Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [170]
Bulbs of percussion were rare on the Early Miocene flints of Thenay, but most displayed fine retouching of the edges. De Mortillet (1883, p. 92) stated that even though there were not many bulbs of percussion, retouching alone was a good sign of intentional work. The retouching tended to be concentrated on just one side of an edge, while the other side remained untouched; this is called unifacial flaking. De Mortillet, like modern authorities, believed that in almost all cases unifacial flaking is not the result of chance impacts but of deliberate work. Some researchers have suggested that in special instances unifacial flaking might result from natural forces that press one side of a flint against a hard surface, taking small chips off the edge (Section 3.4.1). De Mortillet (1883, pp. 92-93) admitted that this sometimes occurred; however the resultant chipping was generally very crude and irregular. In his book Musée Préhistorique, de Mortillet included reproductions of some Thenay flints that displayed very regular unifacial retouching—flakes removed in the same direction along one side of an edge (Figure 4.11). Some of the critics of Bourgeois commented that among all the Early Miocene flint pieces he collected at Thenay, there were only a very few good specimens, about thirty. But de Mortillet (1883, p. 93) stated: “Even one incontestable specimen would be enough, and they have thirty!”
A modern expert on stone implements, Leland W. Patterson, has stated (1983, p. 303): “Unifacially retouched stone tools are generally an important class of tools on archeological sites, and comprise a major portion of lithic artifacts of early man sites. This group can include well-known types of stone tools such as gravers, perforators, scrapers, notched tools, and some types of knives, choppers, and denticulates.” The Thenay implements conformed to this description.
Figure 4.11. Unifacially retouched implements from the Early Miocene at Thenay, France (G. de Mortillet and A. de Mortillet 1881, plate 1).
Figure 4.12. Left: A flint implement from an Early Miocene formation at Thenay, France (G. de Mortillet and A. de Mortillet 1881, plate 1). Right: An accepted implement from the lower middle part of Bed II, Olduvai Gorge, Africa (M. Leakey 1971, p. 113). The lower edges of both specimens show roughly parallel flake scars, satisfying the requirements of L. Patterson (1983) for recognition as objects of human manufacture.
According to L. Patterson (1983, p. 303): “Completely unifacial tool shapes would be one of the most difficult items for nature to reproduce by random forces. It would be difficult for random forces unidirectionally to fracture flake edges only on one face. It would be even more difficult for fortuitous forces to create the long, uniform, parallel flake scars characteristic of purposefully made unifacial tools. . . . It follows, then, that it would be extremely difficult to conceive of nature fortuitously creating an entire group of various well-made unifacial tools, with multiple examples of each tool type, that is the usual demonstration of a kit of man-made stone tools.” Patterson (1983, p. 303) added: “Any experienced lithic analyst with a 10-power magnifier can distinguish fortuitously shaped flakes from unifacial tools.”
Illustrations of the flints from the Early Miocene of Thenay show the parallel flake scars of approximately the same size that, according to Patterson, are indicative of intentional human work. Figure 4.12 shows a unifacial implement from Thenay along with a similar accepted unifacial implement from Olduvai Gorge.
Through the writings of S. Laing, knowledge of