ABSTRACT
Images of hairy hominoids, at least partly comparable to figures described previously, occur on all continents outside of Asia. In this chapter I must therefore be selective and attend only to cases that illuminate particular issues raised in preceding discussions of Southeast Asian wildmen. I begin with the European wildman. This is not because the continent is contiguous with regions of Asia discussed in the previous chapter-indeed, the European representation reveals relatively little continuity with wildmen of the Caucasusbut to facilitate consideration of possible influence of European images on European reports of hairy hominoids from North America, Australia and elsewhere. If not direct, this influence can be traced through an emerging palaeoanthropology and primatology, themselves influenced by figures of pre-Enlightenment European thought.
