Coon, Carleton

Coon, Carleton (Stevens)

(1904–81) anthropologist; born in Wakefield, Mass. Educated at Harvard, he taught there (1934–48) and at the University of Pennsylvania (1948–63). His many expeditions led him to discover the remains of Aterian fossil man (in North Africa in 1939) and the second Jebel Ighoud man (Sierra Leone in 1965). His books include The Seven Caves (1957) and Origin of Races (1962). In his later years his ideas were regarded by many as racialist and were discredited because he contended that the Negroid race had not evolved as far as other races.