Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

Considering that Gowlett was prepared to find evidence of toolmaking humans in Europe at 1.5 million years ago, it is odd to find him stating that the Cromer Forest Bed contains “no archaeological traces” (Gowlett 1984, p. 88). Gowlett, a professor at Oxford University, should have been knowledgeable about the recent history of paleoanthropology in England. Was he unaware that in the early twentieth century Moir and others found bone tools, incised bones, and other artifacts (including a whole flint industry) in the Cromer Forest Bed? That would seem unlikely. Did he think the finds to be not genuine? Perhaps he was aware of the discoveries and considered them genuine but deliberately avoided including them in his discussion, even though they would have helped his case. Why? It could be that mentioning them would have implied his acceptance of the still older sub-Red Crag discoveries of Moir and others, which pose a strong challenge to the whole scenario of human origins and antiquity.

2.21 Concluding Words about Intentionally Modified Bone

It is really quite curious that so many serious scientific investigators in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century independently and repeatedly reported that marks on bones from Miocene, Pliocene, and Early Pleistocene formations were indicative of human work. Among the researchers making such claims were Desnoyers, de Quatrefages, Ramorino, Bourgeois, Delaunay, Bertrand, Laussedat, Garrigou, Filhol, von Dücker, Owen, Collyer, Calvert, Capellini, Broca, Ferretti, Bellucci, Stopes, Moir, Fisher, and Keith.

Were these scientists deluded? Perhaps so. But cut marks on fossil bones are an odd thing about which to develop delusions—hardly romantic or inspiring. Were the above-mentioned researchers victims of a unique mental aberration of the last century and the early part of this one? Or does evidence of primitive hunters really abound in the faunal remains of the Tertiary and early Quaternary?

Assuming such evidence is there, one might ask why it is not being found today. One very good reason is that no one is looking for it. Evidence for intentional human work on bone might easily escape the attention of a scientist not actively searching for it. If a paleoanthropologist is convinced that toolmaking human beings did not exist in the Middle Pliocene, he is not likely to give much thought to the exact nature of markings on fossil bones from that period.

Even for those prepared to find signs of human work, the interpretation of marks on fossil bones is a difficult matter. This led Binford (1981, p. 181) to write: “One might reasonably ask at this point that if we cannot establish a pattern of bone modification unambiguously referable to man, why study the faunal products of man and seek greater understanding of his highly variable behavior? The answer to this is simply that the basic task of anthropology—of which archaeology is a part—is to seek an understanding of man’s variable cultural behavior.” Binford clearly defined the dilemma inherent in the empirical approach to such questions—it is imperfect, yet there appears to be no other choice. So it seems that great caution is required. In fact, our study of the empirical methods used by paleoanthropologists suggests these methods cannot give a completely reliable picture of the past, and of human origins in particular.

Eoliths

 

3.1 Anomalously Old Stone Tools

Even when considered alone, the evidence gathered from incised and broken bones, as detailed in the preceding chapter, inflicts heavy damage on the conception that toolmaking hominids emerged only in the Pleistocene. But we now turn to a more extensive and significant category of evidence—ancient stone implements.

Nineteenth-century scientists turned up large quantities of what they presumed to be stone tools and weapons in Early Pleistocene, Pliocene, Miocene, and older strata. These were not marginal discoveries. They were reported by leading anthropologists and paleontologists in well-established journals, and were thoroughly discussed at scientific congresses. But today hardly anyone has heard of them. One wonders why. As in the case of the bones discussed in the previous chapter, the hard facts of these discoveries, though disputed, were never conclusively invalidated. Instead, reports of these ancient stone implements were, as time passed, simply put aside and forgotten as different theoretical scenarios of human evolution came into vogue.