Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [217]
But these light and porous specimens of burned earth were not the only kind found by Ameghino. Other specimens, from a variety of sites along the coast, were harder and more solid. Noting this distinction in his own research, Hrdlicka (1912, p. 50) stated: “Small particles and occasionally larger masses of tierra cocida, were found by Mr. Willis or the writer in a number of localities along the coast from northeast of Miramar to Monte Hermoso, and were relatively abundant in the deposits exposed in the barrancas at the former locality. They occur at different depths from the surface, to below the sea level at ordinary low tide. The pieces collected are all compact, with the exception of two or three that show on one side a transition to scoria. While there is a general resemblance, they all differ in aspect and weight from the very porous, light products of the burning of the esparto grass, collected by Mr. Willis on the Colorado.”
As we have seen, Ameghino thought some of the compact pieces of scoria and burned earth were the remnants of fogones, or fireplaces, rather than grass fires, which may, it seems, have been set naturally rather than by humans. But Willis rejected human action in all cases. About some specimens from Monte Hermoso, Willis stated: “Through the courtesy of Doctor Ameghino the writer saw at Buenos Aires 10 pieces of burnt clay which would appear to have formed a layer about 10 by 15 cm. [4 by 6 inches] in area and about 5 to 10 mm. [.2 to .4 inch] thick, collected by Ameghino from the Monte Hermosean formation below high-tide level. As stated in describing certain observations on burnt earth of the Pampaean, the writer finds that clays of that formation may be burnt without the agency of man, and he does not attach any significance to the occurrence of burnt earth as an evidence of man’s existence in the Miocene (?) ‘Monte Hermosean’” (Hrdlicka 1912, p. 364).
Willis also stated: “In order to prove that man maintained a fire which burned a particular mass of tierra cocida it would be necessary to bring independent evidence of his handiwork” (Hrdlicka 1912, p. 364). In many cases Ameghino did, however, supply such independent evidence. Hrdlicka himself noted that “burnt bones, carbon, and other substances that might possibly be due to man have been found at or near fogónes” (Hrdlicka 1912, p. 50).
Willis was quick, perhaps too quick, to dismiss this evidence. He wrote: “Two classes of facts have been cited to demonstrate his [man’s] agency: The presence of supposed artifacts and the arrangement of a mass of burnt clay; chief among the former are split, broken, or scratched fragments of bone, and it appears to the writer that these may be referred, with greater probability, to weathering, biting, gnawing, and accidents incident to the wanderings of bones, as strata were eroded and redeposited” (Hrdlicka 1912, p. 48). Willis’s remarks about the bones are extremely suspicious, especially when considered in the light of our discussion of the treatment of such evidence in Chapter 2. Also, it should be kept in mind that Willis was a geologist, with no particular training in the study of incised bones. Any fair-minded investigator would want to have a careful look at those bones before accepting Willis’s characterization of them.
Willis then stated: “Certainly the proofs of man’s agency should be uncontrovertible and the possibility of explanation by other than human action should be positively excluded, before the conclusion that he intentionally