Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

Figure 2.3. Tooth of Carcharodon megalodon, a Pliocene great white shark (G. de Mortillet and A. de Mortillet 1881, plate 4, figure 19).

The bones we saw were from a small Pliocene species of baleen whale. The marks on one bone, a jaw fragment, were the subject of a report by Thomas A. Deméré and Richard A. Cerutti (1982 ) of the San Diego Natural History Museum. The ventral margin of the jaw fragment showed a pair of V-shaped grooves that ran transversely to that surface (Deméré and Cerutti 1982, p. 1480). One of the marks measured 16 mm (0.63 inch) long, and slightly curved. The other one ran 11 mm (0.43 inch) in a straight line. Our inspection of the incisions through a magnifying lens showed evenly spaced parallel longitudinal striations such as one would expect from the serrated edge of a shark’s tooth ( Figure 2.3). Even so, Deméré, who showed us the marked fossil at the San Diego Natural History Museum paleontology collection on May 31, 1990, stated that as far as he was concerned these V-shaped incisions alone were inconclusive. That is to say, they might have been caused by something other than shark teeth.

More useful for diagnostic purposes was another mark on the bone. Deméré and Cerutti (1982, p. 1480) described this as a beveled surface “characterized by 12 sinuous but parallel small-scale ridges and grooves.” Deméré and Cerutti (1982, p. 1480) went on to state: “This very distinctive pattern has been duplicated by us using a piece of paraffin and a tooth from the Pliocene great white shark, Carcharodon sulcidens Agassiz, 1843. . . . The teeth of Carcharodon are characterized by serrated

Figure 2.4. Pattern of grooves and ridges produced by a serrated shark tooth moving across the surface of a whale bone (Deméré and Cerutti 1982, p. 1481).

margins.” The pattern of grooves and ridges observed on the fossil whale bone (Figure 2.4) could have been produced by a glancing blow, with the edge of the tooth scraping along the surface of the bone rather than cutting into it. With this knowledge, it should be possible to reexamine the Pliocene whale bones of Italy and arrive at some fairly definite conclusions as to whether or not the marks on them were made by shark teeth. Patterns of parallel ridges and grooves on the surfaces of the fossils, such as those described by Deméré and Cerutti, would be an almost certain sign of shark predation or scavenging. And if close examination of deep Vshaped cuts also revealed evenly spaced, parallel longitudinal striations, that, too, would have to be taken as evidence that shark teeth made the cuts. One would not expect the surfaces of marks made by flint blades to display evenly spaced striations.

Even so, care would have to be taken to examine each and every cut on the fossil whale bones. Deméré and Cerutti (1982, p. 1480) reported that carcasses of sea otters, with the bones marked by shark teeth, have been found washed up on the California coast. One can imagine that in the past a whale carcass, partially devoured by sharks, might similarly have washed ashore, and then been butchered by humans. Therefore fossil whale bones might bear both the marks of shark teeth and human implements.

The following statement by Deméré and Cerutti (1982, p. 1480) calls attention to one of the drawbacks of the way anomalous evidence is treated by the scientific community: “It appears then that our fossil specimen preserves a late Pliocene scavenging and/or predator event by Carcharodon on cetaceans. To our knowledge this represents the first well-documented report of such activity.” It is significant that two working paleontologists, with a special interest in shark teeth and whale bones, were unaware of the extensive debate that occurred in the nineteenth century on the topic of possible Carcharadon (versus human) markings on Pliocene cetaceans. Therefore, rather than casting controversial evidence into oblivion, it would be wiser, perhaps, to somehow keep it readily available for further study. That is one purpose of this book.

2.12 Halitherium of Pouance, France (Middle Miocene)

 

In 1867, L. Bourgeois caused a great sensation when he presented to the members of the International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archeology, meeting in Paris, a Halitherium bone bearing marks that appeared to be human incisions (de Mortillet 1883, p. 53). Halitherium is a kind of extinct sea cow, an aquatic marine mammal of the order Sirenia.