Resolving the Question of a Hiatus between the Paleolithic and Neolithic: Nineteenth-Century Science and a Problem in Human Prehistory

Abstract

In the 1870s a dispute arose between supporters and opponents of the idea that a hiatus existed between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic, a period when Europe was uninhabited. Researchers invoked geological, paleontological, archaeological, and anthropological evidence to support their views. This paper discusses the development of this debate and how it was resolved, in large part due to the excavations of Édouard Piette.

Keywords

• mesolithic
• paleolithic
• prehistoric archaeology
• edouard piette
• mas d’azil
• gabriel de mortillet
• émile cartailhac