Overview

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the search for man's evolutionary past lead to dramatic new conclusions about life on Earth and the biological history of mankind. The search for our fossil ancestors, once initiated, began to answer questions about where humans first appeared, what they looked like, and most importantly, how old they are. The first discovery of fossil humans threw surprising new light on our past, though challenged established views about society, race, and Christian religious beliefs concerning man's special place in the universe.

Background

During the Enlightenment, Western thinkers disillusioned with the Genesis story of creation began to speculate about how human beings had originated. The problem that plagued these researchers was that there was no physical evidence to support their theories. Some fossils had been discovered that looked human, but...