Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

But then Coles (1968, p. 27) shifted to negative expressions: “These sites, however, are not generally accepted as showing any sign of man’s activity.” In fact, there is no “general acceptance” of any of Moir’s sites. But to what extent does general acceptance reflect the actual truth regarding the human manufacture of Moir’s implements? Coles himself admitted that the flaking on the Forest Bed specimens had probably not been accomplished by the action of waves but did not himself propose any specific alternative explanation.

Coles (1968, p. 24) went on to say: “The sites lay on the foreshore, and Moir believed that the occupation had taken place on the Stone Bed, and that it should therefore extend under the cliffs at Cromer.” But Coles (1968, p. 27) asserted that “the flint deposit is believed to occur only on the foreshore, and not to extend under the Cromer Forest Bed in the cliffs at Cromer.”

Coles appears to have been wrong about this. West (1980), who conducted extensive geological research on the Cromer Forest Bed Formation, made several references to the Cromer Stone Bed underlying the Cromer Forest Bed formations. He identified it as the source of the flints found on the foreshore at various locations and said it was of the same general age as the top part of the Norwich Crag (Table 2.1, p. 78). The Stone Bed, and any implements from it, would thus be about 1.0 to 1.5 million years old.

And about the Foxhall implements, from bands of black sediment in the middle of the Red Crag, Coles (1968, p. 29) had this to say: “they, and they alone, were stratified in such a position as to make their presence and fracturing in situ under the conditions envisaged by Warren most unlikely.”

This statement is not completely accurate. Capitan reported that the implements from the detritus bed below the Red Crag were also found in conditions that ruled out natural fracture by either pressure or impact (Section 3.3.8). As at Foxhall, the implements were found in sandy deposits, distant from other pieces of flint. Burkitt made similar observations (Section 3.3.13).

In any case, Coles (1968, p. 24) made this favorable comment about the implement-bearing layers at Foxhall: “Above and below were horizontally stratified clean sand deposits, showing no evidence of natural agencies sufficient to flake the flints found sporadically in the two dark layers.” The flints were also unrolled. Their sharp edges indicated to Coles that the flaking was human in origin. The random battering of natural forces tends not to preserve sharp edges.

Coles (1968, p. 29) further explained that the dark layers in which the flints were found “may represent temporary periods of land exposure during a general marine phase in this area.” In other words, the layers represent a probable habitation site. Coles (1968, p. 29) added that the relative rarity of the flints, as well as the fact that it was hard to account for their presence by natural means, indicated that they arrived at their positions in the dark layers in the Red Crag by artificial (that is to say, human) agencies.

“Unfortunately, however,” said Coles (1968, p. 29), “few of the flints found by Moir are convincing; a number are small flakes little over one inch in length, others are larger with edge flaking. One or two are bifacially retouched.”

The presence of bifacial retouch (retouching on both sides of an edge) is an extremely good indication of human manufacture. Leland W. Patterson, an expert on lithic technology, stated (1983, p. 304): “random forces could seldom produce a long interval of bifacially retouched edge that is sharp. Natural fractures tend to produce blunt and rounded bifacial edges, because of the steep transverse nature of most natural fracture.” That even one bifacially retouched implement was found at Foxhall is highly significant. It means that the other flakes cannot be so easily dismissed.

The fact that many of the flaked objects found at Foxhall are small does not rule out human manufacture. At many sites, small flakes are regarded as byproducts of the tool manufacturing process. Another possibility is that the small flakes themselves might have been used as implements. John Gowlett (1984, p.144) wrote in Ascent to Civilization: “Microliths are very small stone tools, generally 3 cm long [about 1.2 inches] or less, made from small flakes or segments of blades. Usually one side has been blunted by the ‘backing’ technique, a form of retouching in which tiny flakes are struck off the edge. . . . flakes which lack retouch are just as likely to have been used as tools.”