Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [199]
4.5.2 Cut Shells
Of special interest were the numerous shells collected by Freudenberg from the Scaldisian sands at Vracene and Mosselbank, where fortifications were being constructed. About his discoveries, Freudenberg (1919, p. 39) wrote: “The shell heaps of Koefering and Mosselbank near Vracene have yielded countless examples of Cyprina islandica and Cyprina tumida broken while living and also a shell opener of shiny, patinated flint, like those found at Hol.”
Freudenberg (1919, p. 39) further stated: “The examination of the shell materials from Vracene and Hol that I undertook in the beginning of 1919 at Göttingen proved the correctness of my initial judgement that the shell beds were a kitchen midden. In cleaning off the yellow quartz sand and clay, I found many intentional incisions, mostly on the rear part of the shells, quite near the hinge [Figure 4.42]. This was particularly clear on the two Cyprina species. On the extinct Cyprina tumida specimens, the forward closing muscle was cut through quite regularly by an incision. . . .The incision could only have been made with the help of a sharp flint knife or a shark tooth (we find here teeth of Oxyrhina hastalis Ag.). The intentional nature of this action is quite apparent. I have 7 left half-shells of Cyprina tumida and 9 right half-shells with the same kind of incision near the depression in the shell that marks the point of attachment of the forward closing muscle.”
Describing the incisions themselves, Freudenberg (1919, pp. 39–40) wrote: “The inner surfaces of the cuts on the shells of Cyprina tumida are smooth and bear the same yellow-white weathered surface as the other old surfaces and breaks on any part of the shell. The length of the cut marks is a few millimeters, seldom more than half a centimeter. The incisions on the shells of Cyprina tumida with well-preserved cut marks are sharply V-shaped, such as could only have been made with a sharp instrument. Other shells that are almost always found broken, as would be expected if they were being used for food, include those of the extinct Voluta Lamberti Sow. and Cardium decorativum, which along with Cardium edule and C. echinatum, could have served as edible shellfish.” The sharp cut marks found near the hinges of the shells collected by Freudenberg would appear to be more consistent with human work than the action of shellfish-consuming creatures such as otters.
Figure 4.42. A shell from a Scaldisian formation ( Early Pliocene–Late Miocene) near Antwerp, Belgium, with a cut mark to the right of the hinge (Freudenberg 1919, p. 33).
Freudenberg also found many oysters with broken and cut shells. Of Ostrea edulis L. var. ungulata Nyst, Freudenberg (1919, p. 45) wrote: “I dug up 20 flat right half-shells and about half as many arched left half-shells. Many shells show puncture marks made by sharp, pointed objects, perhaps shark teeth used as tools. From the position of these marks on the edges of the shells, it is obvious they were intended to force them open. The marks sometimes repeat themselves in the same place, giving the impression of premeditated work. The marks are always found on the flat half-shells rather than the curved half-shells, which would be harder to pierce. Splintering is found only on the inner surface of the puncture marks, from which one can conclude that the sharp body that made them entered from outside. All this rules out a posthumous injury, because a dead shellfish opens its shell, and in that case any kind of shell-opening operation would have been pointless.” Summarizing his report on shellfish, Freudenberg (1919, p. 50) said: “The number of extinct species is half the total, 27 of 54. Thus the late Tertiary date of the site is not in doubt. The existence of a shellfish-eating population on the
Flemish coast in the late Tertiary is also not in doubt.”
4.5.3 Incised Bones
In