Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [161]
De Mortillet (1883, p. 99) wrote: “The intentional work is very well established, not only by the general shape, which can be deceptive, but much more conclusively by the presence of clearly evident striking platforms and strongly developed bulbs of percussion.” The bulbs of percussion also sometimes had eraillures, small chips removed by the force of impact. In addition to the striking platform, bulb of percussion, and eraillure, some of Ribeiro’s specimens had several long, vertical flakes removed in parallel, something not likely to occur in the course of random battering by the forces of nature.
De Mortillet’s method of analysis is comparable to that employed by modern experts in lithic technology, who, like de Mortillet, emphasize that the toollike shape of a flint does not in itself establish human work. Leland W. Patterson, a contemporary expert in distinguishing artifacts from naturefacts, believes that the bulb of percussion is the most important sign of intentional work on a flint flake. If the flake also shows the remnants of a striking platform, then one can be even more certain that one is confronted with a flake struck deliberately from a flint core and not a piece of naturally broken flint resembling a tool or weapon.
“There can be no doubt,” wrote de Mortillet (1883, p. 99) about Ribeiro’s stone implements. “The diverse specimens are formed from big flakes, almost all of them triangular and without retouch, some in flint, some in quartzite. In looking at the collection, one believes oneself to be seeing Mousterian tools, only somewhat coarser than usual.” Mousterian is the name given to the type of stone tool usually considered to have been made by the Neanderthals (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis), who are thought to have lived in the latter part of the Pleistocene. By making the comparison with the Late Pleistocene Mousterian implements, de Mortillet was pointing out that Ribeiro’s specimens almost exactly resemble those that are universally acknowledged as being of human manufacture. Figure 4.2 shows one of Ribeiro’s Miocene tools from Portugal and for comparison an accepted stone tool from the Mousterian cultural stage of the European Late Pleistocene. They share the typical features of intentional human work on stone: the striking platform, bulb of percussion, eraillure, and parallel removal of flakes.
De Mortillet (1883, pp. 99 –100) further observed: “Many of the specimens, on the same side as the bulb of percussion, have hollows with traces and fragments of sandstone adhering to them, a fact which establishes their original position in the strata. The sandstone is inserted among strata of clays and limestones in the valley of the Tagus, together comprising a formation that attains in some places a depth of 400 meters [over 1,300 feet]. The beds have been dislocated and are in some places now resting almost in a vertical position. It is very evidently Tertiary terrain. Of the 22 worked specimens, 9 are indicated by Ribeiro to be Miocene. The others are Pliocene.”
Plate 3 in de Mortillet’s publication Musée Préhistorique (G. de Mortillet and A. de Mortillet 1881) featured illustrations of Ribeiro’s Miocene and Pliocene discoveries. We have selected two for reproduction. Figure 4.3 depicts both sides of a flint flake recovered from a Tertiary formation at the base of Monte Redondo. This formation is said to belong to the Tortonian stage of the Late Miocene (de Mortillet 1883, p. 102). The ventral surface of the flint flake shows “a large striking platform, bulb of percussion, and eraillure” (G. de Mortillet and A. de Mortillet 1881, plate 3). The dorsal surface of the flake bore proof that it was found in the Tertiary sandstones of Otta. Sandstone, just like that found at the base of Monte Redondo, adhered to the surface.
Figure 4.2. Left: Dorsal and ventral views