Paul Rivet

Paul Rivet (7 May 1876, Wasigny, Ardennes – 21 March 1958) was a French ethnologist; he founded the Musée de l'Homme in 1937. In his professional work, Rivet is known for his theory that South America was originally populated in part by migrants who sailed there from Australia and Melanesia.

Early life and education

Paul Rivet was born in Wasigny, Ardennes in 1876. He attended local schools and university, studying to be a doctor.

Career

Trained as a physician, in 1901 he took part in the Second French Geodesic Mission for survey measurements of the length of a meridian arc to Ecuador. He remained for five years in South America, where he was mentored by Federico González Suárez, an Ecuadorian bishop, historian and archaeologist. Rivet became interested in the indigenous peoples, beginning an ethnographic study of the Huaorani people of the Ecuadorian Amazon, then known as the Jívaro. Returning to France, Rivet went to work with the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle, directed by René Verneau.