• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 1149 0

given with other stones” (Hrdlicka 1912, p. 105). Furthermore, the sharp cutting edges of the implements, according to Ameghino, showed “irregularities, denticulation, and other effects produced by use” (Hrdlicka Ameghino noted: “these broken quartzites, however rustic they may appear, are surely the work of man or his precursor, for there can not be opposed to them the objections which are being made to the eoliths. In this case there can be no question of pressure by the rocks, of shocks produced by stones driven by water or due to falling stones, because, I repeat, they are loose in the sand, and are all separated from one another” (Hrdlicka 1912, p. 106).

Hrdlicka interpreted the finds in another way. Significantly, he did not dispute the human manufacture of even the crudest specimens. Instead, Hrdlicka, an anthropologist with little experience of South American paleontology, offered a different analysis of the stratigraphy than did Ameghino, a professional paleontologist who had devoted decades to the study of the formations in question.

Hrdlicka (1912, p. 118) said in his book: “The writer found that the Monte Hermoso formation exposed in the now famous barranca was covered by more recent material. On the old formation rests a layer of volcanic ash, then some stratified sand, while the highest part is formed of a stratum of gravelly sand continuous with the base of the sand dune situated above and a little farther inland from the edge of the barranca.” Ameghino had said the volcanic ash, stratified sand, and gravelly sand comprised the Puelchean formation, overlying the Pliocene Montehermosan. Hrdlicka disputed the inclusion of the uppermost layer of gravelly sand within the superior part of the Puelchean formation. He observed: “The last-named surface material [the gravelly sand] is unstratified and somewhat packed, but in no way consolidated, and bears every evidence of being very recent. It crumbles over the clearly marked, ancient Monte Hermosean deposit, and in falling down becomes here and there lodged on the shelves or in the depressions of the old formation” (Hrdlicka 1912, pp. 118 –119).

Hrdlicka (1912, p. 119) then recalled: “In common with Professor Ameghino the writer found in such crumbled down material some large irregular and entirely fresh-looking fragments or chips of quartzite which indicate plainly the work of man. One of the heavier fragments had been employed as a hammer, portions of the periphery being distinctly worn by use. In addition, he found on one of the upper ledges a well-finished scraper of jasper [a variety of quartz]. Subsequently he extracted a number of quartzite chips or fragments from the more gravelly part of the uppermost deposit itself, within 18 inches of the surface.”

It is significant that Hrdlicka reported he extracted stone artifacts not just from crumbled material on ledges, but from within the upper deposit of gravelly sand itself. The fact that they were recovered a full 18 inches from the surface, upon which the recent sand dunes rested, shows they were an integral part of a distinct stratum. Ameghino said the stratum from which he (and Hrdlicka, it seems) took implements was part of the Puelchean formation, which according to modern opinion could be from 1.0 to 2.5 million years old.

5.1.3 Willis Stacks the Geological Deck

Hrdlicka, perhaps worried that his visit to Monte Hermoso had led him into a deadly ambush, wanted to suggest that the implements found there, by himself as well as Ameghino, were recent. As we have seen, he attempted to do this by casting doubt on the age of the stratum from which the tools had been taken. Hrdlicka received support in this regard from his companion, the geologist Bailey Willis.

Willis wrote: “Monte Hermoso is a dune on the southern coast of Buenos Aires. It surmounts a short section of the Pampean terrane, which is exposed by wave erosion in a low bluff along the shore. First described by Darwin, it has since been visited by many geologists who have studied the Pampean. . . . The Pampean terrane, which forms the base