Finding Time For The Old Stone Age: A History O... May 2026

O'Connor highlights that the history of this field was built not just by professors and museum keepers, but by a "colourful cast" of everyday professionals:

Finding Time for the Old Stone Age: A History of Palaeolithic Archaeology and Quaternary Geology in Britain, 1860-1960 Finding Time for the Old Stone Age: A History o...

Categorizing the evolution of stone tool technologies. Key Themes and Characters O'Connor highlights that the history of this field

The book centers on the mid-19th-century discovery of stone implements found alongside the remains of extinct animals. These finds proved humans were far older than previously believed, but determining exactly how old required reconciling several "clocks": Wine sellers, diamond merchants, clerks, and papermakers all

Studying the layers of the Earth and Quaternary deposits.

Wine sellers, diamond merchants, clerks, and papermakers all proposed competing timescales.

The book uses personal correspondence to illustrate the often-heated arguments—sometimes leading to physical altercations—as these pioneers fought to establish their theories.