Franz Weidenreich

June 7, 1873 (age 75)

Edenkoben, Palatinate, Germany

Franz Weidenreich taught anatomy at the University of Strassburg from 1899 until 1918. In the field of anatomy, Weidenreich specialized in the study of blood cells, the hemopoietic and lymphatic systems, and the central nervous system. It was his studies of skeletal anatomy, however, that led him ta anthropology through his investigation of locomotion, posture, and bone structure as they related to human evolution. He became a professor of anthropology at the University of Heidelberg from 1921 until 1924 and held the same post at the University of Frankfurt from 1928 until 1933, at which time he was removed from his position by the Nazis because he was Jewish. Leaving Germany, Weidenreich had a brief tenure at the University of Chicago; this was followed by a position at the Peking Union Medical College, replacing Davidson Black, who had died suddenly. There he began his studies of the early human remains found in China, concentrating on the dentition, jawbones, and skull. During this period he also published a study of three Homo sapiens skulls from sites at Choukoutien, China. Weidenreich believed that the development of modern human types resulted from the evolution of a number of major lineages from a single ancestral group. He proposed that isolated populations evolved from groups that had already become differentiated into “racial” types. Although he acknowledged the effects of genetic mixing resulting from migration, he felt that remnants of the original genetic material could be found in modem populations. In addition to its concern with the origin of racial types in modern humans, much of the research on human evolution during this period was devoted to the discovery of the links between the earliest human forms and modern man. Part of the theoretical investigation of the link between the earliest remains then known and modern humans was concerned with the position of the Neanderthals. Although most paleontologists now see the Neanderthals as an evolutionary dead end. some scientists early in the twentieth century-including Weidenreich’s teacher. Schwalbe- held to the so-called Neanderthal-phase theory, which posited that Neanderthals were a distinct species that was transitional between Homo erectus forms and modern Homo sapiens. This belief formed the basis for Weidenreich’s own view. Such a linear view of human evolution came under increasing attack during the 1930s as more fossil evidence became available and seemed to indicate otherwise. Others adopted the view that the Neanderthals were not ancestral to modern humans but rather had been displaced by a more advanced population with more sophisticated tools. This scheme, known as the presapiens theory, dominated paleontology in the years between the world wars; it postulated an earlier development of modern humans than the Neanderthal-phase theory and was based in part on the belief that there had not been enough evolutionary time for the Neanderthals to develop into modern humans. Weidenreich’s initial study of human fossil remains, in 1926, focused on the Neanderthal skull found at Ehringsdorf in 1925. Weidenreich’s theory, first presented in 1928, held that early Neanderthal types migrated out of Africa after they had already developed “racial” distinctions. The groups in various parts of the world continued to undergo development, producing the various racial varieties existing today. He based his theory in part on the perception that there were morphological similarities between specific fossil remains and certain modern populations - what he called local regional continuity. When Weidenreich began his investigation into human evolution, remains found in Java, designated Pithecanthropus erectus and popularly known as Java man, comprised the bulk of human fossil remains discovered up to that time. In the late 1920s Davidson Black had discovered a fossilized human tooth in Zhoukoudien (then called Choukoutien), southwest of Beijing, that was from approximately the same era as the Pithecanthropus remains and assigned it the designation Sinanthropus pekinensis (Peking man). (Both Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus are now considered examples of Homo erectus.) Further finds in 1928 and many more between 1929 and 1932, including a complete skull, along with signs that the remains were indeed human (stone tools and evidence of fire), contributed to the creation of a new prehistoric figure in the scientific and popular communities; Peking man. These Sinanthropus remains became the focus of Weidenreich’s detailed study, an endeavor that produced an extensive series of monographs, including The Mandibles of Sinanthropus pekinensis (1936), The Dentition of Sinanthropus pekinensis (1937), The Extremity Bonds of Sinanthropus pekinensis (1941), and The Skull of Sinanthropus pekinensis (1943). Publication of these works was fortunate, as the specimens themselves, packed for shipment to the United States, were apparently destroyed during the Japanese invasion of China in the 1940s. Discovery of the Sinanthropus specimens in China rekindled interest in the Pithecanthropus remains found in Java, and additional discoveries by Ralph von Koenigswald during the 1930s of Pithecanthropus led Weidenreich to comparative studies of the two. He theorized that they were not separate species but rather variants of a form ancestral to the Neanderthals and therefore to modern humans. He held that there was at no time more than one species of human living concurrently. Significantly, he stated that these variants represented racial distinctions maintained throughout the subsequent stages of evolution. In Weidenreich’s model, there was a single path of hominid descent consisting of parallel lines representing racial variants; these developed from the early hominids to modern humans independently, each going through the same evolutionary phases, all with increasing cranial capacity and increasingly erect posture, and maintaining their racial distinctions to the present day. He defined three phases of human development: the Archanthropine of approximately one million years ago, representing the period of Pithecanthropus erectus and Sinanthropus pekinensis; the Paleoanthropine (the period of the Neanderthals); and the Neoanthropine, which includes subsequent evolutions up to a modern man. He divided modern humans into four major groups: Australian, Mongolian, African, and Eurasian, and theorized that modern Europeans were descended from a western subgroup of the Asian Neanderthals. In Weidenreich’s best-known book. Apes, Giants, and Man (1946), he theorized that before the separation of humans into various “racial” types, the common ancestor of modern humans was a massive creature - especially in regard to its skull and jaw. This conclusion was corroborated by evidence derived from the so-called Solo skulls, the subject of Weidenreich’s last phase of research.

Franz Weidenreich Edit Profile

also known as Bloody Weidenreich

anatomist physical anthropologist

Background

Franz Weidenreich was born on June 7, 1873, in Edenkoben, Palatinate, Germany, to Carl and Frederike Esesheimer Weidenreich. Weidenreich accepted United States citizenship in 1941.

Education

Franz Weidenreich received his early education at the Landau Humanist Gymnasium. Weidenreich studied medicine until 1899 at the University of Strasbourg, which was one of the leading German universities when Strasbourg still belonged to Germany.

Career

Franz Weidenreich taught anatomy at the University of Strassburg from 1899 until 1918. In the field of anatomy, Weidenreich specialized in the study of blood cells, the hemopoietic and lymphatic systems, and the central nervous system. It was his studies of skeletal anatomy, however, that led him ta anthropology through his investigation of locomotion, posture, and bone structure as they related to human evolution. He became a professor of anthropology at the University of Heidelberg from 1921 until 1924 and held the same post at the University of Frankfurt from 1928 until 1933, at which time he was removed from his position by the Nazis because he was Jewish.

Leaving Germany, Weidenreich had a brief tenure at the University of Chicago; this was followed by a position at the Peking Union Medical College, replacing Davidson Black, who had died suddenly. There he began his studies of the early human remains found in China, concentrating on the dentition, jawbones, and skull. During this period he also published a study of three Homo sapiens skulls from sites at Choukoutien, China.

Weidenreich believed that the development of modern human types resulted from the evolution of a number of major lineages from a single ancestral group. He proposed that isolated populations evolved from groups that had already become differentiated into “racial” types. Although he acknowledged the effects of genetic mixing resulting from migration, he felt that remnants of the original genetic material could be found in modem populations.

In addition to its concern with the origin of racial types in modern humans, much of the research on human evolution during this period was devoted to the discovery of the links between the earliest human forms and modern man. Part of the theoretical investigation of the link between the earliest remains then known and modern humans was concerned with the position of the Neanderthals. Although most paleontologists now see the Neanderthals as an evolutionary dead end. some scientists early in the twentieth century-including Weidenreich’s teacher. Schwalbe- held to the so-called Neanderthal-phase theory, which posited that Neanderthals were a distinct species that was transitional between Homo erectus forms and modern Homo sapiens.

This belief formed the basis for Weidenreich’s own view. Such a linear view of human evolution came under increasing attack during the 1930s as more fossil evidence became available and seemed to indicate otherwise. Others adopted the view that the Neanderthals were not ancestral to modern humans but rather had been displaced by a more advanced population with more sophisticated tools. This scheme, known as the presapiens theory, dominated paleontology in the years between the world wars; it postulated an earlier development of modern humans than the Neanderthal-phase theory and was based in part on the belief that there had not been enough evolutionary time for the Neanderthals to develop into modern humans.

Weidenreich’s initial study of human fossil remains, in 1926, focused on the Neanderthal skull found at Ehringsdorf in 1925. Weidenreich’s theory, first presented in 1928, held that early Neanderthal types migrated out of Africa after they had already developed “racial” distinctions. The groups in various parts of the world continued to undergo development, producing the various racial varieties existing today. He based his theory in part on the perception that there were morphological similarities between specific fossil remains and certain modern populations - what he called local regional continuity.

When Weidenreich began his investigation into human evolution, remains found in Java, designated Pithecanthropus erectus and popularly known as Java man, comprised the bulk of human fossil remains discovered up to that time. In the late 1920s Davidson Black had discovered a fossilized human tooth in Zhoukoudien (then called Choukoutien), southwest of Beijing, that was from approximately the same era as the Pithecanthropus remains and assigned it the designation Sinanthropus pekinensis (Peking man). (Both Pithecanthropus and Sinanthropus are now considered examples of Homo erectus.) Further finds in 1928 and many more between 1929 and 1932, including a complete skull, along with signs that the remains were indeed human (stone tools and evidence of fire), contributed to the creation of a new prehistoric figure in the scientific and popular communities; Peking man.

These Sinanthropus remains became the focus of Weidenreich’s detailed study, an endeavor that produced an extensive series of monographs, including The Mandibles of Sinanthropus pekinensis (1936), The Dentition of Sinanthropus pekinensis (1937), The Extremity Bonds of Sinanthropus pekinensis (1941), and The Skull of Sinanthropus pekinensis (1943). Publication of these works was fortunate, as the specimens themselves, packed for shipment to the United States, were apparently destroyed during the Japanese invasion of China in the 1940s.

Discovery of the Sinanthropus specimens in China rekindled interest in the Pithecanthropus remains found in Java, and additional discoveries by Ralph von Koenigswald during the 1930s of Pithecanthropus led Weidenreich to comparative studies of the two. He theorized that they were not separate species but rather variants of a form ancestral to the Neanderthals and therefore to modern humans. He held that there was at no time more than one species of human living concurrently. Significantly, he stated that these variants represented racial distinctions maintained throughout the subsequent stages of evolution.

In Weidenreich’s model, there was a single path of hominid descent consisting of parallel lines representing racial variants; these developed from the early hominids to modern humans independently, each going through the same evolutionary phases, all with increasing cranial capacity and increasingly erect posture, and maintaining their racial distinctions to the present day. He defined three phases of human development: the Archanthropine of approximately one million years ago, representing the period of Pithecanthropus erectus and Sinanthropus pekinensis; the Paleoanthropine (the period of the Neanderthals); and the Neoanthropine, which includes subsequent evolutions up to a modern man. He divided modern humans into four major groups: Australian, Mongolian, African, and Eurasian, and theorized that modern Europeans were descended from a western subgroup of the Asian Neanderthals.

In Weidenreich’s best-known book. Apes, Giants, and Man (1946), he theorized that before the separation of humans into various “racial” types, the common ancestor of modern humans was a massive creature - especially in regard to its skull and jaw. This conclusion was corroborated by evidence derived from the so-called Solo skulls, the subject of Weidenreich’s last phase of research.

Achievements

Most closely associated with the study of Peking man (the name given to early human remains found in Asia), Franz Weidenreich earned a reputation as an exceptionally thorough and meticulous cataloger of human fossils, as well as one of the most prolific writers on the subject. He studied the source of human evolution from what he believed to be a single common ancestor through various racial developments, influenced by environment and other factors, to modern human beings. Weidenreich’s work helped establish current knowledge of human evolution. Weidenreich pioneered the Polycentric (multiregional) hypothesis, which proposed that human populations have evolved independently in the Old World from Homo erectus to Homo sapiens sapiens, while at the same time there was gene flow between the various populations.

Weidenreich was the first recipient of the Viking Fund Medal and Award in Physical Anthropology in 1946.

Works

Six lectures on Sinanthropus pekinensis and related problems Six lectures on Sinanthropus pekinensis and related problems

The Brain and Its Role in the Phylogenetic Transformation of the Human Skull The Brain and Its Role in the Phylogenetic Transformation of the Human Skull

Giant Early Man from Java and South China Giant Early Man from Java and South China

Apes, Giants and Man Apes, Giants and Man

book

Politics

Franz Weidenreich served as president of the democratic party of Alsace-Lorraine during World War I but was expelled from France in 1918 because he was a German national. When war broke out he focused on his political duties. His decision resulted in a six-year gap in his publications between 1915 and 1921.

Personality

Due to his passion for the composition of the blood and the structure of blood cells Franz Weidenreich was labeled with the nickname “bloody Weidenreich.”

Connections

Weidenreich was married to Matilda Neuberger. They had three daughters.

Father:: Carl Weidenreich
Mother:: Frederike Esesheimer Weidenreich
Spouse:: Matilda Neuberger

References

Contemporary Authors, Vol. 164
1998

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