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the stratigraphic position of his discoveries, Noetling stated that the ferruginous conglomerate containing the chipped flints was surmounted by a 4,620-foot-thick formation (Group C) composed of yellow sandstone alternating with beds of light brown clay. Noetling wrote (1894, p. 102): “A superficial examination of the vertebrate remains shows that the fauna is nearly identical with that of the Siwaliks, or in other words, that Group C . . . must be of upper miocene if not pliocene age. We must therefore claim either pliocene or at the latest upper miocene age for the ferruginous conglomerate in which the chipped flints have been found. But whatsoever their particular age be, it is certain that a considerable amount of time must have elapsed since the deposit of a series of strata of more than 4,620 foot thickness, containing numerous genera of animals which are now-a-days either entirely extinct, or at least no longer living in India, which rests upon it [the ferruginous conglomerate].”

W. T. Blanford believed that Rhinoceros perimensis and Hipparion antelopinum, fossils of which accompanied the flints, characterized in India the Pliocene rather than the Miocene (G. de Mortillet and A. de Mortillet 1900, pp. 90–91). A Pliocene date (2–5 million years) would, however, still be quite anomalous, considering the now-dominant view that toolmaking beings (Homo erectus) first migrated from Africa around 1 million years ago. Blanford, however appears to have been wrong. According to modern authorities Rhinoceros (Aceratherium) perimensis and Hipparion antelopinum occur in Late Miocene assemblages of Asia, including India (Savage and Russell 1983, pp. 283 –284). Furthermore, as previously mentioned, the Yenangyaung fauna in general is today regarded as Miocene (Savage and Russell 1983, pp. 247, 326). This would place toolmaking creatures in Burma over 5 million years ago.

According to de Mortillet, R. D. Oldham observed flints similar to Noetling’s on a plateau rising above the location of Noetling’s discovery. Oldham wanted to use this fact to dispute the age of Noetling’s flints, but it is not clear why the presence of flints on the plateau should invalidate Noetling’s statements about the stratigraphic position of his discoveries.

How certain was the stratigraphic position of Noetling’s flints? According to de Mortillet, the strata in which the flints were found appeared to Oldham to be loosely compacted conglomerates, which suggested that the flints might have been introduced in recent times. But Noetling (1894, pp. 102–103) offered this account: “Having now described the geological position of the strata in which the chipped flints were found, there still remains the question to be discussed whether they were really found in situ, or not. To this I can only answer that to the best of my knowledge they were really found in situ. . . . The exact spot where the flints were found is marked on my geological map of the Yenangyoung oil-field with No. 49 and is situated on the steep eastern slope of a ravine, high above its bottom, but below the edge in such a position that it is inconceivable how the flints should have been brought there by any foreign agency. There is no room for any dwelling place in this narrow gorge, nor was there ever any; it is further impossible from the way in which the flints were found that they could have been brought to that place by a flood. If I weigh all the evidence, quite apart from the fact that I actually dug them out of the bed, it is my strong belief that they were in situ when found.” It should be remembered that these statements were made by a professional paleontologist who was a member of the Geological Society of London and the Geological Survey of India.

In conclusion, Noetling (1894, p. 103) said: “As to their nature whether artificial or not, I do not want to express an opinion; all I can say is, that if flints of this shape can be produced by natural causes, a good many chipped flints hitherto considered as undoubtedly artificial products are open to grave doubts as to their origin.