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By Root 1557 0

must be answered: (1) is the specimen really of human manufacture? (2) has the age of the stratum in which it was discovered been properly determined? (3) was the implement incorporated into the stratum at the time the stratum was laid down, or was the implement introduced at a later date? As far as Ribeiro was concerned, he was convinced that he had satisfactorily answered all three questions. The toollike flint objects he studied were of human manufacture, they were found in strata mostly of Miocene age, and many appeared to be in primary position, although some of his specimens were found on the surface.

In 1871, Ribeiro presented to the members of the Portuguese Academy of Science at Lisbon a collection of flint and quartzite implements, including those gathered from the Tertiary formations of the Tagus valley. In 1872, at the International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archeology meeting in Brussels, Ribeiro gave a similar report on his discoveries and displayed more specimens, mostly pointed flakes. At that time, Bourgeois said that none appeared to be of human manufacture. Upon a new examination of Ribeiro’s specimens, Bourgeois found one flint that he thought displayed signs of human work, but unfortunately it had not been found in situ. He therefore suspended judgement (de Mortillet 1883, p. 95). The English authority, A.W. Franks, who served as Conservator of National Antiquities and Ethnography at the British Museum, gave a more positive opinion. An expert in cultural remains, including tools, Franks stated that some of the specimens did appear to be the product of intentional work, but he reserved judgement on the age of the strata in which they had been found (Ribeiro 1873a, p. 99).

Ribeiro himself (1873b, p. 100) then addressed the Congress on the question of “the exact geological situation of the beds in which he had found worked flint flakes, the authenticity of which has been recognized by Mr. Franks and other members of the Congress.” Ribeiro reported that one of the flints had been found in the reddish-yellow Pliocene sandstone on the left bank of the Tagus, to the south of Lisbon. He noted that these beds cover Miocene marine deposits (Ribeiro 1873b, p. 101). Modern authorities (Antunes et al. 1980, pp. 136–138) still show this basic sequence—Miocene marine deposits surmounted by Pliocene sandstone formations—in the Lisbon region.

“Concerning the other flints which Mr. Franks has declared bear evident traces of human workmanship,” said Ribeiro (1873b, p. 102), “they were found in Miocene strata.” He explained that on the way north from Lisbon to Caldas da Rainha, between the towns of Otta and Cercal, one comes to the steep hill of Espinhaço de Cão. According to Ribeiro (1873b, p. 102), it was in the sandstone beds of this hill, which lie under marine Miocene strata, that he found “flints worked by the hand of man before they were buried in the deposits.” This would indicate the presence of human beings in Portugal at least 5 million years ago and perhaps as much as 25 million years ago. Figure 4.1 shows an implement from Espinhaço de Cão.

Ribeiro’s Miocene flints made an impressive debut at Brussels, but remained controversial. At the Paris Exposition of 1878, Ribeiro displayed 95 specimens of Tertiary flint tools in the gallery of anthropological science. De Mortillet visited Ribeiro’s exhibit and, in the course of examining the specimens carefully, found that 22 had indubitable signs of human work. This was quite an admission for de Mortillet, for, as described in Chapter 2, he habitually rejected all evidence for human work on incised and broken bones from the Tertiary.

Figure 4.1. Implement found by Carlos Ribeiro, of the Geological Survey of Portugal, in a Miocene layer at Espinhaço de Cão (G. de Mortillet and A. de Mortillet 1881, plate 3). The ventral surface shows: (1) a striking platform, (2) bulb of percussion, and (3) eraillure.

Gabriel de Mortillet, along with his friend and colleague Emile Cartailhac, enthusiastically brought other paleoanthropologists to see Ribeiro