Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

1928, p. 186 ). Harrison, meanwhile, continued his investigations, with the special intention of proving that the eoliths occurred not in all gravels, as some critics asserted, but only in special locations, in the very old Pliocene drift. In many gravel deposits around Ightham, Harrison noted the complete absence of any stones resembling his Eolithic implements. For example, Harrison’s notebook entry for September 3, 1893 read: “To Fane Hill—a long search, but not a single specimen of old old work.” Sir Edward R. Harrison (1928, p. 188) stated: “This negative evidence confirmed Harrison in his opinion that the eoliths had been artificially chipped. Had they been merely the work of natural forces it was to be expected that they would be found in large numbers in all flint-bearing gravels alike.”

For years, Harrison’s eoliths continued to be a topic of serious discussion in scientific societies, including the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Sir Edward R. Harrison (1928, p. 192) wrote: “A. M. Bell championed the cause of the rude implements at the meeting of the British Association at Edinburgh in 1892. It fell to Professor T. Rupert Jones to undertake a like service in 1894, when the meeting was held at Oxford.” The 1894 meeting was, according to A. M. Bell, who wrote to Harrison on August 10, 1894, “not a triumph . . . not a defeat, but leaves things much as they were” ( E. Harrison 1928, p. 193).

3.2.8 The British Association Sponsors Excavations

In order to resolve the controversy over the age of the eoliths, the British Association, a prestigious scientific society, financed excavations in the high-level Plateau drift and other localities in close proximity to Ightham (E. Harrison 1928, p. 194). The purpose was to show definitively that eoliths were to be found not only on the surface but in situ, deep within the Pliocene preglacial gravels. Alfred R. Wallace had also expressed a desire for such proof, having written to Harrison on November 8, 1893: “I suppose you have not found any of your old flints yet, in situ by digging, or in the undisturbed gravel at some distance below the surface. When you do that you will have more converts” (E. Harrison 1928, p. 189). It would appear that Harrison had already found some eoliths in situ (such as the ones from the post holes dug near Vigo Inn, see Section 3.2.4), but this excavation, financed by the respected British Association, would be more conclusive.

It should be noted that many accepted flint industries were initially discovered on the surface. For example, John Gowlett (1984, p. 72) described the finds at Olorgesailie, in Kenya: “Hand axes were found weathering out on the surface by Louis and Mary Leakey, and it soon became evident that this was one of the major Middle Pleistocene localities of East Africa.” Today there is an open-air museum at Olorgesailie, where visitors may walk on catwalks above a land surface covered with stone implements. A similar situation is found at Kilombe in the Kenya rift valley. Gowlett (1984, p. 68) stated: “Kilombe is a massive Acheulean site in Kenya. Artifacts on this site were first noticed in 1972 by geologist Dr. W. B. Jones as an extensive scatter on the surface, evidently weathered out from nearby Pleistocene beds.” Describing the Kilombe hand axes, which were made from flakes of stone, Gowlett (1984, p. 70) stated: “many of these large flakes were only gently retrimmed in the final shaping and the original form is quite apparent.” The Kilombe flake implements, with only slight human modification, conform to the description of eoliths. At both Kilombe and Olorgesailie, stone implements were later found in situ. The same was true of the sites on the Kent Plateau.

The British Association selected Harrison himself to supervise the Plateau excavations, under the direction of a committee of scientists. Harrison recorded in his notebooks that he found many examples of eoliths in situ, including “thirty convincers” (E. Harrison 1928, p. 189).

3.2.9 The Royal Society Exhibition