Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [209]
In 1910, Hrdlicka visited Argentina, and Florentino Ameghino himself accompanied him to Monte Hermoso. Hrdlicka took an interesting approach to the discoveries that were made at that site. In his book Early Man in South America (1912), Hrdlicka barely mentioned the stone implements and other evidence of human occupation previously uncovered by Ameghino in the Montehermosan formation.
“In 1887,” wrote Hrdlicka (1912, p. 346), “F. Ameghino announced the discovery, in the barranca of Monte Hermoso, a low cliff facing the sea in the central part of the coast of the Province of Buenos Aires, of vestiges of ‘a being, more or less closely related to actual man, who was a direct forerunner of the existing humanity.’ These vestiges consisted of fragments of ‘tierra cocida, fogónes (fire places)—some of the latter vitrified and having the appearance of scoria—split and burnt bones (of animals) and worked stones.’”
Hrdlicka said nothing more about these particular discoveries of Ameghino—not even to dispute them. Instead, he devoted dozens of pages to casting doubt on subsequent, and less convincing, discoveries Ameghino made in the Puelchean, a more recent formation overlying the Pliocene Montehermosan at Monte Hermoso.
The Puelchean formation would, according to modern nomenclature, be included within the Uquian. Savage and Russell (1983) stated that the Uquian comprises several formations including the “Pulchense.” The Puelchean would thus fall within the Uquian time range, estimated at 1.5–2.5 million years (Anderson 1984) or 1–2 million years (Marshall et al. 1982).
Apparently, Hrdlicka believed his lengthy refutation of the finds from the Puelchean formation was sufficient to discredit the finds in the far older Montehermosan formation at the same site. This tactic is often used to cast doubt on anomalous discoveries—criticize the weakest evidence in detail and ignore the strongest evidence as much as possible. Nevertheless, there is much evidence to suggest that the Puelchean finds, as well as the Montehermosan finds, were genuine.
In and of themselves, the Puelchean discoveries at Monto Hermoso are not of paramount interest to us. If accepted, they merely add to our already abundant stock of evidence for a human presence in the Early Pleistocene. But as a well-documented example of how scientists treat anomalous evidence, the case is significant. We shall therefore take the trouble to examine in detail the shortcomings of Hrdlicka’s attempts to discredit the Puelchean implements.
As mentioned above, Hrdlicka and F. Ameghino together visited the Monte Hermoso site. Hrdlicka reproduced an English translation of Ameghino’s report of their excursion. Ameghino stated: “On the 11th of June, in the afternoon, we visited Monte Hermoso, where with difficulty we were able to stay a couple of hours. . . . The deposits of sands and sandy ground which rest above the Hermosean and constitute the Puelchean stratum, formerly visible over a small space of only about 40 meters [about 131 feet], now appear exposed along the barranca for several hundred meters and also to a greater extent vertically” (Hrdlicka 1912, p. 105). Ameghino collected a number of implements from “the superior part of this formation” (Hrdlicka 1912, p. 105).
The stone implements recovered by Ameghino from the upper section of the Puelchean formation at Monte Hermoso were very crude. Judging from his descriptions, they appear to resemble the pebble tools of the Oldowan industry of East Africa. Ameghino characterized the Puelchean specimens as fragments of “water-worn pebbles of quartzite” (Hrdlicka 1912, p. 105). To Ameghino, it was clear that the implements had been deliberately struck from quartzite pebbles: “The larger number of these fragments preserve still on one or two of their faces the natural surface of the rolled pebble, and on this surface are always observed scratches, bruises, abrasions, dints, etc., produced by strong and repeated blows