Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

On April 13, 1868, A. Laussedat informed the French Academy of Sciences that P. Bertrand had sent him two fragments of a lower jaw of a rhinoceros. They were from a pit near Billy, France. One of the fragments had four very deep grooves on it. These grooves, situated on the lower part of the bone, were approximately parallel and inclined at a 40-degree angle to the longitudinal axis of the bone. They were 1–2 centimeters (a half inch or so) in length, and the deepest was 6 mm (a quarter inch) in depth (Laussedat 1868, p. 752). According to Laussedat, the cut marks appeared in cross section like those made by a hatchet on a piece of hard wood. And so he thought the marks had been made in the same way, that is, with a handheld stone chopping instrument, when the bone was fresh. That indicated to Laussedat (1868, p. 753) that humans had been contemporary with the fossil rhino in a geologically remote time.

Just how remote is shown by the fact that the jawbone was found in a calcareous sand stratum at a depth of 8 meters (26 feet), in between other strata of the Mayencian age of the Middle Miocene. Furthermore, the incised jawbone was from a species, Rhinoceros pleuroceros, judged by Laussedat to be characteristic of the Early Miocene. According to modern authorities (Savage and Russell 1983, p. 214), Rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus) pleuroceros occurs in the Agenian land mammal age of the Early Miocene.

At the meeting of the Academy of Sciences, Mr. Hebert asked if one could be sure of the authenticity of the incisions on the fossil. Edouard Lartet responded with a demonstration that the marks, the surfaces of which had the same appearance as the other parts of the bone, indeed dated from the time of burial (de Mortillet 1883, p. 49).

By what agency were the marks produced? De Mortillet (1883, p. 50) rejected straightaway the idea of gnawing by carnivores, because the incisions did not display the appropriate characteristics. Animal gnawing tends to be accompanied by significant destruction of the bone, whereas the rhinoceros jawbone from Billy bore only the four rather clear incisions. Were they produced by human beings? De Mortillet thought not. The imprints of a stone edge used as a saw are easily recognizable, and there were no traces of sawing on the bone. Because of their irregular edges, cutting instruments of stone generally leave small striations along the longitudinal axis of the V-shaped groove produced. But on the markings of the Billy fossil the striations were said to be transverse to this axis, i.e., running from the top of the cut, vertically down to the bottom of the groove. Furthermore, the marks on the jawbone were wider and deeper than might be expected from the action of a thin stone blade drawn across the bone.

De Mortillet thought the marks were not produced by a stone chopping instrument as proposed by Laussedat. The blow of a stone handaxe, according to de Mortillet, leaves an imprint with rounded sides. The marks on the jawbone of Billy, however, were straight-sided, and could not, in the opinion of de Mortillet, have been the result of a stone hatchet blow. Furthermore, he noted that the mark of the blow of a hatchet is distinguished by a surface clean and sharp on the side hit by the blade, and abrupt and rough on the side from which the splinter of bone separates. In the imprints on the jaw of Billy, this feature was, said de Mortillet, absent (1883, p. 50).

What then had been the cause? De Mortillet, sticking to his usual explanation, wrote in Le Préhistorique (1883, pp. 50 –51): “They are simply geological impressions. All geologists know that there exist in many terrains, especially Miocene, rocks that have profound impressions on them. The cause is not easily recognized, but the fact that it has been observed is incontestable. There is a great similarity between the marks on some of these rocks and those on the jaw of Billy. I have collected at Tavel (Gard), and given to the museum of Saint-Germain, a quartzite rock, a very hard rock, bearing marks completely analogous to those on the specimen presented by Mr. Laussedat. On examining with care and at length this bone, one notices on one of the extremities a small impression produced by crushing. There is no removal of material, simply compression. This impression, which is of the same aspect as the other marks on the bone, is their contemporary and serves to explain them.”