Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes is considered as one of the founding fathers of prehistory.
Engraving © MAN
Considered as one of the founding fathers of prehistory, Jacques Boucher de Perthes was president of the Société d'émulation d’Abbeville.
A scholar on the hunt for a human fossil
Through his research in the fluvial terraces of the Somme he aimed to prove the existence of “antediluvian” man. He used stratigraphy and the bones of extinct animal species to shed light on lithic tools. For nearly 20 years, Boucher de Perthes fought to prove the authenticity of his finds. The publication of his Antiquités celtiques et antidiluviennes in 1858 laid the foundations of prehistory. He bequeathed his collections to the musée gallo-romain, where they were classified by Gabriel de Mortillet and displayed in room 1 of the museum.
