Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [119]
Figure 3.24. This flint object was found by H. Breuil and H. Obermaier in an Eocene formation at Clermont (Oise), France (Breuil 1910, p. 402). Breuil said it was identical in form to certain Late Pleistocene implements, but he nevertheless considered it the product of natural geological pressure.
The chipping is less well-defined on the right side. This object is a veritable pseudomorph of an Azilio-Tardenoisian grattoir.” Scientists generally attribute the Azilio-Tardenoisian stone implements to Homo sapiens sapiens in the Late Pleistocene of Europe.
Figure 3.25. A flint object found in an Eocene formation at Clermont (Oise), France (Breuil 1910, p. 402).Although H. Breuil said it resembled a Late Pleistocene pointed tool, he claimed it was formed by geological pressure.
Breuil (1910, p. 402) then stated about the grattoir : “That it was discovered in place, at the base of the Eocene sands of Bracheux at Belle-Assise, is a cause of profound stupefaction.” Indeed it is. We can see no justification for attributing the highly sophisticated flaking on this piece to the kind of crude pressure flaking exemplified by the few specimens cited above by Breuil. It thus appears that we are confronted with yet another example of a stone object displaying definite signs of intentional human work being found in very ancient strata, in this case over 50 million years old. Significantly, it was found by Breuil and Obermaier in person. So it seems that even these two stalwart eolith debunkers may have unwittingly discovered an anomalously old implement of advanced type.
Describing the second exceptional object (Figure 3.25), which he characterized as “another very curious pseudomorph,” Breuil (1910, p. 402) wrote: “It is a very fine lamellar, or scalelike, flake, a little short, with, on its dorsal surface, multiple traces of longitudinal flaking, equally lamellar. At the point, the left side has some fine flaking on the dorsal surface; the other side shows fine chipping, like that produced by a burin. This object itself could be a micro-burin of Eyzies.” Les Eyzies is a Late Pleistocene site in France. It would have been quite remarkable to find a piece like this as a flake in contact with the parent block, and with the chips taken from it lying next to it. But nothing remotely approaching this was reported by Breuil. The examples he did cite and illustrate were of the crudest sort possible, being essentially nothing more than randomly fractured pieces of stone.
It is quite remarkable that Breuil should have included two technologically sophisticated specimens, of Late Paleolithic type, in his report without recognizing they were sufficient to demolish his entire argument. He skipped right over them, apparently genuinely unaware of their significance. But objects exactly resembling implements of the Late Paleolithic type, especially when found in an undisputed Eocene stratum, should not be skipped over. We can only request the reader to carefully consider what damage the demonstrated presence of toolmaking human beings over 50 million years ago in France would do to all current evolutionary explanations of human origins and antiquity.
Of course, one can always insist that the two remarkable objects reported by Breuil were products of nature. In that case, one could dismiss any stone tools, including conventionally accepted Late Pleistocene tools, for the same reason.
3.4.3 An Attempt to Trap Rutot
After describing the finds he had made at Clermont, France, Breuil launched an attack on the Belgian scientist A. Rutot, who had found a series of crude stone tool industries during the first decade of the twentieth century (Section 4.4). Breuil (1910, pp. 404–406) wrote: “Is it possible to distinguish the real eoliths from those produced by nature? We have read, from the pen of Mr. Rutot [1906], that ‘the recognition and appreciation of eoliths is not simple or elementary, as many persons believe. . . . It