Prof. Dr. Johann Carl Fuhlrott (31 December 1803,
Leinefelde, Germany – 17 October 1877,
Wuppertal) was an early German
paleoanthropologist
Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinship ...
. He is famous for recognizing the significance of the bones of
Neanderthal 1, a Neanderthal specimen discovered by German laborers who were digging for limestone in Neander valley (''Neanderthal'' in German) in August 1856. Originally disregarded, Fuhlrott, to his eternal credit, had the insight to recognize them for what they were: the remains of a previously unknown type of human.
Biography
His parents were the innkeeper Johannes Philipp Fuhlrott and his wife Maria Magdalena, née Nussbaum. His parents had died by the time he was ten and he was raised by his uncle, the Catholic priest Carl Bernhard Fuhlrott, in
Seulingen
Seulingen is a municipality in the district of Göttingen, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is part of the Eichsfeld The Eichsfeld ( or ; English: ''Oak-field'') is a historical region in the southeast of the state of Lower Saxony (which is called "U ...
. In 1835 he married Josepha Amalia Kellner (1812–1850), with whom he had six children.
After studying mathematics and natural sciences at the
University of Bonn, Fuhlrott became a teacher at the
Gymnasium in Elberfeld. In 1856, workers in a
lime quarry in the nearby canyon called Gesteins or
Neandertal (southwest of
Mettmann) showed him bones they had found in a cave and thought to belong to a bear. Fuhlrott identified them as human and thought them to be very old. He recognized them to be different from the usual bones of humans and showed them to the Professor of
Anatomy at the University of Bonn,
Hermann Schaaffhausen. Together they announced the discovery publicly in 1857. In their view the bones represented the remnants of an ancient human race, different from contemporary humans. Their views were not readily accepted as it contradicted literal interpretations of the Bible, and
Charles Darwin's work about
evolution had not yet been published.
Today, Fuhlrott and Schaaffhausen are considered to be the founders of
paleoanthropology
Paleoanthropology or paleo-anthropology is a branch of paleontology and anthropology which seeks to understand the early development of anatomically modern humans, a process known as hominization, through the reconstruction of evolutionary kinship ...
, and the
taxon they discovered is referred to as ''
Homo neanderthalensis'' in honor of the site where it was first identified.
See also
*
List of fossil sites ''(with link directory)''
*
List of hominina (hominid) fossils ''(with images)''
References
External links
Fuhlrott MuseumNeanderthal Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuhlrott, Johann Carl
1803 births
1877 deaths
People from Leinefelde-Worbis
German anthropologists
German paleoanthropologists
University of Bonn alumni