Prehistoric Man

Sir Daniel WilsonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.5

Word count: 771K words
Chapters: 78

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Prehistoric Man by Sir Daniel WilsonAuthor: Wilson, Daniel, Sir, 1816-1892,Language: English, Class: GN: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Anthropology, Release Date: Jun 25, 2016

Editor's review

Prehistoric Man is a work by Sir Daniel Wilson, made available as a free eBook by Project Gutenberg. Belonging to the fields of anthropology and prehistory, it discusses the material remains and social conditions of early humans and reflects the nineteenth-century scholarly framework for understanding prehistoric civilization. As a historical document, its value lies not only in its content but also in showing the research methods and conceptual limitations of a discipline in its formative period. Readers can observe how early anthropology constructed evidence and inference, and appreciate the paradigm shifts in archaeology and anthropology over the past century and more. The Gutenberg edition is easy to search and cite, making it suitable as supplementary material for the history of science or the history of anthropology. Note that some views in the book have been revised by later research; it is best read alongside contemporary works and should not be taken as current conclusions.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of anthropology and archaeology
Enthusiasts of the history of science who want to understand nineteenth-century ideas about prehistoric research
Students who need a free original English text for comparative reading

Not a good fit for

Beginner readers seeking the latest conclusions of contemporary archaeology
General readers without English reading ability who need a Chinese translation
Casual readers expecting an illustrated, accessible popular-science narrative

Reading tips

Read the table of contents and introduction first to grasp the book's overall argument before going into details
Read alongside a contemporary general history of anthropology and mark views that have been revised
Take reading notes, distinguishing factual descriptions from period-specific inferences

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Are the views in this book still valid today?

The book was written in the nineteenth century, and some of its conclusions have been revised by later archaeological and anthropological research. It is best read as a document in the history of the discipline, not as a basis for current knowledge.

Can I read it without a background in anthropology?

Yes, but the terminology and argumentation carry the marks of their time. It is advisable to first learn the basic periods of prehistory and fundamental anthropological concepts, and to read with a guide.

Is the Gutenberg edition suitable for academic citation?

It can be used to quote the original text, but the edition contains no modern editorial notes. For formal academic writing, consult an authoritative edition and cite the electronic source.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Sir Daniel Wilson Author · Scottish-Canadian · 1816–1892

Sir Daniel Wilson (1816–1892) was a Scottish-Canadian archaeologist, ethnologist and educator. Born in Edinburgh in 1816, he published The Archæology and Prehistoric Annals of Scotland in 1851, a work that introduced the word "prehistoric" into English and holds pioneering significance in the history of archaeology. In 1853 he went to teach at the University of Toronto, where he worked for many years and later served as president; he was knighted in 1888 and died in Toronto in 1892. His research covered prehistoric humanity and ethnography, and his other representative works include Prehistoric Man and The Lost Atlantis and Other Ethnographic Studies, as well as the biographical memoir William Nelson: A Memoir.