Paleoanthropology, the science that focuses on human evolution, has long been known for its changing conclusions. This volume adds another deprecating dimension to its unstable image.
The author, a former research news editor for the journal Science, has done his homework carefully. He uses extensive referencing of material and inter views with some of the main players in this drama of the ages.
The book chronicles recent wars over hominid fossils and attempts to analyze the reasons for so much acrimony. Lewin attributes the wars to several factors, including (1) the personal involvement of humans studying their own evolution, (2) the passion to find new fossils, (3) the pitifully small inventory of fossils in the hands of a possessive few, (4) the influence of preconceived ideas on what one sees, (5) the competition among paleoanthropologists for funds and to become "king of the mountain," and (6) the subjectivity of deciding what is a valid species. (In recent years the number of species has been reduced from more than 100 to about a half dozen by combining invalid species.)
Lewin reports on the Landau theory of human evolution. At Yale University, Misia Landau worked out a pattern based on traditional folk literature. Landau suggests accounts of human evolution fol low this pattern. Such a theory does not bode well for the paleoanthropologists' objectivity. They are understandably reluctant to accept the idea that they may not be purely scientific.
In this volume Lewin uncovers the principal skeletons in the closets of paleoanthropologists, focusing on a number of controversies: 1. The Taung child fossil, found in South Africa, was first rejected and now is accepted as an important ancestor in human evolution. 2. The Piltdown hoax remains the great unsolved whodunit in science. This fabricated skull came from a modern human cranium and an orangutan's jaw, yet held an honored place in the human evolutionary tree during the four decades it fooled scientists. 3. Scholars developed Nebraska man based on a tooth that turned out to belong to a type of pig. 4. The early descriptions of Neanderthal were distorted toward primitiveness. 5. Scientists fought a bitter battle over the matter of dethroning Ramapithecus from being a human ancestor to being merely a relative of the orangutan. 6. They also carry on a heated and complex debate over the dating of a key volcanic layer associated with important remains in East Africa. 7. Most recent is the controversy be tween Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson over the evolutionary position of the newer Australopithecus afarensis fossil finds. 8. Lewin also includes milder conflicts concerning the basic force behind human evolutionary advancement.
Lewin keeps his writing at a nontechnical level, skillfully weaving science into the book's historical background. The author does a commendable work in ferreting out unpublished attitudes and emotionally charged incidents. Shouting matches, accusations, insults, and slamming doors reveal science at work. We see scientists as no more cool, calm, and calculating than the rest of us.
The book shows how preconceived ideas freely influence interpretations and speculation. For example, referring to descriptions of Ramapithecus, he states: "Here, then, was a very complete picture of an animal--not just what it looked like, but also how it lived. And all based on a few fragments of upper and lower jaws and teeth." Ramapithecus is now considered to be a relative of the orangutan rather than being part of the evolutionary line of humans.
The anthropological novice may find it difficult to keep up with the everchanging saga of human evolution. Changes occur in the arrangement of the putative ancestors, the classification of specimens, and even in the characteristics of a species. Louis Leakey once changed the definition of the genus Homo to include a smaller-brained animal.
The book reflects science's humanness. It notes, for instance, one paleoanthropologist's charge that Leakey viewed "his" fossils as being the important, direct ancestors of humans, while regarding the fossils found by others as of lesser importance.
While Lewin does not disclose his personal beliefs, he implies confidence in traditional scientific views. But he also candidly questions how humans achieved superiority, noting particularly the problem of the origin of their higher mental attributes.
I find the most significant contribution of this book to be not so much the cautions deduced regarding paleoanthropology, but the admonitions suggested for science as a whole. Lewin warns: "And scientists, contrary to the myth that they themselves publicly promulgate, are emotional human beings who carry a generous dose of subjectivity with them into the supposedly 'objective search for the Truth.' " And: "There is a degree of uncertainty in science that is not often made public, because it is contrary to the mythology of what science is supposed to be like."
Science has become powerful because it works well in many areas. People easily extrapolate that success into all areas that science deals with. Thus they become blinded to the pitfalls lurking in the shadows. Science that deals with the past often deals with nonrepeatable, nontestable events. It is particularly susceptible to the problems outlined in this book, but all areas of science can be distorted by preconceived ideas.
Those who believe in Creation will wonder why the biggest bone of contention of all--namely, whether humans evolved or were created--is not considered in this book. This is an understand able omission because naturalistic science does not recognize Creation as a possibility. Lewin does point out human specialness and the tension created concerning the origin of our higher mental powers.
A 1982 Gallup poll reported that 44 percent of adults in the United States believed God created humans within the past 10,000 years. Science's refusal, then, to consider the possibility of Creation can scarcely be considered casual. If it is argued that Creation is not worthy of consideration, one has only to point to the plethora of unworthy "information" that has decked the halls of paleoanthropology for more than a century. In the opinion of this reviewer, this omission reflects the bias of a science that does not allow for any possibilities beyond its own closed system.
While paleoanthropology's findings in the past two decades have been impressive, readers who believe in the evolution of humans will not find much comfort in this book. It leaves the impression that the last chapter of the saga is a long way from being written. This insightful volume should be read by anyone interested in the human dimensions of science.
