Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

During the latter part of the nineteenth century, fossil whale bones bearing curious marks turned up in Italy. On November 25, 1875, G. Capellini, professor of geology at the University of Bologna, reported to the Institute of Bologna: “Recently as I was cleaning a bone that I myself extracted from the blue Pliocene clay, synchronous with that of the Grey Crag of Anvers, of Astian age, I saw to my great surprise on the dorsal surface a notch and an incision. The former, especially, was so clean cut and deep as to indicate it was made by a very sharp instrument. I am able to say that the bone found is so completely petrified as to preserve all the most delicate details of its microscopic structure; furthermore, it has acquired such hardness that it is not possible to scratch it with a steel point. This circumstance enables us to completely reject suggestions that tend to attribute the marks to modern action” (de Mortillet 1883, p. 56). During further cleaning Capellini discovered three other lighter marks on the bone. He announced this discovery and others that followed at the Academy of Lynxes at Rome and the International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archeology meetings at Budapest in 1876 and Paris in 1878. Capellini, a founding member of the Congress, was a prominent member of the European scientific community.

The whale bones studied by Capellini were from the extinct small baleen whale Balaenotus, which is characteristic of the Late Pliocene of Europe (Romer 1966, p. 393). This confirms Capellini’s assignment of his discoveries to the Pliocene.

In 1876, Capellini showed his principal specimens at the Congress at Budapest, where he told the members (1877, pp. 46–47): “For fifteen years I have been researching and studying cetacean fossils. After my work on the Balaenopteridae in the province of Bologna, I decided to undertake researches into the baleen whales of Tuscany. . . . By the kindness of Professor D’Ancona, I was able to examine at my leisure the remains of fossil baleen whales at the Museum of Natural History of Florence. I then became convinced of the great importance of extending my researches beyond the specimens in the glass cases and dusty vaults of the museums. I was certain that direct investigations in the strata that had already yielded much precious material would be extremely fruitful for further progress in the study of fossil whales.”

We shall now consider Capellini’s extensive report in detail, making liberal use of direct quotations, translated from the original French. This procedure is being followed for the two reasons previously mentioned: (1) a report, in this case a very important one, is itself, for all practical purposes, the evidence; and (2) readers could not otherwise obtain the original report except by referring to a rare nineteenth-century volume of conference proceedings.

“In October of 1875,” continued Capellini (1877, p. 47), “I journeyed to Siena to continue my stratigraphic studies of that region’s Tertiary terrains and at the same time examined the remains of fossil cetaceans in the museum of the Académie des Fisiocritici. On the advice of Dr. Brandini, I also began excavations at Poggiarone, in the neighborhood of Monte Aperto. I was greatly fortunate to make a double discovery: first, I recovered numerous remains of a skeleton of Balaenotus, a fossil cetacean first recognized by van Beneden, and heretofore found only in the Grey Crag of Anvers; and secondly on these very same bones I noticed the first traces of the hand of man, demonstrating the coexistence of human beings with the Pliocene whales of Tuscany.”

Capellini went on to display some samples of his discoveries. “I have the honor,” he said, “of presenting remarkable specimens that bear marks which, by their form and placement on the fossil bones, demonstrate in an irrefutable manner the action of a being manipulating an instrument. This is the opinion of all the most experienced naturalists and anatomists, not only in Italy, but from all over Europe, who have examined these specimens, judging them without preconceived ideas” (Capellini 1877, p. 47). It may be noted that by considering the “form and placement” of the cuts, Capellini was adhering to modern criteria for distinguishing human workmanship from animal gnawing on bone. His reference to scientists tending to have “preconceived ideas” is particularly relevant to our discussion.