Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

In this chapter, we shall discuss anomalous eoliths. In Chapter 4, we shall discuss anomalous crude paleoliths, and in Chapter 5, we shall discuss anomalous advanced paleoliths and neoliths. This threefold division is not perfect. We were confronted with borderline cases in which assignment to one chapter or another was difficult. Within the cruder stone tool industries are often found individual implements and groups of implements that might be classified as more sophisticated; and similarly, among the more sophisticated industries are found examples of implements that might be classified among the most crude. Also, some individual researchers discovered a number of industries, of varying levels of complexity, and for the sake of convenience, these have been grouped together. Because of this, it has not been possible, or practical, to achieve a complete segregation of tool types in different chapters. Still, we have found it useful to attempt to make a rough division between (1) the Eolithic, (2) the crude Paleolithic, (3) and the advanced Paleolithic and Neolithic types.

Having expressed these cautions, we can now embark upon our examination of the Eolithic stone tools, beginning with those found by Benjamin Harrison in England and proceeding to tools found in other countries during the latter part of the nineteenth century. We shall then consider the discoveries of J. Reid Moir in England. In the last sections of this chapter, we shall examine attempts by H. Breuil and A. S. Barnes to discredit Eolithic industries, and finally we shall review modern examples of Eolithic industries.

3.2 B. HARRISON AND THE EOLITHS OF THE

KENT PLATEAU, ENGLAND (PLIOCENE)

3.2.1 Young Harrison

The small town of Ightham, in Kent, is situated about twenty-seven miles southeast of London. Nearby one finds the home of the unfortunate second wife of Henry VIII, Anne Boleyn, who lost her head to the executioner’s blade. In the more sedate years of the Victorian era, a respectable small businessman named Benjamin Harrison kept a grocery shop in Ightham. On holidays he roamed the nearby hills and valleys, collecting flint implements which, though now long forgotten, were for decades the center of protracted controversy in the scientific community.

Even as a boy, Harrison was interested in geology and read Lyell’s Principles of Geology at age thirteen. In the course of his walks, he grew well acquainted with the landscape around Ightham. This region of southeastern England, known as the Weald of Kent and Sussex, had a complex geological history. In the past, it was a broad rise. In later times, the central part of the rise was eroded away by the forces of nature (Figure 3.1), leaving hills to the north (the North Downs) and south (the South Downs).

S                                        N

Figure 3.1. The Weald region of Kent and Sussex, England. The dotted line shows the ancient land surface, now eroded away, leaving the present North Downs (N) and South Downs (S) (Moir 1924, p. 638). The Kent Plateau is in the North Downs region.

The North Downs rise to the Kent Plateau near Ightham, and it is on the Kent Plateau that Harrison made some of his most significant discoveries. Young Harrison developed into an accomplished amateur paleoanthropologist. Perhaps semi-professional would be a better word than amateur, for Harrison did much of his work in close consultation with, and sometimes under the direct supervision of, Sir John Prestwich, the famous English geologist, who lived in the vicinity. Harrison also corresponded regularly with other scientists involved in paleoanthropological research and carefully catalogued and mapped his finds, according to standard procedures.

A room over Harrison’s shop served as a museum where he kept his flint tools. On the walls he displayed geological maps of the Weald region of Kent and Sussex, water colors of implements he had found, and portraits of Charles Darwin, Sir John Prestwich, and Sir John Evans.

 

3.2.2 Neoliths and Paleoliths

Harrison’s first finds were not of the very crude Eolithic variety. They were Neolithic implements. Neoliths are smooth-surfaced, polished stone artifacts, displaying highly sophisticated craftsmanship. According to modern opinion, Neolithic cultures date back only about 10,000 years, and are associated with agriculture and pottery. Harrison found neoliths scattered over the present land surfaces around Ightham.