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addition to cut shells, Freudenberg also found cut bones of marine mammals. Among them was part of the upper jaw of a member of the porpoise family, probably related to Lagenocetus latifrons Gray. The surface of the jaw is flat and bears upon it a series of incisions. Freudenberg believed the incisions had been purposefully made. In a taphonomic analysis of the jaw, he stated: “Were these grooves not seen as intentional work, but rather as the selective corrosion of the bone through chemical or mechanical means (such as the dissolving action of mineral salts or the friction of sand), then one would expect that the grooves would reach as far down as the nourishment channels (Haversian canals) that run through the bone and there find their end. In reality the grooves cut straight through the nourishment channels; they are also independent of the fine bone structure” (Freudenberg 1919, p. 22). Freudenberg said that this jaw may have been used as some kind of a press.

As discussed in Section 2.11, incisions such as those reported by Freudenberg on the porpoise bone might have been the result of shark bites. In his report, Freudenberg did not mention this possibility, which thus needs further investigation. Still, if the shells from the Scaldisian at Vracene and Mosselbank are taken as bearing intentional cut marks, then this strengthens the possibility that the incisions on the porpoise bones may also have been made by tools.

Marked and polished whale bones were also discovered, along with bones of other marine mammals. Freudenberg (1919, p. 28) wrote: “Artificially broken long bones of walruses and seals are found directly on top of the Septarian clay (Middle Oligocene). These bone fragments were found embedded in clayey greensand, some of which has hardened into limonite on the bones. The bones bear the deep impact marks of blows that could have been made by stone hammers. The depth of the marks varied with the strength of the blows.”

4.5.4 Possible Human Footprints

Further confirmation of a human presence came in the form of partial footprints, apparently made when humanlike feet compressed pieces of clay. From a clay pit at Hol, located just south of the road leading westward from St. Gillis to Meuleken, Freudenberg (1919, p. 3) recovered one impression of the ball of a foot and four impressions of toes (Figure 4.43).

The stone bed in which the footprints were found was judged to be Scaldisian on the basis of the shell fauna. The Scaldisian sediments, as previously mentioned, were deposited in the time period from the Early Pliocene through the Late Miocene. The footprints would thus be at least 4–7 million years old. Freudenberg (1919, p. 9), however, believed they were probably made during the period immediately preceding the Scaldisian marine transgression, and were later incorporated into the Scaldisian formation in which they were found. This would make the footprints somewhat more than 7 million years old. Freudenberg conducted a dermatoglyphic analysis of the prints, as carefully as modern physical anthropologists.

Figure 4.43. Five partial foot impressions from a Scaldisian formation (Early Pliocene to Late Miocene) at Hol, near Antwerp, Belgium (Freudenberg 1919, p. 9).

About the impression of the ball of a right foot, Freudenberg (1919, p. 11) stated: “There are on the left side signs of displaced grains of sand as well as imprints of the dermal ridges and lines of the skin of the foot, and these show a movement from left to right, or from inside to outside, as would result from the normal movement of the foot in walking.”

Continuing his dermatoglyphic analysis of the print, Freudenberg (1919, p. 11) stated: “One notices that the right, or outer, side of the impression of the ball of the foot is also covered with impressions of fine lines like those of the foot of a humanlike being.” According to Freudenberg (1919, p. 11), the pattern of the lines matched that of modern humans and was distinct from that of apes.

Freudenberg (1919, p. 12) added: “The number of lines found in the space of a millimeter