Forbidden Archeology_ The Full Unabridged Edition - Michael A. Cremo [46]
What sort of tests might be applied to disprove human action? Binford pointed out that animals typically destroy the articulator (or joint) ends of long bones during gnawing, whereas human breakage normally does not result in articulator destruction. Binford (1981, p. 173) suggested that it should therefore be possible to examine ratios of articulator ends to shaft pieces in broken bone assemblages as a method of discriminating between animal and human action. In the case of animal action, one would expect a low ratio of articulator ends to be present. Of course, the possibility that animals might scavenge bones left by humans introduces a complicating factor.
So in the case of the broken bones of Sansan we once more encounter evidence for a human presence in very ancient times. This evidence certainly cannot be ruled out in the absence of further study. Garrigou’s methodology and analysis appear to be quite rigorous, relying on sound taphonomic principles, extensive comparison with bones indisputably broken by human action, and evidence gathered from direct experiments in bone breakage patterns. We can only wonder why this report has remained buried. Whatever the reason, it would appear that the present data collection upon which ideas about human origins are based may be quite incomplete.
2.8 Pikermi, Greece (late Miocene)
At a place called Pikermi, near the plain of Marathon in Greece, there is a fossilrich stratum of Late Miocene (Tortonian) age, explored and described by the prominent French scientist Albert Gaudry. During the meeting in 1872 at Brussels of the International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and Archeology, Baron von Dücker reported that broken bones from Pikermi proved the existence of humans in the Miocene (von Dücker 1873, pp. 104 –107). Modern authorities still place the Pikermi site in the Late Miocene (Nilsson 1983, p. 476; Jacobshagen 1986, pp. 213, 221).
Von Dücker first examined numerous bones from the Pikermi site in the Museum of Athens. He found 34 jaw parts of Hipparion (an extinct three-toed horse) and antelope as well as 19 fragments of tibia and 22 other fragments of bones from large mammals such as rhinoceros. All showed traces of methodical fracturing for the purpose of extracting marrow. According to von Dücker (1873, p. 104), they all bore “more or less distinct traces of blows from hard objects.” He also noted many hundreds of bone flakes broken in the same manner. It would thus appear that these fractured bones would satisfy the requirements of nineteenth-century authorities such as Steenstrup as well as modern authorities such as Binford with regard to impact notches as a sign of intentional breakage.
In addition, von Dücker observed many dozens of crania of Hipparion and antelope showing methodical removal of the upper jaw in order to extract the brain. The edges of the fractures were very sharp, which may generally be taken as a sign of human breakage, rather than breakage by gnawing carnivores or geological pressures. One might question whether the bones in the museum collection actually belonged to the Miocene stratum of Pikermi, but many of them had a matrix of red clay clearly confirming the layer from which they were recovered. The museum personnel said, however, that no stone tools or traces of fire had been found with the bones.
Von Dücker then journeyed to the Pikermi site itself to continue his investigation. During the course of his first excavation, he found dozens of bone fragments of Hipparion and antelope and reported that about one quarter of them bore signs of intentional breakage. In this regard, one may keep in mind Binford’s finding that in assemblages of bones broken in the course of human marrow extraction about 14 –17 percent have signs