Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [201]
Freudenberg, having described the impression of the ball of the foot, then turned to the impressions of toes. Concerning an imprint of the fourth and fifth toes of a left foot, Freudenberg (1919, pp. 13–14) noted: “The length of an impression of the little toe, measured on the inner side, is, for a 4-yearold child, about 18 mm. The same measurement on the fossil impression is 15 mm. . . . There are also to be observed the impressions of dermal ridges on the imprints of the toes. They are arranged in the same pattern as on the foot of a human child, in that they radiate in all directions from the juncture of the fifth and fourth toes. As in the case of the human child, there are 6–7 dermal ridges per 2 mm at this place. Furthermore, there are properly oriented wrinkles of the skin.”
Freudenberg (1919, p. 14) then stated: “The most important discovery on the fossil toe impression is the shortness of the fifth toe, which is reminiscent of the little toe of the human being. The anthropoid apes, including the gorilla, have long little toes. The foot structure of the genus Homo was in the Middle Pliocene already the same as today. The big toe was also short and broad, relative to that of apes, as shown on a somewhat fragmentary impression from Hol, which appears to be that of a left big toe.”
4.5.5 The Identity of Freudenberg’s Palaeanthropus
In his conclusion, Freudenberg (1919, p. 52) stated: “It stands without doubt that the sites at Hol and Koefering are part of the Scaldisian formation of the Middle Pliocene [Early Pliocene to Late Miocene according to modern authorities]. The geological age of Palaeanthropus, the Flemish Tertiary man, dates back this far, if not into older times. This conclusion is especially supported by the fact that bones of Pliocene marine mammals provided Tertiary man with raw materials for his implements and Pliocene shellfish served as his food. Furthermore, the fossil footprints of a humanlike being are found among the Middle Pliocene beach pebbles of Hol.”
Freudenberg (1919, pp. 52–53) directed the attention of his readers to supporting evidence from England—the carved shell discovered by Henry Stopes in the Pliocene Red Crag (Section 2.15), as well as the flint implements found in the same formation by J. Reid Moir (Section 3.3) and the cut bones reported by Fisher (Section 2.16). As we have demonstrated, there is abundant evidence, of all kinds, in favor of a human presence dating to the Pliocene and earlier. In this context, the discoveries of Freudenberg are not at all surprising.
We should point out, however, that Freudenberg (1919, p. 12) was an evolutionist and believed that his Tertiary man must have been a very small hominid, about 1 meter (3.28 feet) tall, displaying, in addition to its humanlike feet, a combination of apelike and human features. Altogether, Freudenberg’s description of his Flemish Tertiary man seems reminiscent of Johanson’s portrayal of Australopithecus afarensis (Lucy). Even if Freudenberg’s hypothetical picture of a primitive hominid with humanlike feet is accepted, one would not, according to current paleoanthropological doctrine, expect to find any australopithecines in Belgium during the Late Miocene, at the onset of the Scaldisian, over 7 million years ago. The oldest australopithecines date back only about 4 million years in Africa.
But a late Scaldisian (Early Pliocene) date of 4 million years for a Flemish australopithecine would be within the range of possibility. It should be kept in mind that African mammals such as the hippopotamus ranged as far north as England during