William Pengelly

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William Pengelly (12 January 1812 – 16 March 1894) was a geologist and early archaeologist who was one of the first to contribute proof that the Biblical chronology of the earth calculated by Archbishop James Ussher was wrong.

Pengelly excavated at Kents Cavern in Devon in the footsteps of Father John MacEnery. He found similar evidence, of Palaeolithic flint tools and the bones of extinct animals in the same strata, that MacEnery found but had the advantage working in a time of more open geological and religious thinking which enabled him to find support and funding for the publication of his and MacEnery's work.

Working in other caves Pengelly found similar evidence and under the auspices of the Royal Society and the Geological Society, he and Sir John Evans were able to produce a scientific investigation into British prehistory. Their work, along with that of other pioneers such as Jacques Boucher de Crèvecœur de Perthes produced reasoned argument against the Biblical chronology.