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for some purpose.” He observed: “The most prominent edge has been chipped down by a series of artificial blows, probably to prevent discomfort to the hand grasping the implement. The other edges remain sharp, which shows this flaking is not due to rolling action” ( Bourgeois 1873, p. 89). If the flint had been subjected to transport by water or another natural agency, one would expect that the resultant random chipping and fracturing should have damaged all the edges, and not just one. For the sake of comparison, we show in Figure 4.10 the implement from the Early Miocene of Thenay alongside a similar accepted implement from the Late Pleistocene.

Then Bourgeois (1873, p. 90) described a final specimen: “A short scraper, with numerous and well-marked retouchings, in all respects resembling the Quaternary types found every day on the surface. On the other side, it presents . . . a bulb of percussion.”

Bourgeois did not specify the exact places from which the above-mentioned specimens were taken—that is, from the exposed sections in the valley, from the valley trench, or from the pit sunk in the top of the plateau. But his reports suggest that implements recovered from all three places were quite similar.

Figure 4.10. Top: A Late Pleistocene flint implement (Laing 1894, p. 366). Bottom: An implement from Early Miocene strata at Thenay, France (Bourgeois 1873, plate 2).

In order to resolve any controversy, the Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archeology nominated a fifteen-member commission to judge the discoveries of Bourgeois. A majority of eight members, including de Quatrefages and Capellini, voted that the flints were of human manufacture (de Mortillet 1883, p. 87). An additional member voted in favor of Bourgeois, but with some reservations. Only five of the fifteen found no trace of human work in the specimens from Thenay. One member expressed no opinion.

De Mortillet stated that if instead of considering just the numbers of votes that were cast, one considered their scientific merit, then the victory of Bourgeois was even greater. De Mortillet pointed out that among those voting in support of Bourgeois were the scientists who had especially devoted themselves to the study of flint tools, while among the dissenters were the scientists who had little or no experience in this area. Indeed, one of them, Dr. Fraas, of Germany, claimed at the Congress that the handaxes of the Quaternary gravels of the Somme region of France, accepted by almost all authorities as genuine human artifacts, were “an invention of French chauvinism” (de Mortillet 1883, p. 88).

Bourgeois gave a choice collection of flint tools from Thenay to the national museum of antiquities at St. Germain and also exhibited his best specimens at the exposition of anthropological science held in 1878. After his death, specimens were given to the museum of the School of Anthropology in Paris.

Many of the flints of Thenay have finely cracked surfaces indicating exposure to fire. Others, much more altered, have surfaces pitted with irregular holes. Was the cracking and pitting caused by weathering? De Mortillet (1883, p. 90) said that cracking resulting from fire and weathering could be very easily distinguished. Significantly, the normally translucent flints had become opaque. Experiments showed that it took a great deal of heat to discolor flints as much as those found at Thenay. The heat of the sun could not have done it. But if fire was the cause, was it fire used by humans or some kind of accidental fire?

In considering the possible causes of accidental fire, de Mortillet suggested that the three most likely possibilities were volcanic action, spontaneous vegetable combustion, or vegetation ignited by lightning. De Mortillet pointed out, however, that there were no volcanoes in the region and no layers of combustible plant material such as peat. Furthermore, the burned flints were found scattered at many locations throughout diverse levels in the same general area. This indicated to de Mortillet that the signs of burning were not the result