Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

About marks on stones from Miocene formations, de Mortillet, as mentioned above, admitted that “the cause is not easily recognized.” It is known that glaciers can groove bedrock, but this phenomenon is not applicable to grooved stones (or fossil bones) from preglacial Miocene formations. De Mortillet mentioned a grooved piece of quartzite. But quartzite is a very hard rock (7 on the Mohs scale of hardness, with talc at 1 and diamond at 10). It would thus require a harder mineral, which de Mortillet did not name, and extreme pressure, which de Mortillet did not explain, to mark quartzite with deep grooves. One must also consider the possibility that grooves in quartzite might be caused by chemical corrosion and recrystallization rather than cutting.

It is apparent that neither we nor de Mortillet know for certain what produced the grooves in the quartzite rock he found at Tavel. But it is probably not the same agency that would produce grooves on bone, a very different material, found in a freshwater deposit of calcified sand (de Mortillet 1883, p. 49). In essence, we find de Mortillet proposing that we should accept a completely unknown geological mechanism to explain the marks on the rhinoceros jaw of Billy, in preference to the known mechanism of human action. Although de Mortillet may be right, he offers insufficient evidence to justify his view.

Another factor to consider is the character and placement of the marks on the rhinoceros jaw of Billy. A highly regarded modern authority on cut bones is Lewis R. Binford, an anthropologist from the University of New Mexico at Albuquerque. In Bones: Ancient Men and Modern Myths, a comprehensive study of incised faunal remains, Binford pointed out that a key element in distinguishing human incisions from others is the exact placement of the marks. Extensive research has shown that in almost all cultures, ancient and modern, butchering marks tend to occur, though with some degree of variation, on specific bones and in specific locations on those bones, as dictated by the anatomy of the animal. For example, Binford (1981, p. 101) stated: “Marks on the mandible [lower jaw] tend to be slightly oblique incised marks on the inside of the mandible generally opposite the M2 tooth [second molar]. The marks are believed to originate from the underside of the mandible and to be related to the severing of the mylohyoid muscle during the removal of the tongue.” The marks described by Laussedat appear to conform to this general description, but because no drawing or photo accompanied the available reports on the Billy jawbone, this remains to be more exactly confirmed.

The marks on the jawbone of Billy, which Laussedat described as a group of short parallel cuts, also appear to be consistent with the type of pattern that might be made by stone implements. According to Binford (1981, p. 105): “Most of the cut marks made on bones with metal tools are almost hairline in size. . . . the marks are generally long, resulting from cuts running across tissue for considerable distances. Cutting with stone tools requires a much less continuous action, more of a series of short parallel strokes. . . . Marks from stone tools tend to be short, occurring in groups of parallel marks, and to have a more open cross section.”

It seems difficult to categorically reject human action on the rhinoceros jawbone of Billy, at least on the basis of the available published information. The action of carnivores can be safely ruled out. The geological explanation proposed by de Mortillet appears unlikely. The cut marks are on a bone that typically would be cut in butchering operations, and they appear to be in an appropriate location on the bone. In addition, the short length and parallel grouping of the marks resembles the pattern to be expected from the use of stone tools. So despite de Mortillet’s objections, it does not seem impossible that a stone instrument pressed forcefully on a bone could make the kind of marks found on the Miocene rhinoceros fossil from Billy, France.

2.7 Colline de Sansan, France ( Middle Miocene)

The report of the rhinoceros jaw of Billy led to the opening, at the meeting of the French Academy of Sciences on April 20, 1868, of a sealed packet deposited at the Academy on May 16, 1864 by the researchers F. Garrigou and H. Filhol. These gentlemen wrote on that date: “We now have sufficient evidence to permit us to suppose that the contemporaneity of human beings and Miocene mammals is demonstrated” (Garrigou and Filhol 1868, p. 819). This evidence was a collection of bones, apparently intentionally broken, from Sansan (Gers), France. Especially noteworthy were broken bones of the small deer Dicrocerus elegans. The bone beds of Sansan were judged to be of Middle Miocene age (Mayencian). One may consider the devastating effect that the presence of human beings about