C. Loring Brace

1930-Present

    Charles Loring Brace was born in 1930 in Hanover, New Hampshire to parents Gerald and Huldah Brace. Brace first became interested in anthropology as a child when he read Meet Your Ancestors by Roy Chapman Andrews. He followed up on the book at the public library and thus began what would become his career. He received his bachelor’s degree in geology at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. He first earned his masters degree at Harvard University and then followed it with his Ph.D. in 1962.

    In his paper, "Refocusing on the Neanderthal Problem", published in American Anthropologist in 1962, Brace argued that the Neanderthals were the ancestors to early Homo sapiens. His paper and theory stirred up much criticism amongst his colleagues, though it did generate more study and research into the Neanderthals and their possible link to the evolution of modern humans.

    In 1967 Brace directed his research toward finding a link between different groups of peoples in different parts of the world. Through extensive work and taking many measurements, he found a very close link between the prehistoric Joman of Japan and the material from the Lagoa Santa site in Brazil. 

    Brace considers “the attempt to introduce a Darwinian outlook into biological anthropology” to be his greatest contribution to the field of anthropology. He also believes that a good anthropology program must be represented in its four sub-fields of archaeology, biological anthropology, ethnology, and linguistics. After brief teaching stints at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and the University of California, Santa Barbara, Brace took a position at the University of Michigan, where he is currently Professor of Anthropology at the Department of Anthropology and also Curator for Biological Anthropology  Museum of Anthropology in Ann Arbor.

He is also the author, co-author, or compiler of several books, including:

Man's Evolution: An Introduction to Physical Anthropology (1965.)

The Stages Of Human Evolution: Human And Cultural Origins (1967)

Atlas of Fossil Man. C. Loring Brace, Harry Nelson, and Noel Korn (1971)

Race and Intelligence. Edited by C. Loring Brace, George R. Gamble, and James T. Bond. Washington: American Anthropological Association, 1971.

Man In Evolutionary Perspective. Compiled by C. Loring Brace and James Metress (1973)

Human Evolution: An Introduction to Biological Anthropology. C. L. Brace and Ashley Montagu (1977)

Atlas of Human Evolution (1979)

The Stages Of Human Evolution: Human And Cultural Origins (1979)

References:

Brace, C. Loring. Personal interview by e-mail. December 1, 1999.

University of Michigan Museum of Anthropology. Accessed December 1, 1999. http://www.umma.lsa.umich.edu

WebPals. MnSCU/PALS. Last modified October 10, 1997. Accessed December 1, 1999. (http://www.pals.msus.edu)

http://www.lsa.umich.edu/umma/currentresearch. Accessed June 8, 2009.

http://www.lsa.umich.edu/anthro/faculty_staff/brace.html. Accessed June 8, 2009.

http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/C._Loring_Brace. Accessed June 8, 2009.

Written by:  Erin Potter

Edited by: Lillian Dolentz, 2009