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doubtful category, with almost another half in the probable category. In the probable group were all those flakes that showed traces of adaptation or retouching identical to that on accepted tools. Capitan stated: “We consider that the greatest number of these pieces are genuine tools bearing diverse traces of intentional work which one can distinguish, with practice, from natural fracturing and flaking. But if someone wants to express doubts, then we leave the discussion to them and will not seek to demonstrate the intentional work” (Lohest et al. 1923, pp. 61–62).

But Capitan stated that in addition to the many specimens in the probable category the commission recognized twenty pieces as indisputably worked: “They are of definite form, exactly like accepted Mousterian pieces. These are not freaks of nature or naturally broken stones used without modification as tools—they were products of volition, and show signs of a definite intent to construct a particular kind of tool” (Lohest et al. 1923, p. 62). The commission selected eleven pieces for reproduction in their report: two Mousterian-like side scrapers (racloirs), two discoidal end scrapers (grattoirs), two points, two blades (one with much retouching), an actual handaxe, a sort of big chisel, and a big retouched piece of the grattoir form.

Capitan, praising the rigorous scientific procedures applied by Moir and his collaborators, then stated: “One might object that the small number of definite specimens is not sufficient, but this is due to the extremely rigorous process of selection. We are persuaded that a great many of the ones not selected are also worked” (Lohest et al. 1923, p. 62). Capitan added: “The small number selected for this demonstration is deliberate because their legitimacy as products of human industry cannot in the least be challenged even by technical experts” (Lohest et al. 1923, p. 62).

Capitan concluded: “We need not uselessly continue the discussion about whether these pieces are worked or not, giving undue attention to explanations from incompetents. For any person who has any real acquaintance with the characteristics of worked flints, such questions will not come up” (Lohest et al. 1923, pp. 62–63). If one rejected Moir’s finds, stated Capitan, then one would have to reject about 80 percent of the generally accepted Mousterian pieces (Lohest et al. 1923, p. 63).

Figure 3.11. A side scraper (racloir) discovered beneath the Red Crag at Thorington Hall, England (Lohest et al. 1923, p. 63).

Capitan next described some of the undisputed specimens. These came from Thorington Hall, Bramford, and the Bolton Company brickfield. From Moir’s reports (1924), it appears that the primary tool-bearing layer at each of these sites is the detritus bed below the Red Crag. This would make the flint tools Capitan described at least 2.5 million years old. And because the detritus bed contains materials from ancient Eocene land surfaces, the tools might be up to 55 million years old.

Concerning an implement from below the Red Crag at Thorington Hall (Figure 3.11), Capitan said: “The very best piece . . . is a great and thick racloir (side scraper) fashioned from an irregular oval flake, with numerous bulbs of percussion. It is of the same form as many of the most typical Mousterian racloirs, and like them it is retouched on all sides. On the outer surface, near the point of the instrument . . . a carefully retouched depression accommodates a finger for gripping the implement. In truth, this is a piece that can just as much be said to have been manufactured by humans as the best Mousterian racloirs. On the plane surface, on the other end of the implement . . . is an enormous bulb of percussion” (Lohest et al. 1923, p. 63).

Of two discoidal grattoirs (end scrapers) recovered from Thorington Hall (Figure 3.12), Capitan stated: “Made from thick flakes, and carefully retouched all around, they both have in the middle of the upper surface a long deep flake removed.

Figure 3.12. Two discoidal scrapers from below the Red Crag at Thorington Hall, England