message • 264
7.5 Turf wars • 273
7.6 Finding Vero’s place on the human family tree • 278
7.7 Violating the sacred confi nes • 280
7.8 Eras’ ends • 284
7.9 Dangerous to the cause of science • 287