Peter Wilhelm Lund’s Scientific Contributions

Abstract

Following Peter Wilhelm Lund’s fortuitous meeting with compatriot Peter Claussen and his first visit to the Maquiné cave in 1834, Lund converted himself into a highly specialized scientist, formulating original concepts not only regarding the fossil bones but also the geology, speleology, and the age and modes of deposition of bones and cave sediments. Most of those topics were addressed in order to provide a robust framework in which the description of the fossil bones, his karst main interest, could be properly understood. In particular, Lund dedicated considerable efforts to understanding the depositional context of the cave bones. In his first forays into caves, Lund attempted to match his observations with the cataclysmic theory of his master, George Cuvier, which stated that a universal deluge would have suddenly killed all animals. However, Lund soon realized that living species were also found in caves, sometimes mixed with older ones. Lund cautiously distanced himself from Cuvier’s ideas, proposing five mechanisms of fossil emplacement in caves: (i) carried in by predators, (ii) the fall of animals in vertical passages, (iii) animals that wandered into caves and got lost, (iv) the death of species that live inside caves, and (v) washed by runoff into caves. The discovery of human fossil bones at the Sumidouro cave allowed Lund to propose the great antiquity of these bones and their contemporaneity with the extinct species; both ideas have been proved correct by modern studies. Lund’s contribution to various disciplines in the Lagoa Santa karst has retained its scientific value nearly 200 years later.

“Future explorers of the caves in those regions will find, in these pages, a reliable guide that will orientate them in the research of their treasures and in determining their age”.

Lund (1837) discoursing on the complex stratigraphy of the sediments in the caves.