Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [186]
Figure 4.18. Late Miocene flint scraper from Aurillac, France, with large flakes removed in parallel (Verworn 1905, p. 39). This feature reminded Verworn of Late Pleistocene examples.
Figure 4.19. A pointed flint implement from the Late Miocene at Aurillac, France (Verworn 1905, p. 40).
About the object in Figure 4.18, Verworn (1905, p. 39) said: “the flake scars on the scraper blade lie so regularly next to each other in parallel fashion that one is reminded of Paleolithic or even Neolithic examples.” In the accepted sequence, Paleolithic and Neolithic tools are assigned to the later Pleistocene.
Verworn also found many pointed scrapers (Figure 4.19): “Among all the flint objects, these show most clearly the intentional fashioning of definite tool shapes, at least in the area of the working edges. In fact, the points are generally made in such a way that one can speak of genuine care and attention in the technique. The edges have been worked by many unidirectional blows in such a way as to make the intention of fashioning a point unequivocal. I characterize as pointed scrapers those tools on which the chips on both sides of the point run in the same direction” (Verworn 1905, p. 40).
Also found at Aurillac were notched scrapers (Figure 4.20), with rounded concave openings on the working edge suitable for scraping cylindrical objects like bones or spear shafts. Verworn (1905, p. 41) observed: “In most cases the notched scrapers are made by chipping out one of the edges in a curved shape by unidirectional blows.”
Figure 4.20. Left: Ventral surface of a notched scraper from the Late Miocene of Aurillac, France (Verworn 1905, p. 40). Right: Dorsal surface, showing removal of cortex on the working edge, upon which Verworn observed tiny use marks.
Verworn also un covered several tools adapted for hammering, hacking, and digging. Describing the one in Figure 4.21, Verworn (1905, p. 41) wrote: “A large pointed tool for chopping or digging. It is formed from a natural slab of flint by the working of a point. One sees on the surfaces of the piece the cortex of the flint and at the top a point made from numerous flakes, mostly removed in the same direction.” About another pointed tool, Verworn (1905, p. 41) stated: “This tool has on the side directly below the point a handgrip made by removing the sharp, cutting edges. It might have been a primitive handaxe used for hammering or chopping.” Verworn also found tools he thought were adapted for stabbing, boring, and engraving.
Figure 4.21. A Late Miocene flint tool from Aurillac, France. The point is formed by removal of many flakes in the same general direction (Verworn 1905, p. 41).
Verworn (1905, pp. 44–45) concluded: “At the end of the Miocene there was here a culture, which was, as we can see from its flint tools, not in the very beginning phases but had already proceeded through a long period of development. . . . this Miocene population of Cantal knew how to flake and work flint.” The only visible signs of human work upon the Eolithic tools (Chapter 3) were use marks and perhaps slight chipping to improve the working edge. Verworn saw signs of more extensive intentional work on the tools of Aurillac (Cantal)—removal of cortex (the rough outer surface of the flint) to expose a sharp edge and the subsequent shaping of the edge for a particular purpose. But the modification was confined to the specific edge that was meant for use. Modification did not extend to the shaping of an entire implement, as in the Late Paleolithic and Neolithic. A third sign of intentional work on the tools from Aurillac was the removal of sharp edges to form a comfortable handgrip (Verworn 1905, pp. 44– 47). For these reasons, we have placed the flint implements found by Verworn at Aurillac in the category of crude paleoliths.
Verworn (1905, p. 50) designated the implements of Aurillac as archaeoliths, placing them between eoliths and paleoliths. Eolithic industries, according to Verworn, are those in which the natural edges of pieces of stone are used as tools without any