Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [226]
5.2.2 A Stone Point Embedded in a Toxodon Femur (Pliocene)
After the commission left for Buenos Aires, Carlos Ameghino remained at Miramar conducting further excavations in the Chapadmalalan beds just northeast of the spot where the bola stone and flint knife had been found. Ameghino uncovered many fossils of animals characteristic of the Chapadmalalan, such as Pachyrucos, a rabbitlike creature, and Dicoelophoros, a ratlike rodent. These animals were absent from the overlying Mesopampean beds (C. Ameghino 1915, p. 438).
From the top of the Late Pliocene Chapadmalalan layers, Ameghino extracted the femur of a toxodon, an extinct South American hoofed mammal, resembling a furry, short-legged, hornless rhinoceros. Ameghino discovered embedded in the toxodon femur a stone arrowhead or lance point (Figure 5.1), giving evidence for culturally advanced humans 2–3 million years ago in Argentina. Those who are committed to the view that Homo sapiens sapiens evolved about 100,000 years ago in Africa will likely attribute Ameghino’s discovery to an intrusion from upper levels. But we would request such persons to, at least for a moment, set aside their preconceptions and withhold judgement while considering the facts of this remarkable case. Significantly, the toxodon femur was not discovered alone.
Figure 5.1. This toxodon thighbone (femur), with a stone projectile point embedded in it, was discovered in a Pliocene formation at Miramar, Argentina (C. Ameghino 1915, photograph 2).
C. Ameghino (1915, pp. 438–439) reported: “As we proceeded with the excavation, there also appeared in the barranca almost all of the bones of the rear leg of the toxodon, still articulated and conserved in their relative positions. This is very evident proof that the toxodon femur was buried in the terrain contemporaneously with the formation of the bed and that it has not since been subjected to movement. In addition to the femur, the proximal extremity of which scarcely cropped out of the barranca, the bones, which, as mentioned, appeared articulated, included, the tibia and fibula, the calcaneum [heel bone], the scaphoid and other pieces of the tarsus [ankle], and finally some metatarsals. All the facts make it absolutely certain that these remains were found in their primary position. Their condition is identical to that of all the fossils that appear in this part of the barranca and in those parts that extend many leagues to the north. There have been discovered in this same barranca, on many occasions, perfectly articulated skeletons of animals from the same period as the toxodon. One of the most notable is a skeleton of Pachyrucos, which was discovered and extracted by the naturalist M. Doello-Jurado.” From C. Ameghino’s description, it is clear that the femur with the stone point embedded in it was the femur that was part of the articulated leg.
In December of 1914, Carlos Ameghino, with Carlos Bruch, Luis Maria Torres, and Santiago Roth, visited Miramar to mark and photograph the exact location where the toxodon femur had been found. C. Ameghino (1915, p. 439) stated: “Like the previous visits, this last visit was full of surprises. . . . When we arrived at the spot of the latest discoveries and continued the excavations, we uncovered more and more intentionally worked stones, convincing us we had come upon a veritable workshop of that distant epoch.”
The many implements, including anvils and hammer stones, resembled, in form and lithic material, those of Florentino Ameghino’s piedra hendida (broken stone) industry, discovered in the same region. Carlos Ameghino and Roth continued their investigations to the south at Mar del Sur and found stone tools in the Ensenadan level. The identification of the formation as Ensenadan had been accomplished previously, by the