Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [171]
Laing (1893, p. 113) wrote of the tools found at Thenay: “When these were first produced, the opinion of the best authorities was very equally divided as to their being the work of human hands, but subsequent discoveries have produced specimens as to which it is impossible to entertain any doubt, especially
Figure 4.13. A scraper or borer (top) and a flint knife (bottom) from an Early Miocene formation at Thenay, France, reproduced by S. Laing (1894, pp. 364–365) from a book by A. de Quatrefages.
the flint knife and two small scrapers [the knife and one scraper appear in Figure 4.13] figured by M. Quatrefages at p. 92 of his recent work on Races humaines. They present all the characteristic features by which human design is inferred in other cases, viz.: the bulb of percussion and repeated chipping by small blows all in the same direction, round the edge which was intended for use.”
Laing (1893, pp. 113 –115) continued his review: “The human origin of these implements has been greatly confirmed by the discovery that the Mincopics of the Andaman Islands manufacture whet-stones or scrapers almost identical with those of Thenay, and by the same process of using fire to split the stones into the requisite size and shape. These Mincopics are not acquainted with the art of chipping stone into celts or arrowheads, but use fragments of large shells, of which they have a great abundance, or of bone or hard wood, and the scrapers are employed in bringing these to a sharper point or finer edge. The main objection, therefore, at first raised to the authenticity of these relics of Miocene man, that they did not afford conclusive proof of design, may be considered as removed, and the objectors have to fall back on the assumption, either that the implements were fabricated by some exceptionally intelligent Dryopithecus, or that the Abbé Bourgeois may have been deceived by workmen, and mistaken in supposing that flints, which really came from overlying Quaternary strata, were found in the Miocene deposit. This hardly seems probable in the case of such an experienced observer, and had it been so, the implements might have been expected to show the usual Quaternary types of celts, knives, and arrow-heads, fashioned by percussion, whereas the specimens found all bear a distinct type, being scrapers and borers of small size, and partly fashioned by fire. . . . On the whole, the evidence for these Miocene implements seems to be very conclusive, and the objections to have hardly any other ground than the reluctance to admit the great antiquity of man.” Here we may note that collections of Quaternary implements often include scrapers and borers of the type found at Thenay, in addition to the more sophisticated projectile points and handaxes.
As an example of popular science writing, Laing’s work is satisfactory. His mode of expression was reasonable and lucid. He did not oversimplify. The evidence he cited was faithfully reproduced from original scientific reports and was presented in an honest fashion. Especially strong was his report that the Andaman islanders made tools similar to those of Thenay by using fire to flake the stone. Modern authorities regard studies of present-day lithic technologies as useful in recognizing intentional human work on stone materials gathered from ancient sites.
In his book Human Origins, Laing (1894, p. 363) again wrote of the flint implements of Thenay: “The general form might be the result of accident, but fractures from frost or collisions simulating chipping could hardly be all in the same direction, and confined to one part of the stone. The inference is strengthened if the specimen shows bulbs of percussion, where the blows had been struck to fashion the implement, and if the microscope