Paul Rivet (7 May 1876,

Wasigny Wasigny is a commune in the Ardennes department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. Population Sights A 15th-century market hall dominates the village square. See also *Communes of the Ardennes department The following is a list ...

Ardennes The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...

– 21 March 1958) was a

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

ethnologist Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropolog ...

known for founding the

Musée de l'Homme The Musée de l'Homme (French, "Museum of Mankind" or "Museum of Humanity") is an anthropology museum in Paris, France. It was established in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne ...

in 1937. In his professional work, Rivet is known for his theory that

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

was originally populated in part by migrants who sailed there from

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

and

Melanesia Melanesia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It extends from Indonesia's New Guinea in the west to Fiji in the east, and includes the Arafura Sea. The region includes the four independent countries of Fiji, V ...

. He married Mercedes Andrade Chiriboga, who was from Cuenca, Ecuador.

Early life and education

Paul Rivet was born in

in 1876. He attended local schools and university, studying to be a physician.

Career

Trained as a physician, in 1901 he took part in the Second

French Geodesic Mission The French Geodesic Mission to the Equator (french: Expédition géodésique française en Équateur, also called the French Geodesic Mission to Peru and the Spanish-French Geodesic Mission) was an 18th-century expedition to what is now Ecuador ...

for survey measurements of the length of a

meridian arc In geodesy and navigation, a meridian arc is the curve between two points on the Earth's surface having the same longitude. The term may refer either to a segment of the meridian, or to its length. The purpose of measuring meridian arcs is to ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

. He remained for five years in South America, where he was mentored by

Federico González Suárez Federico González Suárez (1844–1917) was an Ecuadorian priest, historian and politician who served as the Archbishop of Quito for twelve years. Prior to becoming the Archbishop of Quito, he served as a senator in the Ecuadorian government in ...

, an Ecuadorian bishop, historian and

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 landsca ...

. Rivet became interested in the

indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, beginning an ethnographic study of the Huaorani people of the Ecuadorian Amazon, then known as the Jívaro. While in Ecuador he collected specimens of amphibians and reptiles.Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Rivet", p. 222). Returning to France, Rivet went to work with the

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

, directed by René Verneau. He published several papers on his Ecuadorian research, before publishing an extended volume co-authored with René Verneau, titled ''Ancient Ethnography of Ecuador'' (1921-1922). In 1926, Rivet participated in founding the Institut d'ethnologie in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, together with

Marcel Mauss Marcel Mauss (; 10 May 1872 – 10 February 1950) was a French sociologist and anthropologist known as the "father of French ethnology". The nephew of Émile Durkheim, Mauss, in his academic work, crossed the boundaries between sociology and ...

, Emile Durkheim, and Lucien Lévy-Bruhl. They intended it as a collaboration among the fields of philosophy, ethnology and sociology. He taught many French ethnologists, including

George Devereux Georges Devereux (born György Dobó; 13 September 1908 – 28 May 1985) was a Hungarian-French ethnologist and psychoanalyst, often considered the founder of ethnopsychiatry.

. In 1928, he succeeded René Verneau as director of the National Museum of Natural History. He continued to develop institutions for the study of mankind. In 1937 he founded the

in Paris, which became renowned for its ethnographic research and collections. In 1942, Rivet went to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

, where he founded the Anthropological Institute and Museum. Returning to Paris in 1945, he continued teaching while carrying on his research. His linguistic research introduced several new perspectives on the Aymara and

Quechua language Quechua (, ; ), usually called ("people's language") in Quechuan languages, is an indigenous language family spoken by the Quechua peoples, primarily living in the Peruvian Andes. Derived from a common ancestral language, it is the most wid ...

s of South America.

Politics

Rivet also became involved in politics, alarmed at the rise of

Fascism Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, ultra-nationalist political ideology and movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and political and cultural liberalism, a belief in natural social hierarchy and t ...

in Europe during the 1930s. During the 6 February 1934 crisis, he was one of the founders of the '' Comité de vigilance des intellectuels antifascistes'', an antifascist organization created in the wake of massive riots in Paris.Rivet was a leader in the French Resistance to Nazi occupation. He narrowly escaped arrest and execution by the Nazis. Several of his colleagues, including Anatole Lewitsky and Boris Vilde were shot.

Linguistic classification

Rivet is well known for his classification of South American languages. He proposed 77 language families and about 1240 languages and dialects.Rivet, Paul. 1924. Langues Américaines III: Langues de l’Amérique du Sud et des Antilles. In: Antoine Meillet and Marcel Cohen (ed.), ''Les Langues du Monde'', Volume 16, 639–712. Paris: Collection Linguistique. Much of his work on language classification was later incorporated by

John Alden Mason John Alden Mason (January 14, 1885 – November 7, 1967) was an American archaeological anthropologist and linguist. Mason was born in Orland, Indiana, but grew up in Philadelphia's Germantown. He received his undergraduate degree from the Univ ...

and his former student

Čestmír Loukotka Čestmír Loukotka (12 November 1895 – 13 April 1966) was a Czechoslovak linguist. His daughter was Jarmila Loukotková. Career Loukotka proposed a classification for the languages of South America based on several previous works. This ...

Migration theory

Rivet's theory asserts that

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

was the origin of the

Indigenous people of the Americas The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the Am ...

. However, he also suggested that migrations to South America were made from

some 6,000 years before, and from

somewhat later. ''Les Origines de l'Homme Américain'' ("The Origins of the American Man") was published in 1943, and contains

linguistic Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...

and anthropological arguments to support his thesis.

Honors

Rivet is commemorated in the scientific names of the South American snake '' Leptophis riveti'' and frog '' Pristimantis riveti''.

Books

*with René Verneau, 1921-1922. ''Ancient Ethnography of Ecuador.'' *1923. ''L'orfèvrerie du Chiriquí et de Colombie.'' Paris: Société des Américanistes de Paris. *1923. ''L'orfèvrerie précolombienne des Antilles, des Guyanes, et du Vénézuéla, dans ses rapports avec l'orfèvrerie et la métallurgie des autres régions américaines.'' Paris: Au siège de la société des Américanistes de Paris. *1943. ''Los origenes del hombre Americano.'' México: Cuadernos amerícanos. *1960. ''Maya cities: Ancient cities and temples.'' London: Elek Books. *with Freund, Gisèle, 1954. ''Mexique précolombien.'' Neuchâtel: Éditions Ides et calendes.

References

Sources

"Paul Rivet"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' *Alarcón, Arturo G. 2006. ''Paul Rivet Y La Teoría Oceánica.'' *D’Harcourt, Raoul. 1958. "Paul Rivet," ''American Anthropologist'' 60(4), 1180-1181 *Rodriguez, Antonio O. 2003. ''Paul Rivet: Estudioso Del Hombre Americano,'' Panamericana Editorial. *Spinney, Laura. 2020. "Defying the Nazis" Smithsonian Magazine, June, pages 10, 12-14. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rivet, Paul 1876 births 1958 deaths People from Ardennes (department) Politicians from Grand Est French Section of the Workers' International politicians Union progressiste politicians Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1945) Members of the Constituent Assembly of France (1946) Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic French ethnologists Linguists of Hokan languages Paleolinguists Human Rights League (France) members French Resistance members Brazilianists Linguists of indigenous languages of the Americas