Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

The procedures employed today (Appendix 1.3.2.1) are much more exacting than those used by the radiocarbon laboratories that dated Reck’s skeleton in the early 1970s.

The radiocarbon method is applied only to the collagen, or protein, fraction of the bone. This protein must be extracted from the rest of the bone by an extremely rigorous purification process.

Scientists then determine whether a sample’s amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) correspond to those found in collagen. If they do not correspond, this suggests that amino acids may have entered the bone from outside. According to Jeffrey Bada (1985a, pp. 256–257), who conducted extensive research at Olduvai Gorge, bones can absorb amino acids from groundwater. These amino acids, being of a different age than the bone, could yield a falsely young radiocarbon date.

Even though a bone has a noncollagen profile, the amino acids could still be original to the bone (the collagen could have decayed, leaving only some of its constituent amino acids). In all cases, one should therefore date each amino acid separately. If any of the amino acids yield dates different from any of the others, this suggests the bone is contaminated and not suitable for carbon 14 dating.

Concerning the radiocarbon tests on Reck’s skeleton reported by Protsch, the laboratories that performed them could not have dated each amino acid separately. This requires a dating technique (accelerator mass spectrometry) that was not in use in the early 1970s. Neither could these labs have been aware of the stringent protein purification techniques now deemed necessary.

Is it fair to subject Protsch’s dating of Reck’s skeleton to such retrospective criticism? After all, the requirements we are talking about were not in effect then. But if modern authorities are correct, and the rigorous purification and dating procedures outlined in Appendix 1.3.2.1 are actually necessary, then it is not unfair to measure Protsch’s study against these standards. And when we do so, we can only conclude that the radiocarbon date Protsch gave for Reck’s skeleton is unreliable. In particular, the date could very well be falsely young.

There are documented cases of bones from Olduvai Gorge giving falsely young radiocarbon dates. For example, a bone from the Upper Ndutu beds yielded an age of 3,340 years. The Upper Ndutu beds, part of what used to be called Bed V, are from 32,000 to 60,000 years old. A date of 3,340 years would thus be too young by at least a factor of ten. Bada (1985a, p. 255) attributed the unexpectedly young radiocarbon date to deterioration of the bone’s original collagen and contamination by secondary carbon compounds from the ground. The radiocarbon dating of Reck’s skeleton is thus questionable.

From his radiocarbon date of 16,920 years, Protsch came to the conclusion that the skeleton had been buried in Bed II during the deposition of the upper part of Bed V, which formed after Beds III and IV had been eroded (Protsch 1974, p. 384). Uppermost Bed V, now called the Naisiusiu formation, also yielded fossil material (an ostrich egg shell) with a radiocarbon date of approximately 17,000 years.

Nevertheless, burial from upper Bed V times still seems somewhat problematic. From the reports of Leakey, Hopwood, and others, it is apparent that as little as a few hundred years ago, the spot where Reck’s skeleton was found would have been covered by intact Bed V. How much of Bed V is hard to tell, but Louis Leakey (1932b) reported that between 1913 and 1931 the land surface at the site had eroded 6 inches. And at the base Bed V there would have been a hard layer of calcrete, 10 to 12 inches thick.

Furthermore, Bed II itself was quite hard. According to the original reports of the excavation, Reck’s skeleton had to be taken out with the aid of hammers and chisels. It hardly seems likely that primitive tribal people would have engaged in the arduous efforts necessary to dig a grave in such resistant rock. One way around this difficulty is to suppose, contrary to the geological evidence, that 17,000 years ago the Bed V calcrete was not present and that the Bed II sediments were still soft a million years after they were deposited—a highly improbable scenario.

Protsch also reported uranium content test results of 3 parts per million for both some middle Bed V faunal remains and Reck’s skeleton (now called Olduvai Hominid 1). But he correctly pointed out that the specimens were from different localities, which reduces the value of the comparison. Uranium isotopes may accumulate at vastly different rates in different localities (Protsch 1974, p. 384).