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Guadelopue Woman also known as The Guadeloupe Skeleton, is the name of a supposed Miocene Homo sapiens fossil, discovered on Guadeloupe in 1812.
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Discovery and examination
editHaving heard that there were human skeletons in a bed of stone that was exposed at low tide in a place near Le Moule, Guadeloupe, the island's governor, General Ernouf, ordered that M. Gerard, a naturalist from Brussels, make excavations there.[1]
He discovered several and Ernouf ordered one removed, as he described in a letter to Faujas St. Fond, published in the fifth volume of the Annales du Museum[2].
The skeleton was removed in 1804. The skeleton is also mentioned by Lavaisse, in his work Voyage a la Trinidad. He had also had excavations made there, although he was unable to obtain a complete skeleton.[3]
The island was captured by the English before it could be sent to Paris to be examined by Georges Cuvier.
Sir Alexander Cochrane presented it to the British Museum in 1813, where it was examined by Charles Konig. Konig presented a paper to the Royal Society in 1814, stating that the skeleton was likely not a fossil, as the stone was actually a concretion of calcareous sand[4], which is known as beach rock, travertine or locally, "God’s masonry" (Maçonné-bon-dieu).[5] The skeleton was also examined by Sir Humphrey Davy and found to be unfossilized.[6]
A second skeleton was sent to Paris, after the island's return to French hands, by General Donzelot, where it was examined by Cuvier.[7]
Duchassaing, a French naturalist, argued in a paper in 1847[8] that the skeletons belonged to the island's earlier residents, the Galibis. He also described a number of objects he had found in the deposits, such as vine stems of seagrape, Venus fan coral, land snails (Bulimulus guadalupensis) and pieces of pottery. In the upper part of the formation, he found a dog bone.
In more recent times, Edgar Clerc found archaeological remains in beds to the east and west of Moule, with three distinct levels of activity.[9]
Characteristics
editThe block of stone measured 8 by 2.5 feet (2.44 by 0.76 metres). The skeleton was nearly complete, missing only the skull and neck vertebrae and parts of the hands and feet. The Paris skeleton was more complete, though in a contorted posture.
Display history
editThe skeleton in its block became part of the permanent collections of the Natural History Museum in 1881, accessioned as M 16820. It remained on display from 1882 to 1967, when it was transferred to a storehouse. In 2006 it was re-accessioned with the number PA HR 4128.
Recent history
editAfter its discovery was announced, some Christians thought that this discovery was evidence of the Deluge of Noah.[10] Subsequent examination of the remains disproved this and the subject faded from public view.
Bill Cooper, a creationist, revived this theory when he published a paper[11] in 1983 claiming the skeleton was found embedded in an Early Miocene deposit dated at 25 million years old.
References
edit- ^ Lavaysse 1820, p. 302.
- ^ "CORRESPONDANCE GEOLOGIE.". Annales du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, Volume 5. Levrault, Schoelle et C. 1804. pp. 403–404.
- ^ Lavaysse, Jean Dauxion (1820) [1813]. A Statistical, Commercial, and Political Description of Venezuela, Trinidad, Margarita, and Tobago. G. and W. B. Whittaker. pp. 301–2.
- ^ Konig, Charles (February 10, 1814). "On a Fossil Human Skeleton from Guadaloupe". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. pp. 487–489. Retrieved 2 August 2017 – via archive.org.
- ^ Bory de Saint-Vincent, Jean Baptiste Georges Marie, ed. (1822–31). Dictionnaire classique d'histoire naturelle. 17 vols (in French). Vol. 10. Paris: Rey & Gravier.
MACONNE BON DIEU. GEOL. On donne ce nom aux Antilles & l'espéce de Traverstin que forment sur le rivage au fond de certaines baies les débns coquilliers ou les fragmens d'autres substances calcaires déposés par la mer et agglomérés par une substance lapidifique d'où résulte bientôt une sorte de Roche assez dure jaunâtre grenue et ..
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date format (link) - ^ Konig 1814, p. 488.
- ^ Cuvier, G (1825). Discours sur les Revolutions de la Surface du Globe (in French) (3rd ed.). Paris. pp. 133–136.
- ^ Duchassaing, P., 1847. Essai sur la constitution geologique de la partie basse de la Guadeloupe, dite la Grande-Terre. Bull. Soc. Geol. Fr., 4(2):1093–1100.
- ^ Clerc, Edgar (1971). "Les trois-pointes des sites précolombiens de la côte nord-est de la Grande-Terre" [The three points of pre-Columbian sites on the northeast coast of Grande-Terre]. Bulletin de la Société d'Histoire de la Guadeloupe (in French) (15–16): 41–52. doi:10.7202/1044153ar.
- ^ "Letter: The Deluge". Evangelical Magazine. XX–IV: 130–131. 1816.
- ^ Bill Cooper (1983). "Human fossils from Noah's Flood". Creation Ex Nihilo. 5 (3): 6–9.
External links
edit- Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews (5 April 2015). "The Lady of Guadeloupe: a Miocene Homo sapiens?". Bad Archaeology. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- William R. Corliss. "Hushing Up The Guadeloupe Skeleton". Science Frontiers (May-Jun 1983 #27). Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- David J. Tyler (1984). "The Guadeloupe Skeleton" (PDF). EN Tech. J. 1: 30–3. (argues against Cooper's article)
- ——————. "The Guadeloupe Skeleton". creation.com.
- Konig, Charles Dietrich Eberhard (31 December 1814). "IX. On a fossil human skeleton from Guadeloupe. By Charles Konig, Esq. F. R. S. In a letter addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. K. B. P. R. S". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. 104: 107–120. doi:10.1098/rstl.1814.0010. S2CID 186214471. [Note: an illustration of the skeleton also appeared in the article, reproduced here. ]
- Cruvier, Baron G. (1829). A discourse on the revolutions of the surface of the globe, and the changes thereby produced in the animal kingdom. Translated from the French, with illustrations and a glossary. London: Whittaker, Treacher and Arnot. pp. i, iii.
- Saint-Michel, A. de R. de, 1961. “Feuille de Grande-Terre et notice explicative”, Paris, pages 16–17.
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