George Grant MacCurdy (April 17, 1863 – November 15, 1947) was an American

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms an ...

, born at Warrensburg, Mo., where he graduated from the State Normal School in 1887, after which he attended

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(AB, 1893; AM, 1894); then studied in

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(School of Anthropology), and at

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(1894–1898; and at

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(PhD, 1905). He was employed at

from 1902 onward as instructor, lecturer, curator of the anthropological collections (1902–1910), and assistant professor of archaeology after 1910. He was a member of the Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences.

European hypothesis

MacCurdy argued for

as the origin of the first

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, in his 1924 book ''Human Origins'', he said: “The beginnings of things human, so far as we have been able to discover them, have their fullest exemplification in Europe”. His hypothesis was disproven in the late-mid-20th century, when hundreds of fossils found in East Africa evidenced the region as the cradle of humankind.

Works

He was the author of: * ''Obsidian razor of the Aztecs'' (1900) * ''The Eolithic Problem'' (1905) * ''Some Phases of Prehistoric Archœology'' (1907) * (1910) * ''A Study of Chiriquian Antiquities'' (1911) * ''Review of Mayan Art'' (1913) * ''Human Skulls from Gazelle Peninsula'' (1914) * ''Human Origins'' (1924) *

References

External links

* American non-fiction writers American anthropologists Harvard University alumni Yale College alumni 1863 births 1947 deaths Pre-Columbian scholars {{US-anthropologist-stub