NATIVE THEORY OF FLORENTINO AMEGHINO - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2024

The autochthonous or autochthonous theory is a hypothesis of the Argentine paleontologist and anthropologist Florentino Ameghino about the emergence of man in America. It is also known as the monogenic-autochthonous theory or autochthonous theory of the origin of American man.

The theory is based mainly on the demonstration that humanity has as its place of origin the Argentine Pampa. From this place, the emigration of the species to Europe and the other continents would have begun, until it ended up being the dominant animal on the entire planet Earth.

Region of the Argentine Pampas, where according to this theory man arose.

Ameghino, to formulate his theory, was based on fossils collected by himself and his brother Carlos in the area of ​​Patagonia. Through them, they sustained an evolutionary chain of the species. The origin of man, as proposed by the Ameghino brothers, would be in the Tertiary or Cenozoic era.

Ameghino's autochthonism must be understood in the national context of the time, in which Argentina was the most important country in the region. This financed part of Ameghino's studies, which he would later raise in Europe, where they would be welcomed.

This theory was rejected and refuted over time. The theory was replaced by others such as Rivet's, who proposed for the first time the entry of man through the Bering Strait.

Despite its invalidity, the autochthonous theory of the origin of American man was established as one of the first to be found in the scientific search for the origin of man in America, leaving aside the religious references that had predominated throughout the colonization of the continent.

Background to indigenous theory

Florentino Ameghino

The main exponent of the autochthonous theory was Florentino Ameghino (Luján, Argentina, September 18, 1854 - La Plata, Argentina, August 6, 1911). Ameghino came from a humble family, in which his own mother taught him to read and write.

From an early age he was interested in fossils and at the age of 14 he began to read Charles Darwin, in addition to learning French, English and German on his own. (Subcommission of Publications Argentine Geological Association, 2011).

Not only in that was he self-taught. Also his knowledge about science came from his own interest, because he had no formal education. The first stage of his scientific life could be classified as anthropological. Ameghino since 1890 thought that Patagonia was the place of origin of the oldest mammals (Quintero, 2009).

Florentino developed his fossil collections and subsequent studies together with his brother, Carlos Ameghino. He was mostly in charge of field work, while Florentino was more focused on the area of ​​research and financing of his work.

Argentina became, due to the success of its exports and its direct European influence, the most powerful and richest country in Latin America, having influence throughout the world.

This led the Argentine State to finance Ameghino's most notable work: Contribution to the Knowledge of Fossil Mammals of the Republic of Argentina, which was presented in Paris in 1889 and awarded the gold medal of the French National Academy of Sciences..

characteristics

The autochthonous theory can be classified, mainly, in three large categories, by its composition and definition. As proposed by Ameghino, the theory can be classified as monogenist, autochthonous and transformist (Yépez, 2011).

Monogenist

It is monogenic because it affirms and maintains that the human race has a single starting point. That is, humanity originates in a specific place on Earth and that from that place it emigrated to the rest of the planet (Yépez, 2011).

Autochthonous

In addition, as its name says, the theory is autochthonous, because it chooses a precise place on the planet such as the Argentine pampa to give rise to the human species, the author of the theory also being Argentine. (Yépez, 2011).

Transformer

Finally, the theory can also be considered as transformist. This is because, according to what it proposes, all homo species, together with the entire Animalia kingdom, is the product of the evolution of beings that could be considered inferior (Yépez, 2011).

Explanation of evolution according to the theory

The monogenist-autochthonist theory on the emergence of man in the American continent has several fundamental paradigms, which are what determine its subsequent formulation and approach.

The first of them conceives a single predecessor of all mammals, which would be the microbioterides. In the same way, the predecessor of the genus Homo and the anthropoid monkeys would be a small animal, which Ameghino named Homunculos Patagonicus.

In this way, Ameghino raised the common origin of hominids and anthropoids, proposing these two ancestors (Yépez, 2011).

He stated that Patagonia was the main point of their evolution. These would have been dispersed throughout the planet in four large migrations, which took place at different times and due to different circumstances (Morrone, 2011).

Cretaceous dispersion towards Australia

The first of these migratory movements was the Cretaceous dispersal towards Australia. Ameghino affirmed that through moving bridges in frozen regions, they united Australia with Patagonia and the emigration of mammals arose, which were isolated in that area (Morrone, 2011). Later, the tripothomo, a hominid, would emerge in that area (Yépez, 2011).

Cretaceous-Eocene dispersion to Africa

This movement would have occurred through the Archelenis Bridge, which linked America with Asia. In this migration, according to Ameghino, mammals of all kinds would have participated, from prosimians to some rodents.

On the African continent these species would evolve and end up invading all of Eurasia and North America, which was still separated from South America, from mammals (Morrone, 2011).

Oligo-Miocene dispersion to Africa

After this migration, the oligo-Miocene dispersion to Africa would have taken place, in which the hypothetical Archelenis bridge practically no longer existed. Because of this, only very small animals migrated.

For the first time, as proposed by Ameghino, from a continent other than America there would be an emigration of mammals, since in this dispersal, African mammals would also have reached South America (Morrone, 2011).

Miocene-Pliocene-Quaternary dispersion to North America

It is the last migration to occur. It would take place as a result of the formation of the Isthmus of Panama that would unite the previously separated continent.

Between south and north there would have been an exchange of any number of species. Histriocomorphic rodents and monkeys would have passed from south to north, while from north to south mastodons, llamas, deer and tapirs would have migrated (Morrone, 2011).

The hominids would emerge later. In addition to the aforementioned tripothomo that would have appeared in Asia and Oceania, there would also have been the diprothomo, its successor. The tetraprothomo, after emerging, would have emigrated to Europe, becoming the homo heidelbergensis.

Finally the prothomo would emerge, which would bifurcate into two branches: the Neardenthal that emigrated to Europe and the Homo sapiens, from the American continent. This would have happened in the tertiary age (Yépez, 2011).

Refutation

At first, Ameghino's autochthonous theory was welcomed, gaining support from renowned American paleontologists such as Edward Drinker Cope.

He promoted the theory through academic articles and supported it before American paleontologists who refused to accept that a country outside the United States and Europe could monopolize the origin of the human being (Quintero, 2009).

To support his theory and receive the support of different intellectuals on the subject from various latitudes, Ameghino claimed to get different proofs. They were a femur and a cervical vertebra of the tetraprothomo, a cranial vault of the diprothomo and a skull of the prothomo (Yépez, 2011).

A few years later, the theory would begin to unravel. The Science magazine in 1892 called to lower the spirits with respect to the theory and years later Cope himself would end up questioning it.

For this reason, between 1896 and 1899, Princeton University would organize two expeditions to finish refuting the theory, collecting fossils and dating them. As a result, it was stated that the fossils used as evidence belonged to the Miocene and not to the Eocene (Quintero, 2009).

With regard to the fossils found by the Ameghino brothers, those that were assigned to tetraprothomo were later considered part of a butcher mammal unrelated to hominids. The diprothomo's cranial vault belonged to an indigenous person from the colonial period and the prothomo's skull was modern (Yépez, 2011).

Ameghino in his theory supports the existence of intercontinental bridges that arose at certain moments in the evolution of planet Earth.

With them, migrations between America and Oceania or between America and Africa could have occurred. Starting in the 1960s, the theory of continental drifts would be consolidated, ruling out the existence of bridges (Morrone, 2011).

Over the years, other theories would emerge that would end up discarding the American autochthonous. A similar one of Asian type was postulated that was refuted and later finished consolidating part of Rivet's oceanic theory, which would propose migration through the Bering Strait.

References

1. Bonomo, M., León, D. and Scabuzzo, C. (2013). Chronology and diet in the Pampean Atlantic coast, Argentina. Intersections in Anthropology, 14 (1), 123-136. Recovered from scielo.org.ar.
2. Bonomo M. and Politis, G. (2011). New data on the "fossil man" of Ameghino. Life and work of Florentino Ameghino. Special publication of the Argentine Palenteological Association. (12), 101-119. Recovered from researchgate.net.
3. Guzmán, L. (S / F). Our original identity: the settlement of America. Recovered from miguel.guzman.free.fr.
4. Matternes, H. (1986). A Consideration of Data Relative to the Origin of the American Indian. The Southern Anthropologist. 14 (2). 4-11- Recovered from southernanthro.org.
5. Quintero, C. (2009). Astrapoteria and saber teeth: power relations in the paleontological study of South American mammals. Critical History, 34-51.
6. Yépez, Á. (2011). Universal history. Caracas: Larense.