Free Hit Counter Visitors to these pages since 12-29-97
Free Hit Counter
Visitors to these pages since 12-29-97
This is the first book for both authors and it tells the story of the excavations at Boxgrove, England which took place from 1982 until 1996. Mark Roberts became hooked on Boxgrove when as a volunteer in a student dig, he had discovered a handaxe in Christmas of 1982. He returned to dig some more in 1983 but ran out of money. In 1984, he resigned from his job and with no money or support, he began a dig that would last 12 years. By the end of 1984, he had found enough archaeological material, dated to half a million years ago, to garner both financial support and international attention. What he had found was a former land surface which had preserved the activities of Englishmen half a million years ago. And this find would highlight the thought processes of ancient man.
The book begins by alternating vignettes of the history of British
archeology with ones concerning the rocky start at Boxgrove. The vignettes
include tales about Buckland and his observations of the hyenas who lived in his
home, the discovery of Kent’s Hole (a site used in the 1800’s as evidence of
the global flood), and the discovery and early interpretation of stone tools.
This part of the book moves slowly and tempts the reader to put it down. But the
real meat is to come.
The real importance of Boxgrove lies in what the excavations revealed
ancient man to be doing 500,000 years ago. Two sites were excavated in which
hominids butchered a rhino and a horse respectively. By meticulously mapping the
location of each and every fragment of flint at the site, they were able to
prove that six or seven people sat around a horse carcass, manufactured
handaxes, and then butchered the horse. The site yielded evidence for the use of
advanced soft-hammer flintknapping techniques which were once thought to
be the province solely of anatomically modern man. But what was more interesting
was the tantalizing hint of how the horse was killed in the first place. A small
four centimeter circular hole with all the microscopic marks consistent
with a high velocity spear entry wound was found on the shoulder blade of the
horse. If this is a spear entry wound, then it is the earliest evidence for the
manufacture and use of wooden spears by man. Actual spears are found at
Schoningen, Germany a mere 100,000 years after Boxgrove which, of course lends
support to the concept that the Boxgrove hominids used them.
The importance of the above three items lies in what they tell us about
the planning abilities of these hominids. In order to hunt the animals they had
to plan beforehand by making the
wooden spears. This required that they find a sapling, make stone tools with
which to shape the sapling, and then make a fire with which to harden the tip.
They then must have planned where to intersect the herds and make the kill. This
would rely upon knowledge of past animal migrations and observations of their
habitats. Once the kill was made, they then had to exercise a tremendous amount
of planning and thought in the manufacture of the stone tools which were used to
butcher the animals. The authors point out that the manufacture of an Acheulean
handaxe resembles playing chess, as the person must plan ahead five or six
flaking operations or he will end up with a useless tool.
Why is planning so important to the readers of this journal? Simply
because a being that can plan ahead and understand consequences is also able to
understand the theological, moral and physical consequences of a statement like,
“but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for
when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:17 (NIV).
All
in all, Fairweather Eden, is well worth reading if one is interested in
the history of archeology, in the struggles of one scientist to gain recognition
for his project, or in the abilities of ancient hominids. And it is an inspiring
story of a young-man who took a chance and succeeded.
Reviewed by Glenn R. Morton, Manager of Geophysics, North
Sea, large independent oil company.