Jean-Baptiste Noulet (1 May 1802 – 24 May 1890) was a French scientist and naturalist who helped to prove the archæological existence of humans and was one of the pioneers of the scientific discipline of

prehistoric archaeology Prehistoric archaeology is a subfield of archaeology, which deals specifically with artefacts, civilisations and other materials from societies that existed before any form of writing system or historical record. Often the field focuses on ages s ...

. He was born in

Venerque Venerque (; oc, Venèrca) is a commune in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions an ...

. Having obtained his doctorate in medicine at

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

in 1832, Noulet focused his research on

Occitania Occitania ( oc, Occitània , , or ) is the historical region in Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe where the Occitan language, Occitan language was historically spoken and where it is sometimes still used as a second language. This ...

and latterly on the

Occitan language Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance languages, Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Ital ...

. In 1841, he was appointed chair of medical natural history at the preparatory school of medicine and

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

. Noulet served as the director of the Natural History Museum in Toulouse from 1872, where he founded a gallery devoted to prehistory. In the field of

malacology Malacology is the branch of invertebrate zoology that deals with the study of the Mollusca (mollusks or molluscs), the second-largest phylum of animals in terms of described species after the arthropods. Mollusks include snails and slugs, clams, ...

, he issued an analytical study on the natural history of

fluvial In geography and geology, fluvial processes are associated with rivers and streams and the deposits and landforms created by them. When the stream or rivers are associated with glaciers, ice sheets, or ice caps, the term glaciofluvial or fluviog ...

and terrestrial

mollusks Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

native to the sub-Pyrenean basin (1834). As a

botanist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

, he published an exhaustive volume (754 pages) on regional plants of the sub-Pyrenees, ''La Flore du Bassin sous-pyrénéen'' (1837). Hache Noulet Clermont Perspective (2)

In 1851, at

Clermont-le-Fort Clermont-le-Fort (; oc, Clarmont) is a Communes of France, commune in the Haute-Garonne Departments of France, department in southwestern France. Geography The Ariège (river), Ariège forms most of the commune's western border, with the Lèze, ...

, he discovered the remains of

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological Epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fina ...

fauna, along with the presence of lithic artifacts, findings that seemingly proved the co-existence of Pleistocene animals with humans, and in essence, confirmed ideas that were earlier proposed by

prehistorian Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

Jacques Boucher de Perthes Ancient and noble French family names, Jacques, Jacq, or James are believed to originate from the Middle Ages in the historic northwest Brittany region in France, and have since spread around the world over the centuries. To date, there are over ...

(1788-1868).ASNAT
Jean-Baptiste Noulet, geologist, botanist, prehistorian (Venerque 1802-1890) Cochlostoma nouleti MHNT.ZOO.2005.290.jpg, '' Cochlostoma nouleti'' Cadurcotherium nouleti MHNT.PAL.2012.0.90 Paratype.jpg, Paratype of '' Cadurcotherium nouleti''

References

External links

Google Books search result for Noulet's writings
Prehistorians 1802 births 1890 deaths 19th-century French botanists French malacologists People from Haute-Garonne {{Anthropologist-stub