Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

At that point Dr. Collyer gave his opinion in favor of human action. The record of the meeting summarized his remarks as follows: “He had carefully examined by aid of a powerful magnifying glass the perforated shark’s teeth. . . . The perforations, to his mind, were the work of man. His reasons were—First, the bevelled conditions of the edges of the perforations. Secondly, the irregularity of the borings. Thirdly, the central position of the holes in the teeth. Fourthly, the choice of the thin portions of the tooth where it would be most easily perforated. Fifthly, the marks of artificial means employed in making the borings. Sixthly, they are at the very place in the tooth that would be chosen in making an instrument of defence or offence, or for ornament in the form of a necklace. Seventhly, the fact that rude races—as the Sandwich Islanders or New Zealanders—have from time immemorial used sharks’ teeth and bored them identically with those exhibited. His reasons for supposing the perforations not to have been produced by molluscs, or boring-worms, or any parasitic animal, were—First, those creatures invariably had a purpose in making a hole for lodgement; it was therefore evident they would not choose the thin portion of the tooth, which would be totally unadapted for the object sought. Secondly, there was not a case on record of any parasite or mollusc or worm boring a fish’s tooth. Thirdly, those animals had no idea that the exact centre of the tooth would be preferable to the lateral portion. Fourthly, had the holes been the result of animal borings, they would have presented a uniform appearance. As to the tooth being perforated by decay, that seemed to him the most extraordinary proposition. The appearance of a decayed tooth had no analogy whatever to the borings presented. Moreover, sharks were not subject to decayed teeth” (Charlesworth 1873, p. 93).

Mr. T. McKenny Hughes then argued against human boring, pointing out that in some cases the holes on the front and back sides of the tooth are not perfectly lined up with each other. It is not, however, obvious how this would preclude human action. Just to consider one possibility, one could easily imagine a worker partially boring the tooth on one side, turning it over, and completing the perforation by boring in from a slightly different angle starting on the other side.

Hughes then offered another curious objection. He observed that the same types of perforation are found on fossils not only in the Crag, a formation on the Plio-Pleistocene boundary, but also on shells in other deposits more ancient, such as the green sandstone strata of Secondary age. He asserted that it was clearly impossible for humans to have existed at this remote time; therefore the perforations in fossils in the green sandstone were clearly natural in origin. And, by analogy, so were the perforations in the shark teeth from the Red Crag. Here is yet another very typical example of preconceptions determining what kind of evidence for human antiquity can be accepted. Another possible way to look at the perforated shells found in the older green sandstone strata is that they also could be the result of the action of human beings. As previously mentioned, the most recent Secondary period is the Cretaceous, which ended about 65 million years ago.

In any case, Hughes suggested that the perforations in the Red Crag shark teeth were caused by a combination of wear, decay, and parasites (Charlesworth 1873, p. 93). Mr. G. Busk presented the same conclusion at the 1872 meeting of the International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archeology in Brussels. In Le Préhistorique, de Mortillet (1883, p. 68) sarcastically remarked that it was really curious how some people searched so obstinately for proof of the existence of Tertiary humans in marine deposits.

But in looking at the arguments presented in this case, both those in favor of human work and those opposed, it would seem that obstinacy is more clearly evident in those who refused to accept the possibility of human action. What are the alternatives that were presented? Some suggested tooth decay, although sharks are not known to have cavities; others suggested parasites, although one of Britain’s leading experts admitted there was no known instance of a parasite inhabiting the teeth of fish or sharks. Others suggested wear had a role to play, though one would be hard pressed to find examples in nature of wear causing clean round holes through the centers of teeth.

2.10 Carved Bone from the Dardanelles, Turkey (Miocene)