Palaeontology in South America Bureaucracy, Adventurers, and the Discovery of Fossil Mammals in the Early Nineteenth-Century Colonial Archives

IRINA PODGORNY

Handbook of the Historiography of Latin American Studies on the Life Sciences and Medicine

Springer

Año: 2021; p. 205 - 224

Historiography has tended to connect the fossil animals discovered in the soil ofthe Americas with the evidence of the theory of evolution. This chapter revealsthe problems created by this perspective for understanding the questions at stake.An introduction to the main historiographical issues is followed by a perspectiveon the emergence of the nineteenth-century neologism ?palaeontology? thatdiscusses the locations where this term was first proposed and used, as well asunsolved questions regarding its circulation. The discussion reveals how importantit is to go beyond the main characters identified by historians and beyondintellectual centers in Britain and France. The discussion turns to the discovery ofthe fossil genus Megatherium in a context where ?palaeontology? did not yetexist as a discipline and where fossils did not provide evidence for evolutionarytheory. The meaning of those bones must be understood in a context withoutDarwin?s Origin of species. Examining a series of episodes about the extraction ofthe skeleton that was going to be known as Megatherium, this chapter reflects upon how historiography has ignored many agents, ideas, and interests at stake,most importantly the crucial role of Spanish bureaucracy and bureaucrats. Itexamines what happened in Buenos Aires after the departure of the skeletons,how the news circulated in the region ? in Montevideo, Rio de Janeiro, and Lima.The result provides a new perspective on the generation of ideas as well as thecommunication and the flow of scientific news across places.