When the fossil skeleton discovered in Menton was shown in the Natural History Museum in Paris in 1872, it was the first fossil man to be presented to the public in France. Popular representations of a fossil ape‐man had, however, been circulating in the press since the late 1830s. In fact, at the same time as the scientific debate that ultimately led to the recognition of the existence of prehistoric man, the new profession of science journalist emerged in the public sphere. Once exposed, Menton Man embodied and crystallized rival political positions, which played a part in the debate on the origin of man. In addition, the creation by the press of a public scientific object shaped the image of its scientific counterpart, ‘the discoverer.’ Through the press, in the context of bourgeois tourism in the Riviera, the figure of the palaeontologist of the mass society emerged.