The Orce Man

Miquel Carandell Baruzzi, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and heritage curator at the Museu de Ciències Naturals de Granollers. He has published two books on Barcelona’s history of science and several papers on history of science topics.

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

A Rough Guide to the Orce Man



0. Introduction - The Orce Man



1. Discovery (1976-1982)

1.1. Setting the scientific and political scene

1.2. ‘Look what we’ve found!’ The Orce Man among politicians, experts and the public

1.3. The ‘Spanish Olduvai’ and the discoverers’ reward

1.4. A great post-Franco discovery and a small but troubling crest



2. Controversy (1984-1987)

2.1. A painful trip to Paris: From man to donkey

2.2. A country’s ‘obsession’: ‘Is the Orce Man our ancestor?’

2.3. Science in a ‘different dimension’



3. Conference (1987-1996)

3.1. Gibert's research team and the conference preparation

3.2. An international conference as a ‘tool’ to convince

3.3. A triple victory (science, media and politics)

3.4. Scientific conferences: much more than debates among colleagues



4. End (1996-2007)

4.1. An unexpected attack

4.2. Control of the remains means control of the research

4.3. The process of isolation

4.4. The hominids that came from the south: Gibert's popular science book

4.5. The end of a long controversy



5. A ‘First’ American to compare with: The Pedra Furada controversy



6. Coda: The ‘Orce Boy’



7. The Orce Man: controversy, failure, media and politics



Appendices

Annex I: Anatomical features of the Orce Man

Annex II: News from 1983 to 1999

Annex III: The travelling bone



Bibliography

I. Interviews

II: Archives

III: Secondary Literature

IV: The Press



Index