Les Origines de l’homme américain

work by Rivet

Written by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last updated

July 2, 2026

Quick Summary

Paul Rivet's work, Les Origines de l’homme américain (The Origins of American Man), published in 1943, proposed a theory about the origins of Indigenous peoples in South America. Rivet, a French ethnologist, suggested that Asia was not the only source of early Americans.12

He hypothesized that there were migrations from Australia approximately 6,000 years ago, followed by migrations from Melanesia. Rivet presented linguistic and anthropological evidence to support his thesis on these migrations. He also founded the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Man) in Paris in 1937.12

Summary created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

2 Britannica Sources

Ask Britannica AI about this topic

Britannica doesn't have a full article on this topic, so we've curated a list of our relevant coverage.

Paul Rivet
Musée de l’Homme and later career
In 1943 he published Les Origines de l’homme américain (“The Origins of American Man”), which contained linguistic and anthropological evidence supporting his thesis on the origins of early Americans. In the book he hypothesized that Asia was not the sole place of origin of the early Americans and that…
Read More
In 1943 he published Les Origines de l’homme américain (“The Origins of American Man”), which contained linguistic and anthropological evidence supporting his thesis on the origins of early Americans. In the book he hypothesized that Asia was not the sole place of origin of the early Americans and that…
Read More