ABSTRACT
The appearance of Darwin's evolutionary thesis (1859) created a commotion, and its centenary generated a spate of commemorative volumes. A new thoroughgoing study of the 1951 skeleton of Dryopithecus (Proconsul) africanus in modern perspective would probably also be rewarding to theoretical evolutionary anthropology. Hence it seems reasonable to speak of normal science in evolutionary anthropology. The 19th-century ape model and the burgeoning research provoked by it during the past century seem to satisfy Kuhn's criteria for the establishment of a normal science. This chapter refers to the ape paradigm as the foundation of a normal science of evolutionary anthropology, especially in the aspect which deals with the emergence and other early phases of the hominid career. Consequently, contrary to Washburn's commentaries on the subject, there is no unequivocal direct evidence to support a knuckle-walking stage in hominid evolution. The chapter concludes with a brief commentary on normal science in evolutionary anthropology.
