Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

Moir himself (1924, p. 647) informs us that Breuil “definitely accepted the view that the sub-Crag implements were made by man.” In 1922, after visiting sub-Crag sites at Thorington Hall and Bramford, Breuil (1922, p. 228) wrote: “The level in which the flints are found represents a land surface that existed prior to the invasion of the Red Crag seas, which occurred in the upper Pliocene, bringing in a fauna adapted to the cold. There certainly does exist cause for mistaken identification of implements, such as intense compression of the soil, which, by means of mechanical action, many times produced examples of flaking and fracturing, including bulbed flakes, with edges showing chipping resembling retouching and signs of utilization. Nevertheless, there are some flint specimens that bear very well-defined bulbs of percussion, manifesting patterns of flaking that could only be obtained by removing successive flakes by repeated blows in the same direction. This flaking oftentimes gives the appearance of retouching, and absolutely resembles flaking of human origin. I am not aware of any action of compression that could produce these results. The mechanical action of rivers or the sea can also be eliminated as causes, as can thermal action. There are some flints that show evidence of having been burned. I reject the majority of rostrocarinates [a type of eolith] as not being the product of intentional work, but I do accept as the true product of intentional work an important number of specimens. These are not simply eoliths but are absolutely indistinguishable from classic flint implements.”

Breuil’s statement that some of the objects from below the Red Crag were “absolutely indistinguishable from classic flint implements” is highly significant. The sub-Crag formations, which lie between the Late Pliocene Red Crag and the Eocene London Clay, could be anywhere from 2 to 55 million years old. We thus have a situation analogous to that at the Belle-Assise site in France, where Breuil found in Eocene formations two “pseudomorphs” resembling classic Paleolithic implements of the Late Pleistocene. In the case of the sub-Crag implements Breuil stated he was “not aware of any action of compression that could produce these results.” This differed from the position he took regarding the two specimens from the Eocene of Belle-Assise, namely, that they were produced by geological compression. Breuil’s views about the authenticity of some of Moir’s implements nevertheless add considerable weight to the conclusion that the objects found at Belle-Assise were also the product of intentional human work rather than geological compression. One wonders why, if Breuil was prepared to accept the sub-Crag objects were manufactured by humans, he did not change his views about the two objects found at Belle-Assise.

Breuil, once an avid supporter of Moir’s finds, apparently became noncommital later on. In a late edition of Men of the Old Stone Age, published posthumously, Breuil and Raymond Lantier (1965, p. 56), in considering the Crag specimens, stated only that “traces of fire and a certain number of flakes might be accepted, though their angle of cut is generally against it.” One wonders why there is no mention of the objects Breuil (1922, p. 28) previously said were “not simply eoliths but are absolutely indistinguishable from classic flint implements.”

3.4.8 Barnes and the Platform Angle Controversy

Another important element in the eolith controversy was the platform angle test, promoted by Alfred S. Barnes. Barnes, who defended Moir against attacks by Haward and Warren in the 1920s, later became opposed. In 1939, he delivered what many authorities still regard as the death blow to the Red Crag and Cromer Forest Bed tools. But Barnes did not limit his attention to East Anglia. In his study, titled “The Differences Between Natural and Human Flaking on Prehistoric Flint Implements,” Barnes (1939, p. 99) considered stone tool industries from France, Portugal, Belgium, and Argentina, as well as those of Moir.