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of the epoch found there. I sent drawings of some of these fossils to Sir John Lubbock, who obligingly informs me that having submitted them to Messrs. G. Busk and Jeffreys, those eminent authorities have identified amongst them the remains of dinotherium, and the shell of a species of melania, both of which strictly appertain to the miocene epoch.” The Deinotherium is said by modern authorities to have existed from the Late Pliocene to the Early Miocene in Europe (Romer 1966, p. 386). It is thus quite possible that Calvert’s dating of the Dardanelles site as Miocene was correct. The Miocene is now said to extend from 5 to 25 million years before the present. According to the current dominant view, only exceedingly apelike hominids are supposed to have existed during that period. Even a Late Pliocene date of

2.5–3.0 million years for the Dardanelles site would predate the first toolmaking hominid (Homo habilis).

Calvert appears to have been sufficiently qualified to estimate the date of the Dardanelles site. David A. Traill (1986a, pp. 53–54), a professor of classics at the University of California at Davis, gives this information about him: “Calvert was the most distinguished of a family of British expatriates that was prominent in the Dardanelles . . . . he had a good knowledge of geology and paleontology.” Calvert conducted several important excavations in the Dardanelles region.

Calvert also played a very important role in finding the site of the famous city of Troy. Scholars usually give the credit for this to Heinrich Schliemann. But Traill (1986a, pp. 52–53) said of Calvert: “After excavating the ‘Tumulus of Priam’ on the Balli Dag (1863) and reading Charles Maclaren’s A Dissertation on the Topography of the Plain of Troy (Edinburgh 1822), he decided that Hissarlick must be the site of Troy. He purchased part of the mound and started to excavate in 1865, but lack of funds and the pressure of other commitments caused him to abandon the task. . . . After Schliemann’s unsuccessful diggings at Bunarbashi in 1868, Calvert persuaded him . . . that Hissarlick, not Bunarbashi, was the true site of Troy. Schliemann later downplayed both the significance of Calvert’s excavations and his role in awakening his interest in Hissarlick and successfully appropriated all the glory for himself. Calvert, however, was much the better scholar.”

During his excavations, Schliemann came upon a group of weapons, utensils, and ornaments that he called “Priam’s Treasure.” Calvert reviewed this find and Schliemann’s excavations in general. Traill (1986b, p. 120) stated: “He pointed out, with remarkable acuity, that the excavated material should be dated before 1800 b.c. and after 700 b.c. but that nothing was attributable to the period between these dates. Since the missing period included the time of the Trojan War, these findings enraged Schliemann. His response was to ridicule Calvert’s views and misrepresent his role in the excavation of Hissarlick. . . . Calvert was, as far as I have been able to determine from extensive reading of his correspondence, scrupulously truthful.” The so-called treasure of Priam, thought Calvert, was genuine, but not of the classical Trojan era, and this view conforms with the opinion of modern scholars.

Altogether, Calvert seems to have been a quite competent field investigator, with a reputation for truthful and careful reporting. It thus seems that in the case of his Miocene discoveries, he would not have missed any obvious sign that the carved bone, broken bones, and stone implements he discovered had been recently cemented into the deposits. It should be noted that the carved bone from the Dardanelles was no less securely positioned stratigraphically than a great many thoroughly accepted discoveries. Most of the Java Homo erectus finds and most of the East African Australopithecus, Homo habilis, and Homo erectus finds occurred on the surface and are presumed to have washed out from underlying formations varying from Middle Pleistocene to Late Pliocene in age.

In Le Préhistorique, de Mortillet did not