Early man, hairy man ? Meanings and implications of the representations of hairs in prehistoric imagination

In this article, we will conduct a detailed review on the topic of hairiness in the prehistoric area during the late 19th century. We will endeavour to understand its way of self‐representation, or lack thereof, as a space where poetic, scientific and ontological matters are at stake. This will allow us to develop an epistemocritical point of view concerning this imagery, built both on scientific and popular productions. Based on a repertory of pictural and textual representations, originating from both pop culture as well as erudite and elitist sources, but also caricatures and teratological exhibitions referring more or less expressly to prehistoric times, we will study the potential concepts of humanity grasped by this issue, and we will analyze the poetical, aesthetical but also ideological and philosophical challenges raised in the process