Joseph-Louis Capitan was born in Paris on 19 April 1854. His father, Prosper Aimé Capitan, was a military officer who studied at the École Polytechnique, and his mother was Antoinette Delphine Barbet. Capitan displayed an interest in anthropology and archaeology from a young age. He attended a series of courses taught by the prehistoric archaeologist Gabriel de Mortillet at the École d’Anthropologie [School of Anthropology] in 1872 and was influenced by his views about artifact typology and Paleolithic cultures. Capitan also visited the laboratory of anthropologist Ernest-Théodore Hamy and followed the archaeological work of Théodore Vacquer, a well-known member of the Commission du Vieux Paris [Commission of Old Paris] who studied the Roman and medieval ruins of the city. Capitan studied medicine at the Faculty of Medicine in Paris where he studied under Claude Bernard and Charles Bouchard. He became an intern at the Hôpitaux de Paris in 1878, and in 1880 he and Charles Bouchard created the Laboratory of Pathology and General Therapeutics in the Faculty of Medicine, which Capitan ran until 1888. Capitan completed his doctoral thesis in medicine in 1883 and worked at the Hotel-Dieu and at La Pitié from 1894 to 1899. During this time, he pursued research in bacteriology and published widely on a variety of topics in medicine. His career and personal life was then taking shape, and he married Eugénie Hélène Verdin on 11 February 1884. He was appointed chargé de conférences (lecturer) on pathological anthropology at the École d’Anthropologie in 1892 before being appointed to the chair of medical geography, which he held from 1894 to 1897. After the death of Gabriel de Mortillet, Capitan was appointed to succeed him as the chair of prehistoric anthropology at the École d’Anthropologie in 1898, a position that Capitan held until his death. During World War I, Capitan served as a physician and directed the Department of Contagious Disease at the military hospital, Hôpital Bégin, in Vincennes.

While Capitan pursued research on a range of medical topics, especially during the early portion of his career, he devoted much of his life to prehistoric archaeology. The work of Mortillet and Hamy convinced him of the value of integrating geology, paleontology, archaeology, anthropology, and ethnology in his work on human prehistory. Capitan’s friendship with agronomist Paul Louis Jules Boudy resulted in his first visit to the village of Les Eyzies, located in archaeologically rich Vézère valley in the Dordogne region of France, sometime during 1892 or 1893. Capitan began collaborating with Denis Peyrony in excavations of Paleolithic sites in the region soon thereafter. Peyrony was a schoolteacher in Eyzies-de-Tayac whose own interests in prehistoric archaeology led him to attend the course of lectures taught by Émile Cartailhac in 1894. Capitan’s student, Henri Breuil, soon joined their endeavors. In September 1901 Capitan, Peyrony, and Breuil discovered the decorated caves of Combarelles and of Font-de-Gaume after a local farmer brought Peyrony a small female statue found nearby. The caves bore carvings of animals similar to those found at the Grotte de La Mouthe by the amateur archaeologist Émile Rivière in 1895. Claims made about the discovery Paleolithic paintings and engravings of animals on cave walls were still highly controversial and had been rejected for years by such prominent archaeologists as Émile Cartailhac. But Capitan, Peyrony, and Breuil defended the authenticity of Paleolithic cave art, and their discoveries, along with those of Rivière and others, led archaeologists (particularly Cartailhac) to change their minds about Paleolithic cave paintings. Capitan, Peyrony, and Breuil’s work at Combarelles and Font-de-Gaume led to an important monograph titled La caverne de Font-de-Gaume aux Eyzies (Dordogne), published under the auspices of Albert I of Monaco in 1910 and later Les Combarelles aux Eyzies (Dordogne) published in 1924.

Capitan and Peyrony soon began excavating other Paleolithic sites in the Vézère valley. They first explored the site of La Ferrassie in 1896, but they conducted extensive excavations there from 1902 to 1922. They uncovered a substantial number of Mousterian and Aurignacian artifacts, and over the course of their excavations, they unearthed a total of six Neanderthal skeletons from the site. The first specimen, La Ferrassie 1, was a male skeleton with a nearly complete skull found on 17 September 1909. La Ferrassie 2, an incomplete cranium and skeleton of a female Neanderthal, was found in 1910. In 1912 they discovered the remains of two infants, followed by the skeleton of another infant in 1920. La Ferrassie 6, the nearly complete skeleton of a child, was unearthed in 1921, a year before their excavations there came to an end. The nearly complete nature of the first skeletons discovered and the evidence of ochre on the bones led Capitan and Peyrony to suggest these were Mousterian burials that had involved some kind of ritual. Recognizing the significance of their finds and the importance of having professionally trained paleontologists and archaeologists present to verify the stratigraphic location of the skeletons and ensure they were excavated properly, Capitan invited Marcellin Boule, professor of paleontology at the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle [National Museum of Natural History] in Paris, as well as Émile Cartailhac and Henri Breuil to participate in the excavation of the fossils. All of the La Ferrassie skeletons were given to the National Museum of Natural History.

Capitan collaborated with a range of people in excavations at La Grotte de La Grèze (in 1904) and at La Grotte de la Mairie à Teyjat and Vabri Mège (in 1906, 1908, 1909 and 1912). He also worked with public authorities to classify, protect, and scientifically examine the Paleolithic deposits of the Vézère valley. As a member of the Commission des Monuments historiques [Historic Monuments Commission], Capitan and Peyrony began the first official excavations at La Madeleine in 1910 under the auspices of the Ministere de l’Instruction et des Beaux-Arts. In this work, Capitan received the support of Paul Leon, director of the Beaux-Arts, and Paul Verdier, chief of the Service des Monuments historiques. In addition to his work in Paleolithic archaeology, Capitan was also interested in the pre-Columbian civilizations of Mexico and Peru. He traveled to Mexico and the United States to examine their pre-Columbian antiquities, and he acquired the famous collection of Peruvian artifacts belonging to Captain Paul Berthon. As a consequence of these studies, Capitan became a professor at the Collège de France in 1908 where he occupied the chair of Americanism and taught a course on American antiquity. He also became a member of the Société des Américanistes [Society of Americanists] in 1900, becoming its secretary general in 1908, its vice president in 1922, and its president in 1927. Capitan eventually donated his collection of American ethnographic objects to the Musée d’Ethnographie [Museum of Ethnography]. Similarly, he donated his substantial collection of prehistoric artifacts to the Musée des Antiquités Nationales [Museum of National Antiquities]. And he donated his collection of objects pertaining to Parisian history to the Musée Carnavalet in Paris.

Capitan was a member of an impressive number of professional societies and organizations, and his career reflects the importance of institutions in the careers of scientists at this time. He became a member of the Société d’Anthropologie de Paris [Anthropology Society of Paris] in 1883 and of the Société de Biologie [Biology Society] in 1887. He was appointed a member of the Prehistoric Section of the Commission des Monuments Historiques in 1896 (later serving as vice president and then president of the Commission). He became a member of the Commission Municipale du Vieux-Paris in 1898, becoming its vice president in 1904, and he presided over the rescue excavations the Commission undertook during the construction of the Paris subway. Capitan served as vice president of the 1906 meeting of the Congrès International d’Anthropologie et d’Archéologie Préhistoriques [International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archaeology], which met in Monaco. Capitan became a member of the Académie de Médecine [Academy of Medicine] in 1909. He joined the newly founded Institut Français d’Anthropologie from the time it was established in 1911, and this was not the only new institution that he was involved with.

The First World War caused a massive disruption to the international collaboration of scientists and resulted in a great deal of animosity between French and German scientists. As a consequence, a group of prominent French anthropologists that included Yves Guyot and Henri Weisgerber, (the director and sub-director of the École d’Anthropologie), Georges Hervé, Léonce-Pierre Manouvrier, Adrien de Mortillet, and Louis Capitan circulated a notice on 20 November 1918 calling for the creation of an Institut International d’Anthropologie [International Institute of Anthropology. The purpose of the Institute was to bring together archaeologists and anthropologists after the war. The Institute, created almost entirely by French scientists, differed from the Congrès international d’anthropologie et d’archéologie préhistoriques in that its work focused on the anthropological study of living human populations, rather than prehistoric peoples, and by the fact that scientists from Germany and its allies were excluded from the Institute’s activities. Capitan was involved in the creation of the Institute and was elected Secretary General at its first meeting held in Liege in 1921.

Capitan was also active in several important committees associated with major scientific institutions. He became a member of the Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques [Committee of Historic and Scientific Works] in 1903 and of the comité de perfectionnement [Development Committee] of the Institut de paléontologie humaine [Institute of Human Paleontologie]. He served as a member of the Commission des Monuments mégalithiques [Commission of Megalithic Monuments].¹ Capitan was also an associés correspondant of the Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France [National Society of the Antiquaries of France]. In recognition of his many accomplishments, Capitan was made a Chevalier of the Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honor) in 1918. He published several books on the prehistory of the Vézère valley as well as valuable a monograph on the results of his excavations, conducted with Jean Bouyssonie, of the Paleolithic site of Limeuil titled Un atelier d’art Préhistorique: Limeuil (1924) and a monograph titled La Madeleine: son gisement, son industrie, ses oeuvres d’art (1928) that describes the results of the extensive excavations that he and Denis Peyrony undertook at La Madeleine.

Capitan died in Paris in 1929, but there is some confusion regarding the precise date of his death. His longtime friend and colleague, Denis Peyrony, gave the date of Capitan’s death as 27 August in the obituary he wrote for the Bulletin de la Société historique et archéologique du Périgord. However, the obituaries that appeared in L’Anthropologie, the Journal de la Société des Américanistes, and the Bulletin de la Société nationale des antiquaires de France give the date as 26 August. Confusing the matter further is the fact that some recent accounts of Capitan’s life give the date of his death as 1 September. Capitan published a brief autobiographical account of his scientific career along with a bibliography of his publications in 1911, which was later updated in 1917. See Louis Capitan, Notice sur les travaux scientifiques de M. le docteur Capitan (Paris: Wellhoff & Roche, 1911) and Louis Capitan, Notice sur les travaux originaux de M. le Docteur Capitan. Deuxième partie, 1912-1917 (Paris: Wellhoff & Roche, 1917).

Selected Bibliography

Louis Capitan and Denis Peyrony. “Fouilles à la Ferrassie (Dordogne).” Congrès préhistorique de France compte rendu [1905] (1906): 143-144.

Louis Capitan and Denis Peyrony. “Deux squelettes humains au milieu de foyers de l’époque moustérienne.” Revue d’Anthropologie 19 (1909): 404-409.

Louis Capitan, Henri Breuil, and Denis Peyrony. La caverne de Font-de-Gaume aux Eyzies (Dordogne). Monaco: A. Chêne, 1910

Louis Capitan and Denis Peyrony. “Un nouveau squelette humain fossile.” Revue d’Anthropologie 21 (1911): 148-150.

Louis Capitan and Denis Peyrony. “Station préhistorique de La Ferrassie, commune de Savignac-du-Bugue(Dordogne).” Revue d’Anthropologie 22 (1912): 76-99.

Louis Capitan and Denis Peyrony. “Trois nouveaux squelettes humains fossiles.” Revue d’Anthropologie 22 (1912): 439-442.

Louis Capitan and Henri Lorin. Le travail en Amérique avant et après Colomb. Paris, F. Alcan, 1914.

Louis Capitan and Denis Peyrony. “Nouvelles fouilles à La Ferrassie (Dordogne).”

C. R. Association française pourl’avancement des sciences (1921): 540-542.

Louis Capitan and Denis Peyrony. “Découverte d’un sixième squelette moustérien à la Ferrassie (Dordogne).” Revue d’Anthropologie 31 (1921): 382-388.

Louis Capitan, Henri Breuil, and Denis Peyrony. Les Combarelles aux Eyzies (Dordogne). Paris: Masson, 1924.

Louis Capitan. La préhistoire. Paris: Payot & cie, 1922.

Louis Capitan and Denis Peyrony. L’humanité primitive dans la région des Eyzies. Paris: Stock, 1924.

Louis Capitan. L’Humanité préhistorique dans la vallée de la Vézère. Paris, 1924.

Louis Capitan and Jean Bouyssonie. Un atelier d’art Préhistorique: Limeuil. Son gisement à gravures sur pierres de l’âge du renne. Paris: Librairie É. Nourry, 1924.

Louis Capitan and Denis Peyrony. La Madeleine: son gisement, son industrie, ses oeuvres d’art. Paris: E. Nourry, 1928.

Secondary Sources

M. A. Maurer and R. Vaufrey. “Louis Capitan.” Journal de la Société des Américanistes 21 (1929): 402-409.

Édouard Jeanselme. “Notice sur Capitain (1854-1929).” Bulletins et Mémoires de la Société d’anthropologie de Paris 10 (1929): 77-78.

Peabody Charles. “Dr. Louis Capitan.” American Anthropologist. 32 (1930): 567-568.

Denis Peyrony. “M. le Professeur Docteur Capitan.” Bulletin de la Société historique et archéologique du Périgord 56 (1929): 313-315.

R. Vaufrey, “Nécrologie. Le docteur Louis Capitan.” L’Anthropologie 39 (1929): 349–352.

Miles C. Burkitt. “Professor Louis Capitan.” Man 29 (1929): 194-195.

J. Noir. Le Dr Louis Capitan, professeur, au Collège de France. Eloge prononcé au Comité d’Etudes historiques et archéologiques ‘La Montagne Sainte-Geneviève et ses abords’. Clermont [Oise]: Thiron et Cie, 1929.

Roman d’Amat. “Capitan (Joseph-Louis).” In J. Balteau et al. (eds.). Dictionnaire de biographie française. Vol. 7, pp. 1066-1067. Paris: Librairie Latouzey et Ané, 1956.

Evelyne Gran-Aymerich and Jean Gran-Aymerich. “Les grands archéologues: Louis Capitan.” Archéologia 1985, p. 79-82.

Gran-Aymerich Eve. – Dictionnaire biographique d’archéologie (1798-1945). Paris : CNRS Éditions, 2001.

Notes