Elaine MorganOBE, FRSL, was a Welsh writer for television and the author of several books on evolutionary anthropology, especially the aquatic ape hypothesis which she advocated as a corrective to what she saw as theories which purveyed gendered stereotypes and thus failed to adequately take account of women’s role in human evolution. The Descent of Woman, published in 1972, became an international bestseller translated into ten languages. In 2016, she was named one of "the 50 greatest Welsh men and women of all time" in a press survey.
Elaine Morgan began writing in the 1950s after winning a competition in the New Statesman, successfully publishing, then joining the BBC when it began to produce her plays for television. Morgan's works included popular dramas, newspaper columns, and a series of publications on evolutionary anthropology. Morgan's first book, The Descent of Woman, published in 1972, became an international bestseller translated into ten languages. Her book drew attention to what she saw as sexism inherent in the prevalent savannah-based "man the hunter" theories of human evolution as presented in popular anthropological works by Robert Ardrey, Lionel Tiger and others. She argued that such "Tarzanist" anthropological narratives purveyed gendered stereotypes of women that failed to take adequate account of women's role in human evolution. The Aquatic Ape, The Scars of Evolution, The Descent of the Child, The Aquatic Ape Hypothesis and The Naked Darwinist all explored her alternative account of human evolution in more detail.. She also published Falling Apart: the Rise and Decline of Urban Civization in 1976 and Pinker's List in 2016, a critique of Steven Pinker's The Blank Slate. Morgan wrote for many television series, including the adaptations of How Green Was My Valley and Testament of Youth. Her other work included episodes of Dr. Finlay's Casebook, the biographical drama The Life and Times of David Lloyd George and contributions to the Campion series. She won two BAFTAs and two Writers' Guild awards. She also wrote the script for the Horizon documentary about Joey Deacon, the disabled fund-raiser, so winning the Prix Italia in 1975. She was honoured with the Writer of the Year Award from the Royal Television Society for her serialisation of Vera Brittain's Testament of Youth. In 2003 Morgan started a weekly column for the Welsh daily The Western Mail, which won her the 2011 award of Columnist of the Year in the Society of Editors' Regional Press Awards. She was awarded an honorary D.Litt. by Glamorgan University in December 2006, an honorary fellowship of the University of Cardiff in 2007, and the Letten F. Saugstad Prize for her "contribution to scientific knowledge". Morgan was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 Birthday Honours for services to literature and education. She became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature the same year, and an honorary freeman of Rhondda Cynon Taf in April 2013.
Morgan has promoted a version of the Aquatic ape hypothesis, which proposes that human evolution had an "aquatic phase" in the Miocene or Pliocene epoch. Morgan's first publication was mentioned by E. O. Wilson in 1975, comparing it to other "advocacy approaches" such as The Imperial Animal as an "inevitable feminist" counter, but describing the method as less scientific than other contemporary hypotheses. Morgan's version of the Aquatic ape hypothesis has achieved popular appeal, but is generally ignored by anthropologists and criticized in the scientific community.
Death and legacy
Morgan died at the age of 92 on 12 July 2013. Welsh author Trevor Fishlock described her in an obituary as a writer "who brought out the flavour of Wales." In 2019, Morgan was one of five women on a shortlist for a Cardiff statue.
