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

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

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

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

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

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

(School of Anthropology), and at

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

(1894–1898; and at

Yale Yale University is a private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, and one of the nine colonial colleges ch ...

(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 The Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences is a learned society founded in 1799 in New Haven, Connecticut "to cultivate every art and science which may tend to advance the interest and happiness of a free and virtuous people." Its purpose is the ...

and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

European hypothesis

MacCurdy argued for

as the origin of the first

humans Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

, 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 Members of the American Philosophical Society