We Are Not Alone: William King and the Naming of the Neanderthals

Abstract

The story of human history was changed forever in 1863 with William King's proposal that we had not always been the sole members of the Homo genus. Yet, more than 150 years after Homo neanderthalensis was first named and then summarized in the pages of The Anthropological Review, the man responsible for this revolutionary announcement is poorly known in the field of palaeoanthropology today. Following the sesquicentennial anniversary of this seminal event in 2013, a timely reappraisal is given of King's reputation, legacy, and work within the intellectual vortex of his time. [Neanderthals, human evolution, history of paleoanthropology, William King]

The saga of the false fossil foram Eozoon

“…Huxley was a close friend of Carpenter and both were editors of the Natural History Review (Barton, 2018) in which appeared Huxley's article's against King's view of Neanderthal (Huxley, 1864). Today King's description of Homo neanderthalensis is recognized as a landmark contribution (Walker et al, 2021) but at the time it was contested. With regard to Rowney, Carpenter dismissed King's co--author stating "... it is scarcely to be supposed that a Professor of Chemistry should claim authority on Microscopic Paleontology".…”