Charles Conrad Abbott (June 4, 1843 – July 27, 1919) was an American
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.Timothy and Susan (Conrad) Abbott; grandson of Joseph and Anne (Rickey) Abbott, and a descendant of John and Anne (Mauleverer) Abbott, settlers, from
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
in 1684. He studied medicine at the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
The Perelman School of Medicine, commonly known as Penn Med, is the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1765, the Perelman School of Medicine is the oldest medi ...
. During the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
, he served as a
surgeon
In modern medicine, a surgeon is a medical professional who performs surgery. Although there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon usually is also a licensed physician or received the same medical training as ...
in the
Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
. He received his
M.D.
Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a professional degree. ...
degree from University of Pennsylvania in 1865, but never entered into the practice of the profession.
In 1876, he announced the discovery, later confirmed by other archaeologists, of traces of human presence in the
Delaware River Valley
The Delaware River is a major river in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. From the meeting of its branches in Hancock, New York, the river flows for along the borders of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, before em ...
dating from the first or "Kansan"
ice age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
, and inferentially from the pre-glacial period when humans are believed to have entered upon the North American continent. However, today the consensus of archaeologists is that most of Abbott's "Trenton Gravel Implements" date from the Middle Woodland period of about A.D. 300–900.Herbert C. Kraft. ''The Lenape''. New Jersey Historical Society (1986) . page 28. From 1876 to 1889, he was assistant curator of the Peabody Museum in
Cambridge, Massachusetts
Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...
, to which he presented a collection of 20,000 archaeological specimens; he freely gave also to other archaeological collections. From 1890 to 1894 he served as the first curator of the University of Pennsylvania's newly organized Department of American Archaeology.
He was a corresponding member of the
Boston Society of Natural History
The Boston Society of Natural History (1830–1948) in Boston, Massachusetts, was an organization dedicated to the study and promotion of natural history. It published a scholarly journal and established a museum. In its first few decades, the s ...
, a member of the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
of
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of the North in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. In 1919 he died at the age of 76 years in
Bristol, Pennsylvania
Bristol is a borough in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located northeast of Center City Philadelphia, opposite Burlington, New Jersey on the Delaware River. It antedates Philadelphia, being settled in 1681 and first incorporat ...
, where he had moved after the burning of his New Jersey home a few years before.
Writings
His book ''Primitive Industry: Illustrations of the Hand-work in Stone, Bone, and Clay of the Native Races of the Northern Atlantic Seaboard of America'' (Salem, 1881) detailed the evidences of the presence of pre-glacial man in the
Delaware Valley
The Delaware Valley is a metropolitan region on the East Coast of the United States that comprises and surrounds Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation and 68th largest city in the world as of 2020. The toponym Delaware Val ...
. He was well known as a frequent contributor to the ''
American Naturalist
''The American Naturalist'' is the monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of the American Society of Naturalists, whose purpose is "to advance and to diffuse knowledge of organic evolution and other broad biological principles so as to enhance t ...
'', ''
Science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'', ''
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...
Popular Science Monthly
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
''. He also published many books on outdoor observation, such as ''A Naturalist's Rambles about Home'' (1884).
Bibliography
*''Catalogue of Vertebrate Animals of New Jersey'' (1868 - in Geology of New Jersey, ed. George H. Cook)
*''The Stone Age in New Jersey'' (1876)
*''Primitive Industry: or Illustrations of the Handiwork, in Stone, Bone and Clay, of the Native Races of the Northern Atlantic Seaboard of America'' (1881)
*''The Paleolithic Implements of the Valley of the Delaware'' (1881)
*''Upland and Meadow'' (1886)
*''Waste Land Wanderings'' (1887)
*''Days Out of Doors'' (1889)
*''Outings at Odd Times'' (1890)
*''Recent Archaeological Explorations in the Valley of the Delaware'' (1892)
*''A Naturalists' Rambles About Home'' (1894 - 2nd Edition)
*''The Birds About Us'' (1894)
*''Travels in a Tree-Top'' (1894)
*''A Colonial Wooing'' (1895)
*''Notes of the Night And Other Outdoor Sketches'' (1896)
*''The Freedom of the Fields'' (1898)
*''Clear Skies and Cloudy'' (1899)
*''In Nature's Realm'' (1900)
*''Bird-Land Echoes'' (1904)
*''Rambles of an Idler'' (1906)
*''Archæologia Nova Cæsarea'' (1907–09)
*''Ten Years' Diggings in Lenape Land'' (1901–11)
See also
*
Ernest Volk Ernest Volk (August 25, 1845 — September 15, 1919) was a German-born archaeologist and naturalist.Eggers 1920, p. 97. He is best known for his twenty-two-year investigation of the early human occupation of the Delaware River Valley in the Unit ...