Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

Capellini (1877, p. 51) then reported that he had found examples of the kind of tool that might have made the cuts on the bones: “In the vicinity of the remains of the Balaenotus of Poggiarone, I collected some flint blades, lost in the actual beach deposits.” He added: “with those same flint implements I was able to reproduce on fresh cetacean bones the exact same marks found on the fossil whale bones” (Capellini 1877, p. 51).

“Before leaving the environs of Siena,” Capellini (1877, p. 51) went on to explain, “I should point out that the remains of a human being found in 1856 by the Abbé Deo Gratias in the marine Pliocene clays of Savona in Liguria can be referred to approximately the same geological horizon as Poggiarone and other locales in Tuscany where I have found numerous cetacean remains.” The details of the discovery of human skeletal remains in the Pliocene at Savona will be discussed at length in Chapter 6, which also contains many other such reports. For now, it will be sufficient to note that the discoveries of incised bones in the middle and late nineteenth century were accompanied by a great many simultaneous discoveries of flint implements and actual human skeletal remains in Pliocene and Miocene strata. These discoveries are practically never mentioned in modern textbooks. It bears repeating that the existence of human beings of the modern type in the Pliocene period would completely demolish the presently accepted evolutionary picture of human origins.

Capellini then discussed another find of human skeletal remains that he believed to be contemporary with the incised whale bones he had discovered in Pliocene strata. “In my first notice on Pliocene man in Tuscany (Nov. 1875) I mentioned the human cranium discovered by Professor Cocchi in the upper valley of the Arno, in Tuscany, and for the moment I accepted the conclusions given by my associate concerning the age of the strata in which the cranium was found.” Cocchi had given them a Pleistocene date.

“Dr. F. Major, however,” said Capellini (1877, pp. 51–52) to his colleagues at the Congress of Budapest, “has for many years been particularly interested in studying the fossil vertebrates of the upper valley of the Arno, and after new researches into the geological position of the human skull found at Olmo has reached an opinion contrary to that of Professor Cocchi. According to Dr. Major, the fossils of the strata in which the cranium of Olmo was found and those collected with the cranium itself by Professor Cocchi prove the Pliocene age of the stratum and that it is contemporary with the marine deposits containing incised bones of small whales.” Modern authorities, however, assign a Pleistocene date to the Olmo skull (Appendix 1.2.1).

“Some months after the discovery of the Balaenotus of Poggiarone,” continued Capellini (1877, p. 52), “I was, by means of similar discoveries, able to conclude that Pliocene man was present on other islands in the Tuscan archipelago. In examining the numerous remains of fossil cetaceans which Sir R. Lawley recently contributed to the museum of Florence, I discovered a fragment of a humerus and three fragments of cubitus with marks just as well-defined and instructive as those in question. Among the remains of Balaenotus from La Collinella, near Castelnuovo della Misericordia in the valley of the Fine, there have been recovered a good number with incrustations of gypsum. It was in the course of removing these incrustations, aided by the preparator E. Bercigli, that I noticed the markings. Shortly thereafter, the specimens were examined and the marks confirmed by M. d’Ancona, professor of paleontology, M. Giglioli, professor of zoology and comparative anatomy, Dr. Cavanna, Dr. Ch. Major, and others.”

Many of Italy’s leading scientists concurred with Capellini’s judgement that the markings were caused by sharp instruments manipulated by human beings. Capellini (1877, p. 53) said: “The unanimous opinion of the naturalists of Florence, confirmed by that of the anatomists and naturalists of Bologna, all of whom examined the specimens with great care, was also supported by the academicians of the Rome Society of Lynxes, the names of whom may be found at the end of my published memoir.”

Returning to consideration of the actual specimens, Capellini (1877, p. 53) said: “The Museum of Florence has allowed me to present these precious specimens for the inspection of the members of the Congress. I am very pleased to present them to the assembly because all of you interested in this question can verify that drawings alone do not allow one to appreciate all the fine details that permit us to exclude explanations other than that of a human being or other animal, who operated with the aid of instruments, and who by means of cuts in several directions, mostly deep and confined to a very limited area, was often able to facilitate the breaking of the bone.”