THE DINOTHERIUM AND THE ACROPOLIS: ALBERT GAUDRY’S RECONSTRUCTION OF THE EXTINCT FAUNA OF ATTICA AND THE MAKING OF GREECE INTO A EUROPEAN STATE (1850s–1860s)

Abstract

ABSTRACT Between 1862 and 1867, Albert Gaudry (1824–1908) published Animaux fossiles et géologie de l’Attique, a seminal work describing and depicting the rich collection of mammalian fossils that he assembled during his scientific expeditions in Attica, Greece. This paper will focus on how Gaudry’s collection and reconstruction of the extinct fauna of Attica articulated itself with geopolitical, cultural, and economic concerns regarding the newly independent Greek state and its place within Europe. Since the Greek War of independence against the Ottomans between the 1820s and 1830s, European nations sought to secure a series of strategic advantages in the region. France for example invested a lot of capital, military, and cultural resources in the newly independent Greek state in hope of cementing France’s influence in the Mediterranean. Between 1853 and 1854, Gaudry was sent on a mission by the French government to evaluate the agricultural production of countries of the ‘Orient’, including Greece. Gaudry was tasked with gathering information intended to facilitate the advancement of agriculture in France’s colonies as well as the planning of future investments in the Eastern Mediterranean. In his report published in 1855, Gaudry explicitly defined the restoration of Greece’s agricultural industry as a sine qua non condition for Greece’s establishment as a European state. It was during this official mission that Gaudry learned about the existence of exceptionally rich fossil sites in Attica. He returned on multiple occasions to collect thousands of fossil specimens from these sites. In Animaux fossiles et géologie de l’Attique and in his subsequent publications on the same fossils, Gaudry regularly articulated the reconstruction of extinct mammals and their environment with inspired descriptions of the ruins of Athens. In his writings, the reconstruction of a Greek geological past inhabited by a grandiose and harmonious megafauna echoed the celebration of Ancient Greece as the cradle of Western civilization. This paper will comment on the complex interplay between three temporalities which informed Gaudry’s work on the mammalian fossils of Attica: (1) the reconstructed paleontological past, (2) the idealized Ancient Greece, and (3) the present geopolitical context.