"Some groping attempts to tell the history of paleontology through a mammoth's eyes have been made before, but only as a lick and promise, and largely by amateur enthusiasts with (perhaps) adequate knowledge of the fossils, but little understanding of the subtleties or larger contexts in the history of science," writes paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould in the foreword to this new attempt. "in this truly pathbreaking book, the mammoth has finally met its match in Claudine Cohen, a distinguished French historian of science."
Cohen teaches the history of science at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. "The Fate of the Mammoth" was originally published in France as Le Destin du Mammouth.
Despite their extinction about 10,000 years ago, mammoths have been a continuous presence in Western culture and knowledge since the end of the Renaissance. Their fossilized remains have been puzzled over for centuries and attributed to giants, unicorns, elephants, whales and even some strange "sports of nature." It was not until 1796 that George Cuvier, the founder of paleontology, correctly deduced that mammoth bones were the remains of a "lost" species.
Today's scientists are no longer as concerned about the nature of the beast as they are in the circumstances surrounding its demise. No single theory of the cause of the mammoth extinction seems to fit all the known facts. Blaming the extinction on over-hunting by humans seems plausible in the Americas, Cohen points out, but it doesn't explain what happened to mammoths on other continents.
"Mammoths became extinct at different periods in central Europe (14,0000 to 12,000 years B.P), in China (14,000 years B.P.), and in Siberia (9,000 years B.P.) -- and even at intervals of several millennia. How does the fact that man could have been the contemporary of these animals in Europe accord with the idea of a rapid extermination?," she asks.
As its title suggests, The Fate of the Mammoth is concerned with the extinction of the mammoths, how naturalists have interpreted the event, and how it affects paleontology and the rest of humankind.
"Explaining the disappearance of the mammoth means accounting for the inevitable death of a species, the extinction of a gigantic, powerful animal that was a contemporary of man during the longest part of our history," Cohen explains. "Whether the mammoth disappeared because of its own biological tendencies, for ecological reasons, by the action of man, or by their combined effect, each hypothesis tends to make us meditate on our own fate. No dout our obsessing over the question today is linked to real anxieties about our own survival. What will be the end of humanity?"
Cohen follows the post-extinction evolution of the mammoth, detailing its progress through human culture, myth and science with visits to the sites of its remains in Siberia, Africa, North America, France, Germany and England. This grand tour of mammoth history parallels the growth of paleontology as a science and the development of technologies for making the past reveal some of its mysteries.
Illustrated with historic prints, drawings and posters, The Fate of the Mammoth will interest both professional paleontologists as well as amateur naturalists and casual science readers.
The Fate Of The Mammoth: Fossils, Myth, And History By Claudine Cohen The University Of Chicago Press, 2002
"Some groping attempts to tell the history of paleontology through a mammoth's eyes have been made before, but only as a lick and promise, and largely by amateur enthusiasts with (perhaps) adequate knowledge of the fossils, but little understanding of the subtleties or larger contexts in the history of science," writes paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould in the foreword to this new attempt. "in this truly path-breaking book, the mammoth has finally met its match in Claudine Cohen, a distinguished French historian of science."
Cohen teaches the history of science at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. "The Fate Of The Mammoth" was originally published in France as Le Destin du Mammouth.
Despite their extinction about 10,000 years ago, mammoths have been a continuous presence in Western culture and knowledge since the end of the Renaissance. Their fossilized remains have been puzzled over for centuries and attributed to giants, unicorns, elephants, whales and even some strange "sports of nature." It was not until 1796 that George Cuvier, the founder of paleontology, correctly deduced that mammoth bones were the remains of a "lost" species.
Today's scientists are no longer as concerned about the nature of the beast as they are in the circumstances surrounding its demise. No single theory of the cause of the mammoth extinction seems to fit all the known facts. Blaming the extinction on over-hunting by humans seems plausible in the Americas, Cohen points out, but it doesn't explain what happened to mammoths on other continents.
"Mammoths became extinct at different periods in central Europe (14,0000 to 12,000 years B.P), in China (14,000 years B.P.), and in Siberia (9,000 years B.P.) -- and even at intervals of several millennia. How does the fact that man could have been the contemporary of these animals in Europe accord with the idea of a rapid extermination?," she asks.
As its title suggests, The Fate of the Mammoth is concerned with the extinction of the mammoths, how naturalists have interpreted the event, and how it affects paleontology and the rest of humankind.
"Explaining the disappearance of the mammoth means accounting for the inevitable death of a species, the extinction of a gigantic, powerful animal that was a contemporary of man during the longest part of our history," Cohen explains. "Whether the mammoth disappeared because of its own biological tendencies, for ecological reasons, by the action of man, or by their combined effect, each hypothesis tends to make us meditate on our own fate. No dout our obsessing over the question today is linked to real anxieties about our own survival. What will be the end of humanity?"
Cohen follows the post-extinction evolution of the mammoth, detailing its progress through human culture, myth and science with visits to the sites of its remains in Siberia, Africa, North America, France, Germany and England. This grand tour of mammoth history parallels the growth of paleontology as a science and the development of technologies for making the past reveal some of its mysteries.
Illustrated with historic prints, drawings and posters, The Fate of the Mammoth will interest both professional paleontologists as well as amateur naturalists and casual science readers.