作者: J.R. Jochmans, Litt.D., 1979
Clean注：英文版原文链接 Strange Relics from the Depths of the Earth
http://www.hiddenmysteries.org/mysteries/hollow/relics.html
目录
概述
约翰曼斯博士引用了众多关于地层中发现人工制品的报道，根据经典进化时间表，这些人工制品的发现将人类进化时间大大提前。报道显示早在地球远古时期，即有人类存在，进化论纯属谬误。
普遍接受的理论和无法接受的事实
在当今的大多数学术界，对于地球、生命、人类、人类文化的历史的阐述，多囿于个别流行的理论。例如，对地球地理的解释，仅仅局限于均变说。按此学说，现今存在的风化和火山活动是在过去起作用的唯一力量。由于此力量的变化进程极其缓慢，而地球深层可观察到的改变又是如此巨大，因此认为地球的年龄为几十亿年，今天普遍认为是45~50亿年。
类似地，地球生命的历史被看作是漫长发展的进化过程，或者说从简单到复杂的过程。既然最简单恐怕也是最早的生命形式始于寒武纪，而寒武纪的地理历史为6亿年，因此这被认为是地球生命的年龄。在进化的历史舞台上，终极产品 - 人在最后一幕才粉墨登场。根据最新的人类学发现，最早的类人生物于地球不过是400万年前的事。最后，根据进化论原则，人类文化的发展一定是线性的：缓、慢、但从不间断，从原始开端，经过最后的一万年，直至现代科技文明的出现，达到顶点。
这些理论共同形成了均变-进化-线性模型，主宰了过去一个世纪的现代科学，并进而扩展到所有的发现 - 每一片岩石样本、每一块化石、每一具人类遗体、每一个人工制品，都须慎重解释和分类以符合此模型框架，排除其它任何可能。但日趋明显的是，并非所有事实均符合这一模型。已有其它发现与之相抵触，但这些发现被漠视。因为对于大多数科学家和历史学家来讲，维护现有理论比根据“例外”建立新模型更容易。
均变-进化-线性模型的最大缺陷是它必须以此为前提，即在地球历史中，人作为智慧生命只是初来乍到。地理记录有几十亿年的历史，化石记录有几亿年的历史，人类化石记录有几百万年的历史，而人类文明只有几千年，根本无法解释地层深处存在的人类骸骨或复杂的手工制品。事实上，即使发现一例也足以毁灭这个模型，因为它将否定整个均一理论体系及人类与人类文化进化学说。
本文论点为：人和人类文明的产品存在于地层深处有确凿证据。在此列举事例。
史前人的遗骨
今天如果你走进任何一家自然博物馆、或者你打开任一本人类学的教科书、或者往前追溯人类先人的更远古祖先，最后这条线就在猿人这里消失了。近来，古人类学家理查德?李基(英国古人类学家,1903-1972)在埃塞俄比亚考古挖掘中宣称发现了设想中最古老的人类遗骸化石-约400万年。这个新发现困扰大家的部分问题是化石太像人类了：虽然古老，可是部分外貌十分“现代”；这迫使进化论者将人类从猿类中分化出的时间远远推前，因此根据猿类自身进化所需的时间，现在该打破这一分化论调了。
但是当非洲的发现带来革命时，在其它地方也发现了一些更重要的人类化石，只是这些发现被故意忽视或驳斥了，因为这些使人类比“想象的”远为古老。
在100多年前的19世纪50年代，淘金者在台伯山(加州尼窦斯西北)的山腰和山顶挖掘隧道。金子找到了，但同时出土了许多遗骨，诸如灭绝了的乳齿象、猛犸、北美野牛、貘、马、犀牛、河马还有骆驼等-统统属于上新世（第三纪）。1863年，来自附近所诺拉的内科医生R. 斯内尔开始收集这些出土文物的样本。那一年他用自己双手从这些化石中挖出了一块似乎曾用来研磨东西的石头圆盘。不过斯内尔既非首位、亦非末位从山上的砂砾中掘出这些神秘物品的：1853年，奥利弗W. 史蒂夫书面证明([美国法律](经陈诉者宣誓在法律上可采作证据的书面陈述)自己曾在最低层的隧道中搬开了一个很大的石球；1857年，瓦里究尊敬的保罗?哈布斯先生在瓦伦丁竖井中挖出了一块人类头盖骨；1862 年卢埃林?皮尔斯先生也签署书面证明自己在那个竖井口里发现了一个200英尺长的石臼。最令人称奇的发现来自矿山的一个主人马第生阁下，1866年二月，马第生从一层玄武岩下挖出的一件东西：因为包了一层结垢，他先想是块树根化石，但仔细检查后发现是一块完整的人类头骨。同年6月他把头骨交给了州土地测量办公室。最终这块化石成为哈佛学院L. 怀曼博士的藏品，他将头盖骨上的东西除掉。他和合作者惠特尼教授鉴别发现这块头盖骨很象现代人类，但是他们还是说，“头盖骨的缝隙中塞满了骨头碎片、砂砾、贝壳等，因此发现的环境特征应该没有错误。”难题是这意味着从所有发现古物来看，这块头盖骨有1千200万年了。
1958年，在意大利的托斯卡纳区一个煤矿600英尺深处尤哈尼司?胡里兹勒博士(瑞士巴塞尔(瑞士西北部城市,在莱茵河畔)自然历史博物馆)挖出一块人类下颚骨。这块骨头是一名5到7岁的儿童的。尽管平得像块铁片，好几位专家都承认这块颚骨不但是人类的、而且像现代人类的。但是迷惑他们的是它埋在2000万年前的中新世地质层里。胡里兹勒博士宣称他是世界上“最古老的人类”-然而他的人类学家同道们却不敢给它这个声誉。这些人类遗骸比所有过去发现的“人猿”外形更像现代人类-然而却比它们古老5倍以上。其实那块颚骨比许多猿类的祖先还要古老。
这块颚骨带来的疑问远比答案多-所以该发现很快就被“搁置起来”了，因为荣誉问题再也无人对其进一步研究。
早在1926年11月，考古学家J.C.F. 赛格伏瑞德调查了另一个矿井(熊溪共有煤矿3号井, 距离蒙大拿州毕灵斯西南55英里)。赛格伏瑞德发现了一只人类牙齿：石墨代替了牙釉、渗流固化的铁代替了牙根。在1926年11月11日出版的卡本县新闻一篇报道中，赛格伏瑞德说自己已经小心翼翼地保留了的散布沉积在这颗牙齿周围的矿物，几名牙医根据牙齿的铸模鉴别出这是一个人的第二颗次臼齿。然而这颗牙来自该矿的底层-3000万年前始新世（第三纪下层）的沉积物。赛格伏瑞德的发现在其他专家中激不起兴趣，就目前而言，无人对这个秘密作任何深究。
如今作为西德富雷伯格矿业科学院的部分藏品里，有一批极为亘古的“错位”骨头，更富争议性的一件是个保存很差的人类头盖骨，1842年在地址未透露的褐煤中发现。早期的欧洲权威视其为赝品，但近期的许多研究分析开始质疑这一草率论断，重新将其摆入正品。开始质疑的理由可以理解：埋藏这块头盖骨的煤仍有部分粘在上面，并且估计至少有5000万年之久。
看来尽管鉴定很有理由，科学界的反应却反而很冷淡。1973年，在一个被附近大印第安铜矿公司因为要采矿而刚用推土机推平的岩石高地(尤他州摩押西南35英里处)上，一名叫林? 欧亭阁藏石者在拣东西时，突然发现一些石头和牙齿，他循迹找到一小片有棕色污滓的沙地-似乎是腐化器官的痕迹。当他小心地清理了沙子，发现是一具大而完整的人骨的上半身。这个搜石者意识到了自己的发现很重要，决定找个知名专家来看看，让他挖出来，好让一切在“科学上能接受。”
一周后，欧亭阁带着盐湖城尤他大学的教授J.P.马伟特博士、几个摄影师、一个新闻记者和数名观测员返回这里。摄影记录了这个过程：马伟特小心地将骨骼的下半部分移出来。骨骼都有关节，即是自然放置的，这显示不是掉进或者被冲进这一地质层的。这些因素、还有其它因素揭示了这具骨骼和所在地质层一样古老。有个问题是，依据地质学家的地质均变说，该地质层是1亿年前的晚侏罗纪和早白垩纪形成的。然而就像马伟特所说，骨骼不是猿类、也不是半猿类：完全是人类的，且跟现代人一样。
马威特将骨架带回尤它大学以测定年代。但试验是否展开，已无从查考。给人的印象是，这些发现对于保守的思想冲击力过大。马威特对此项目突然丧失兴趣，离开尤它，到外地从事教学工作。经过一年的等待，奥汀格将骨架重新束之高阁，从而结束这一科学调查。
与此相似，上一世纪有很多发现一经报道后旋即就被遗忘。爱荷华市的<星期六先驱报>登载了一篇文章说，1867年4月10日，在科罗拉多的 Rocky Point Mine，人类遗骨与手工制品重见天日。挖掘者在地下400英尺处发现了嵌于银矿石内的人骨，同时出土的还有一个冶炼精致的铜箭头。依现今地理学标准计算，藏有上述物品的银矿距今已1亿3千5百万年。
随时间推移，更多的发现显露出“秘中之秘”的味道。1877年7月，四位勘探者到一个荒芜险峻的地区寻找露天金银矿藏。地点位于喷泉峡谷的源头，与内华达州 Eureka 相距不远。在勘察岩石时，其中一人发现高高的岩架上有一个奇怪的突起物。当爬上细看时，他惊奇地发现从坚硬的岩石中伸出一个人的大腿骨和膝盖骨。他叫来同伴，一起凿下了这个奇怪的东西。一行人意识到这是个非同寻常的发现，便将它带到Eureka，进行展览。
嵌有人骨的岩石是一种坚硬、呈黑红色的石英岩，骨头自身由于碳化作用几乎变成黑色，提示它久远的历史。当周围的岩石被仔细地一点点凿去时，发现样本由以下结构组成：在膝盖上方四英寸处断裂的大腿骨、膝盖骨及关节、小腿骨和完整的足骨。几位医生检查后证实，从解剖学角度看，它们确实属于人类，而且是与现代人极其相似的人类。令人颇感兴趣的是骨头的长度：从膝盖到足跟长达39英寸，因此整个人站立时应超过12英尺。更加神秘的是岩石的年龄，地理学上溯到恐龙年代，即侏罗纪世代，距今1亿8千5百万年。当地报纸连续报道了这一惊人的发现。两家博物馆派专人调查是否可发现更多的残骸，但一无所获。
下一个也是最近一个被发现的骨架使地理学时间又向前飞跃一步，带我们进入更深的地层。1880年发表于<科学美洲>的一篇论文报道了同年春天的一个发现，已先期登载于<圣露易斯共和报>。布斯博士在密苏里州弗兰克林县距 Dry Branch 三英里的地方开了一片铁矿。他在地下18英尺处挖出一具骷髅、部分胁骨、脊椎和锁骨。同时出土的还有两个装有倒钩的燧石箭头和一些木炭碎片。布斯意识到此发现非同小可，但令他沮丧的是，骷髅和其它骸骨触手即碎。尽管如此，骨片仍可证实，它们确凿无疑属于人类。两个半星期后，布斯挖掘到地下24英尺，发现了更多的骨架 - 大腿骨、脊椎和更多炭化木。而且，残骸被发现躺在一片粗糙、呈编织状的铁矿上。纵横交错的纤维仍隐约可见。令布斯震惊的是，矿层属志留纪第二期即砂糖沙石期，距今4亿2千5百万年，简直不可置信。
让我再重复一遍：4亿2千5百万年。这已远远超越普遍认为的人类文化的年龄，超越人类自身、猿人和所有哺乳动物，甚至超越恐龙时代。根据进化论，陆地生命始于志留纪，实际上这距理论推测的生命出现的时间已早出三分之二还多。但为什么这些人类遗骨与产品出现在这个时候？一定有什么出了极大纰漏。
跨越时间的泥泞足迹
阿瑟.斯坦雷.哀丁坦曾写道：“在一个无名海滩上，我们曾发现一个奇怪的足迹。我们曾想出一个又一个的深奥理论来追溯它的起源。起码我们曾成功地再现了踩下足迹的动物。你瞧！是我们自己。”可以看到这里有许多事实：许多事例表明我们人不仅遗体会埋入地质岩层，还会留下自己的印记。
1884年，哈佛大学皮伯第博物馆地质学家厄尔.伏林特在尼加拉瓜的迈那瓜附近几尔瓦湖畔发现一个采石场，有一层已经变成化石的人类足迹，在地表下16~24英尺。1884年伏林特这样描述：
“这些足迹深1.5~3英寸，长不超过18英寸。有些足迹之间相当接近，软地表回添在压痕里，还有一个宽约2英寸的缝隙都能看到，一些较浅的压痕跟一排足迹平行，给我的印象是一个人拄着根棍子在走。从博物馆取得的一个样本可以发现有些足迹的有点向外翻成脊状了；因人的大小、走过的地表性质不同，步幅有大有小。已发现最大有17英寸，是一只10英寸长4英寸宽的拱型脚，沿着一条直线走了3步（从脚踵中心到大脚趾测）。这些人或多或少都在沿着现在湖边的东西方向走。”
这附近还有一些，伏林特还发现既有光脚的足迹、又有明显穿着精致便鞋的足迹。地质上讲所有的足迹都得追溯到29万年前。这么遥远的过去，按现在的观点看人还光着身子、浑身是毛、能用燧石打火、刚刚克服了对火的恐惧而已。可是形成尖刻对比的是，在尼加拉瓜发现的他们聪明地使用着手杖、穿着设计得既舒适又护脚的便鞋。在这我们面对的不是半人半兽的脚印，而是文明人类的足迹！
再2年前，1882年夏，内华达州卡森城(美国西部内陆州)附近的州监狱的囚犯在采石场干活时，发现一层砂岩上有动物的化石脚印，其中有些是已经绝迹的猛犸。然而令科学界相当惊愕的是还发现了些个人的脚印！这些脚印分6个交替自右至左的序列。足迹前后相距在2.5到3英尺范围，每个长18~20英寸-巨人的。左右跨度18~19英寸。地质学家约瑟夫.李.康特-研究1882年8月27号加利福尼亚科学院完成的卡森城足迹调查报告，试图将它们解释为绝迹的巨型树獭在200万年前的中新世留下的。根据相关化石的研究，巨型树獭为了能用两脚直立行走，必须用尾巴来平衡，但这里没有尾巴的压痕。不仅如此，把卡森的足迹同巨型树獭的痕迹作比较，差异颇多：巨型树獭的脚印有脚趾隆起、以及明显的爪子痕迹，卡森足迹都没有；事实还显示足迹的主人还穿着什么鞋或者护脚物-很显然动物不会有这种习惯。
1969年5月25日的《塔尔萨（美国俄克拉菏马州东北部城市）周日世界》登载了个故事，介绍在塔尔萨东部一个山顶的一次古怪的化石发现。发现者特洛伊.约翰逊是有着13年经验的野外地质学家，尽管他曾向好几位专家展示了他的发现的石膏模型，可是谁都不信。约翰逊挖出了一块布满脚印化石的砂岩-许多5趾的、明显的人类脚印。这些脚印上覆盖着一些目前已经灭绝的生物的脚印，那么人的脚印肯定不会时间很短-要追溯到3~5百万年前。
还有一件值得一提的人类脚印发现。1961年一份苏联杂志报道：1959年一个中苏古生物学家探险队，由陈周明博士率领，在中亚的戈壁沙漠发现了一个带底棱纹鞋留下的鞋印化石。鞋印出现在1500万年前的砂岩上。探险队成员仔细检查了鞋印，迅即辨认出这不是任何动物的脚印：棱纹太整齐规则了，绝非自然产物。
更近的脚印鞋印发现是1970年在俄克拉荷马州西北喀里佐山谷。脚印印在1.55亿年到1亿年前之间(莫里森岩层时期和达可他砂岩层时期)。光脚印有点受侵蚀，但压脊仍然清晰可辨。有几个距离恐龙脚印极近。鞋印就更加清晰了，显示穿鞋者身材适中，留下的鞋印前后距离20英寸、左右距离8英寸。
注： 莫里森岩层时期：距今1.55亿到1.47亿年。 达可他砂岩层时期：距今1亿年。
在德克萨斯州靠近Glen Rose的Paluxy河沿岸发现的人类足迹也许是最为公众所熟知的。1908年Paluxy河岸经一场洪水冲刷，暴露出了分属Glen Rose构造，Paluxy构造和双山构造的地层。这些地层都可追溯到1.2至1.3亿年前的早白垩纪时期。有趣的是，在离San Antonio不远的Bandera也发现了同样的岩层，而且也发现了人类足迹。而直到1938年，对Paluxy的神秘化石足迹的研究才真正开始。供职于纽约美国自然历史博物馆脊椎古生物部的 Roland T. Bird以其“官方”的身份在一具雷龙化石的旁边发现了一组足印，但在1939年5月号的《自然历史》中却否认说：“虽然那组足印天衣无缝，但在爬行动物的时代决不会有人类存在。” Bird认为他所看见的足印属于一种“灭绝的类人猿”。但这个结论漏洞百出。因为根据进化论，类人猿在雷龙时代结束后1亿年才出现。
Paluxy遗迹成了一个旅游热点。在大萧条(1929-1933)期间，当地开始发掘恐龙和人类遗迹化石，并把它们作为纪念品出售。其中一些标本完全是肆无忌惮的投机商们的仿制品。不幸的是，某些保守派学者后来以这些赝品作为否定所有已发现遗迹的口实。但地质学家和古生物学家们发现了更多的无可辩驳的新遗迹。有些在岩层之间，有些则在Paluxy河岸的数英尺深处，根本没有仿冒的可能。
Paluxy河沿岸的发现是人类遗迹和所有曾在这里生活的动物的遗迹的混合体。雷龙的脚印，令人生畏的暴龙的爪印，其他恐龙的三趾足迹，及一种生活在数百万年前，并不与恐龙同时代的剑齿虎的足印同时并存。至于人类足印，大都是连续的，突出于Paluxy河岸，步幅自然，并延伸至河床。许多足印为赤脚，大脚趾清晰可辩；另外一些显示步行者穿有某种“鞋”，类似于鹿皮鞋或薄凉鞋。有一具化石保存极为完整，甚至可以辨认出鹿皮鞋上的鞋带。一些足迹证实步行者与现代人类身高相当，鞋的尺码为7-13号。另一些足迹属于儿童，其足迹既小又浅。更多的足印长达116英寸，步行者身高应达绝无仅有的21.5英尺，步幅达7英尺 - 这是名副其实的巨人了。
但最为令人称奇的是，所有这些足印与恐龙足迹存在于同一地层中。在少数化石中，人类足迹甚至与恐龙足印交叠。这证明在该岩层尚未形成时，二者就已同时存在。伊利诺伊大学的A.E. Wilder Smith博士在评论这些化石的重要性时说：“一件真正的在同一岩层中的人类足印与恐龙足迹的化石胜于100年的进化论教育。它足以推翻整个达尔文理论，并引起生物学所有领域的革命。”
其他地区发现的足印化石可以追溯至更早的地质时代。《美国人类学家》第四卷(1896)第66页描述了在西弗吉尼亚Parkersburg以北四英里的Ohio河畔的岩石中发现的一件近乎完美的足印化石。脚印长14.5英寸，嵌于一块大石头中。尽管该文献并没有给出太多细节，一位专家应用现代地质断代方法，根据其描述的岩石类型及其在河边的位置计算出该足迹至少有1.5亿年的历史。
70年代末期，澳大利亚约克山自然历史博物馆馆长Rex Gilroy博士在维多利亚山发现了巨大的脚印。试探性的估计认为此遗迹至少有2亿年历史。
最重要的足迹之一被发现在Nevada的Pershing县的Fisher峡谷。1927年1月25日，一位名叫Albert E. Knapp的业余地质学爱好者在峡谷内的一座小山上考察时，在一堆石块中发现了该化石。他拾起该石块仔细观察并把它带回家。经进一步的检查，Knapp惊奇的发现，“该化石系由鞋跟离地时所带起的泥土所形成，这块岩石在当时呈弹性态。”鞋的印迹保存的出奇的好 - 鞋跟的边缘光滑而完美，其右侧比左侧磨损的严重 - 证明这只鞋被穿在右脚。但最令人惊奇的是，Knapp所发现的鞋跟化石是三叠纪石灰石 - 至少有2.25亿年历史。此化石后来经一位洛克菲勒基金会的专家鉴定，证实了Knapp的分析。分布于化石各处的微小硫化汞晶体的存在亦证明它是古时的遗物。
但直到显微摄影揭示了鞋跟上的皮革是由双线缝合而成，远古鞋跟遗迹才引发了真正的惊叹。双线的细微部份十分清晰。一条线沿鞋跟的外沿，另一条在低于第一条线三分之一英寸处与之精确平行。 使研究者们困惑的是，该化石中所用的线竟比发现它时的1927年鞋匠们所用的线在做工上还要精细。正如加利福尼亚Oakland考古博物馆荣誉馆长Samuel Hubbard先生所言：“地球上今天的人类尚不能缝制那样的鞋。面对这样的证据，即在类人猿尚未开化的亿万年前，地球上已存在具有高度智慧的人， 进化论将何去何从呢？”
1885年，肯塔基州毕利学院J.F.布朗教授被找去检查一个莫名其妙的发现，在毕利镇东16英里石头堡县大山岗-剑伯蓝高原的一个支脉。在山顶附近，一处石炭纪的石灰石地层被一辆古老的四轮马车碾断了，沿着车迹将泥土打扫掉后，露出了石灰石断层的另一部分。在《美国古文物研究》(卷7，页39)上，E.A.爱伦著文在该地层上保存了好几种生物的化石痕迹。使目击者不解的是其中有两个人类的脚印，“大小正常、脚趾自然伸展、非常清楚地印在那里”。
直到1930才有人对其作进一步的研究，是毕利学院地址系系主任威尔伯.戈瑞利.宝来博士。宝来博士发现共12个9.5英寸的人脚印，以及其他的不完整脚印，确认确实是印在上宾夕法尼亚纪的灰婆次威利砂岩上-有3亿年之久。
保守学派的几位地质学家和古生物学家为了不丢面子，宣称这不是人类的脚印，而是某种未知的两栖动物。宝来博士的研究却证明不是这样。在《路易斯维尔[美国肯塔基州北部城市] 信差杂志》(1953年5月24日)他这样描述脚印的构造： “从中可以看到左脚比右脚发达。脚的位置同人一样。脚踵前后相距18英寸。左右脚平行，距离也同正常人一样。”
宝来博士总结说这些脚印是两足生物独有的。大部分两栖动物、爬行动物都是四足-但这没有前脚印。这些动物如果用后肢直立行走，需要用尾巴充当“第三条腿”来平衡。宝来博士特地说，在检查过的地层上没发现腹印或尾巴印。而且，宝来博士同几个同事对脚印的砂粒进行了显微镜分析，确定“每个脚印里的砂粒都比地层上脚印外任何地方的砂粒排列紧密，因为该生物踩脚印的压力。”
他们发现该“生物”比现代人踩脚印的力量大一点。1938年10月29日的《科学简讯》评论说，化石记录没有发现在上宾夕法尼亚纪有那么大个头的两栖动物或爬行动物会直立行走。
最后，可以清楚地看到脚印是五趾的，脚趾、脚踵是球形的，与两栖动物或爬行动物的外形完全无关-只有人脚是那样。艾伯特.G.尹国斯在《科学美国人》(1940年1月刊)宣称，“只要远在石炭纪存在人，无论什么形状，那么地质科学就是彻底错误的，所有地质学家都应辞职回家卖红薯去”。
圣路易南密西西比河沿岸有一片宽200英尺、长3英里的浅灰蓝色海百合灰岩层露出地面。上面有许多人的脚印，百余年来在浅水期都可以看到。早期的法国探险者首先发现，为此他们还曾产生过激烈的争论。对其最早的科学研究出现在1822年的《美国科学杂志》(卷五)上，作者亨利.司库勒拉福如此描述脚印，“极为自然、显示出每一块肌肉的印记、丰满的脚踵和脚趾，其精确和真实程度无法复制。”他的同事将其斥为印地安人的雕刻，但司库勒拉福认真表明这是自然产生的：这是踩上去的，不是雕刻在石灰石上的。司库勒拉福还说，踩脚印的人身材适中：脚长10.5英寸，脚面宽4英寸，脚踵宽2.5英寸。
《美国古文物研究》(1885年，卷7，页364-367)认为同圣路易脚印有关的另一个发现更扰人。普利斯的《美国古文物》中详细描述了一系列很奇怪的脚印。“就在这些脚印前数英寸处，有一个很深的压痕，似乎象卷轴或羊皮纸卷筒，长2英尺深1英尺。”该正方形压痕不是自然界形状；也不是草草形成的，否则会有雕刻痕迹。并且，压痕表明当时岩石尚有塑性-同脚印同时产生。这个发现揭示了踩脚印的不仅是人、而且有制造某种形状纸张的智慧-可能还会写字。这些倒无甚神秘，但留下脚印和纸张的石灰石在密西西比纪-3亿4千5百万年前。
更加久远年代的地层，还有更多的印记发现夹杂着人类“第一脚印”深印。据1948年的自然历史杂志《野外》报道，该年在英格兰温德莫湖附近发现一个鞋印，出现在让人不能相信的奥陶纪石灰石上-5亿年前哪！不寻常的是它具有工艺品的特征：在鞋后跟和鞋前掌处的边上都有圆形的粗缝压痕；并且在鞋底和鞋后跟还有暗淡的线型及花型饰纹-象是设计图案。尽管因为岩石表面的断裂、罅隙有点走形，还是能够测量出鞋宽3.5英寸、长8英寸。
1948年6月1日，犹他州科恩司的藏石爱好者威廉.J.迈司特同家人一起到附近的羚羊泉游玩。这里有司瓦塞山脉和寒武纪页岩构造，该处以多有化石而闻名。那天迈司特找腕足动物和三叶虫化石-根据进化论，它们是最古老的生物。迈司特敲开一块石板，用锤子敲掉边缘，掉出两块象书页一样的东西来。让他十分意外的是上面有一个人的便鞋脚印：脚趾处尖、脚跟处圆、在鞋底下一只踩扁了的三叶虫。鞋长10.25英寸、掌宽3.5英寸，跟宽3英寸。鞋印是右鞋的，应该穿在右脚上-鞋跟处较深，多1/8英寸：典型的人类足部承重分布。后来郝马特.H.窦灵博士考察了这一特殊发现，他没有发现任何不合常规之处或者伪造的痕迹，鞋印是真的。 (Clean注: 关于此发现请参阅“【转载】史前文明的一些证据及照片（多图）：2 三叶虫上的鞋印”)
7月20日，迈司特同地质学家祁福.伯帝科一起回到羚羊泉在原先那里接着发掘，伯帝科找到另一个6英寸长的寒武纪页岩脚印，是个儿童的，5个脚趾刚刚能够分清，似乎穿着软底鞋。伯帝科还是探测出了5趾是分开的，似乎小家伙刚开始穿鞋。因为身体重量分布脚跟脚弓都清楚，有一处化石在中间还碎掉了。伯帝科设法找到块更大的脚印化石，象原来迈司特那样的第二个儿童脚印，尽管较浅，比上个小，脚趾能分清，但在其他方面更完美。后来，通过对这块化石的仔细研究，发现脚印所在岩层很薄，那时当脚踩上去时，那一地层被随之压成弓形了-证明当时确实脚踩的是史前的泥泞中。
不过那块“史前的泥泞”和脚印证据现在已经成了寒武纪页岩-有骇人的6亿年之古。在上面还有理论上属于地球最古老生命的三叶虫化石。这次，我们逐字地推敲化石记录的“老底”，我们却发现了有智力、会穿鞋的人的存在。当寒武纪的脚印证明人是如此地古老时，怎么才能相信人是从简单生命“进化”来的呢？
远古的金属制品
搜寻存在于远古的人类遗骸和足印是一件事，但同时也需在地层中发现足以证明先进文化存在的人工制品。高度文明的特徵之一是使用金属的能力。持线性文化发展观念的保守的历史学家和考古学家认为，古中东是第一个金属产品的诞生地。他们声称，人类自八千年以前才开始在古中东融化与铸型铜、铁、金和银。但从地层深处挖掘出的极不寻常的遗迹却与此观点大相径庭。
5万年前的楔形铁片
1826年，在辛辛那提北部靠近俄亥俄河的一场掘井活动没有挖到水，却挖到了出人意料的东西。在地下94英尺处，一段深埋的树桩被刨了出来，上面竟有斧砍的缺口。缺口深而整齐，表明刀刃锋利而耐用。斧头疑为金属制作，这点被后来的发现所证实，在树桩里找到了一块过度氧化的楔形铁片。粗略估计，树桩出土的地层距今有5万到7万5千年历史，几乎十倍于“想象”中的金属首用的年代。
7万5千年前的铁钉
现存于马德里档案馆的一封1572年的信件记录了在秘鲁的西班牙总督和他拥有的一件奇异的人工制品。当年，印度采矿工人自砂砾层下挖出一个巨大的砂石混合物，并将之击裂以便处理。当巨物在锤下轰然而碎时，从中心落出一只六英寸长钉。钉子作为纪念品送交总督，后者进行了仔细的研究，并证实了这一发现。奇异之一在于，铁还不为当时的秘鲁印度人所知，因此铁钉不可能来源于他们。奇异之二在于，藏有钉子的岩石已有7万5千年到10万年历史。
10万年历史的精湛金属花瓶
1851年的6月号<科学美洲>(第7卷，298-299页)转载了上的一篇文章。在马萨诸塞州 Dorchester 进行的爆破中，一个金属花瓶被炸为两半飞出岩石。两半合二为一拼成了一个钟形花瓶，高4-1/2英寸，底座宽6-1/2英寸，瓶口宽2-1/2英寸，厚1/8英寸。花瓶由锌银合金制作，且银占相当大比重。瓶身上以纯银镶嵌了六朵花，呈簇状排列，下方绕以藤蔓，也由纯银镶嵌。雕、刻和镶嵌作工精湛，出自无名艺人之手。它自地下15英尺处破石而出，估计有10万年历史。不幸的是，花瓶在博物馆间辗转相传，最后不知去向。它可能正在某位馆长的地下室蒙尘，已被人长久地遗忘。
10万年历史由不明的铜合金制作的奇特纪念币
1870年8月，在伊利诺州距 Peoria 二十英里的 Lawn Ridge，三个人在打自流井时，从地下一百多英尺处抽上了一个小型金属纪念币。其中一人，来自Chillicothe 的莫菲特，是第一个发现它的人。当时的知名学者-温切尔教授 在他的<地理学家锤子上迸出的火花>一书中详细记录了此事经过。记录来源于另一名目击证人-威尔矛特，时间为1871年12月4日，包括钻井过程中不同深度存在的沉积物，及金属硬币出土的位置。地层定位如下：泥土-3英尺，黄黏土-17英尺，蓝黏土-44英尺，暗植被物质-4英尺，硬紫黏土-18英尺，亮绿黏土-8英尺，杂色黏土-18英尺，原始泥土-2英尺，硬币，淡黄黏土-1英尺，沙、黏土及水-11英尺。这个奇特的纪念币由一种不明的铜合金制作，大小和厚度相当于那时的25美分。硬币的厚度与圆形相当均匀，边缘似乎被切过。研究员杜博伊斯将他对纪念币的调查报呈美国哲学会。他证实说，硬币曾经通过轧钢机，其边缘出示了“机器作坊的进一步证据”。尽管硬币具有现代特徵，杜博伊斯仍清楚指出，“它的时间痕迹显而易见”。
纪念币的两面均有图案和象形文字，但并非雕刻或压印。更确切地说，图形系按某种方式以酸蚀刻而成，而且达到了错综复杂的程度。硬币的其中一面可见 一位戴头巾的妇女，左臂轻扬似乎在祝福，右臂携一幼童，也戴着头巾。妇女好像在说话。硬币的另一面也有一幅中心图形，看似一头蹲伏的野兽：长而尖的耳朵，大眼巨口，爪形四肢，长尾末端有磨损痕迹。它的左下方是另一只动物，很像马。硬币两面的外缘饰以无法辨识的文字，形状明确，显示为某种字母文字。
1876年，温切尔教授在水牛城召开的美洲协会地理分部举行的会议上，展示了此硬币。推测多多，鲜有答案。一位与会者-保守的历史学家莱斯里教授试图以恶作剧来解释，某个路过的法国或西班牙探险家故意将硬币丢下去。他甚至声称硬币上的图案是双鱼座和狮子座的天文学标记，文字是1572年。温切尔教授对此进行了反驳：1，将图案和文字以某种已知的象征或符号来解译纯属想入非非。2，谁会恶作剧到将金属物品丢到某个孔里并预知几百年后会有人在原位(误差须在4英寸内)打井而发现它？这种机会实在是微乎其微。3，要解释埋在硬币上厚达114英尺的沉积物实在困难。经研究所有证据，温切尔教授证实，硬币确实自那个深度出土。它并非掉入孔中，因为挖出的沉积物均匀且没有任何干扰迹象。如此大量的沉积物也不可能在短短几个世纪内形成。实际上，根据冲击层匀速理论和放射性物质测定，100英尺以下的沉积物质已达10万到15万年历史。
我们能从这神秘的硬币得到什么结论？一个曾经存在于北美大陆尔后消失了的文明，他们会使用铜及其它金属；拥有艺术与文字；穿衣戴巾；了解并可能驯服若干动物包括马；使用今天人类尚未了解的酸蚀刻技法；最使人困扰的，他们拥有将金属物品进行切割、滚轧和加工的机械设备。
15万年历史的铜器
这个谜一样的硬币并不是伊利诺州深层出土的唯一物体。1851年，怀特赛德县的另一个掘井队自地下120英尺沙层挖出两件铜器：看似一钩一环。据估计它们的历史与硬币一样长，大约15万年左右。
五十万年的“火花塞”
1961年2月13日，三位猎石者-麦克塞尔，莱恩和马克赛在加利福尼亚州距 Olancha东南12英里处采集晶石。晶石是一种球形中空有水晶条纹的石头。那天，他们搜寻科索山，在接近顶峰的地方发现一块石头，此处海拔4300英尺，高出欧文斯河床340英尺。
几个集石癖起初认为它是晶石，后来发现不对，因为石头有化石贝壳的遗迹。第二天，麦克塞尔将石头锯为两半，他几乎毁掉了一把10英寸长的金刚石锯条，因为石头里没有水晶，却藏了出人意料的东西。里面是某种机械装置的残骸：最外层是黏土、卵石和化石的混合物，接下来是六面体形状的物质，近于木材，软于玛瑙。它象壳一样包着一个3/4英寸宽的白色陶瓷圆筒，筒中心是一个2毫米亮铜色金属轴。猎石人发现这个轴具有磁性，且暴露在外多年从未显露丝毫氧化痕迹。陶瓷圆筒周围还绕以铜环，大部分已生锈。除此之外，石内另藏有其它两样人工制品，与圆筒不在同一位置：看似钉子和垫圈。
怪石猎奇者把他们的发现送到查尔斯福特协会, 这个协会专门调查不寻常的东西。协会对这个包含在化石里的圆柱物作了X光测定, 他们的发现进一步证实它的确是机械装置的一部分。X光显示这个金属轴一端已被腐蚀, 另一端则是一个金属弹簧或螺旋。总的说来, 这个Coso制造物被认为是机器的一部分, 这精致的瓷, 金属的轴以及铜的零件暗示它是电子仪器的一部分。科学家们能找到的最接近的现代装置是火花塞。然而, 它们的某些特征, 象弹簧或螺旋终端, 和现在所知道的任何火花塞都不一样。资深的地质学家测定这块石头已有五十万年的历史了。
一百万年历史的铁制方钉
1851年, 依利偌斯Spingfield 共和报报导, 有一个叫 Hiram De Witt的商人从加州带回来一块人手掌大小的镀金水晶石。当他把这个石头拿给他的朋友看时, 石头从他的手中滑落, 掉到地上摔开了, 在石头中间, 他们发现了一个铁制方钉, 微微有点腐蚀, 但是很直, 有着完整的头。这个水晶已有一百万年的历史了。
两千一百万年的历史的铁螺丝钉
1865年, 在内华达州Treasure市的Abbey矿, 从一块长石里发现了一个两英寸的铁螺丝钉。这个螺钉早已被氧化了, 但是从长石里的印子仍可看出螺钉的形状。 经检测, 这个石头已有两千一百万年的历史。
四千万年历史的人造钉子
比这更早二十年, 1844年, David Brewster爵士在英国科学发展协会发表的一篇报告引起了轰动。在英国北部, 靠近Inchyra的Kindgoodie采石场挖掘出一块沙石岩,一枚明显人造的钉子一半埋在里面。 这枚钉子已被腐蚀了, 但仍然能辨别出来。这个沙石岩经测定至少有四千万年历史。
六千万年历史的铁制的立方体
1885年秋天, 位于奥地利北部靠近Bocklabruck 的Schondorf, 有一个Isidor Braun爵士的儿子拥有的铸铁厂。 一个名叫Riedl 的工人打碎了一块第三纪的褐煤。 这种煤是从Schwannstadt 的 Wolfsegg 煤矿里开采出来的, 准备用作加热巨型熔炉。这个煤块被分裂成几小块, 从里面掉出一个立方体样的奇怪物。1886 年, 采矿工程师阿道夫博士给德国波恩的自然历史协会写了一份报告。 他写到, 这个覆盖着一层薄薄的灰尘的物体是由铁做成的, 2.64 x 2.64 x 1.85 英寸大小, 重1.73磅, 有着7.75 的引力值。 立方体的四个面基本是平的, 另外两面(正对着的两面)是凸起的。从中间到物体的顶高, 刻了一个很深的槽。对这个铁器的其它早期的研究发表在当时的科学期刊《自然》里(伦敦, 1886年11月11日, 第36页)以及《宇宙》(巴黎,1886,第463页)。在世纪转换之前, 还做了一个石膏模型 - 这是很重要的。因为原件会经常拿来拿去, 而且原件已被损坏了, 由于研究者们从上面削掉一点作试样。这个模子现在保存在奥地利Linz 的Landes 博物馆, 而原件曾在1950~1958年展览过。这个铁制的立方体目前保存在Vocklabruck 的 Heimathaus 博物馆Herrn O.R. Bernhardt。
1966~1967年, 维也纳自然历史博物馆的专家们用电子光束微分析法对这块铁块仔细地进行了研究。他们发现在铁里没有镍和钴的成分, 这说明这个东西不是陨石。而且也没有硫被检测出, 排除了它是硫化铁类, 一种有着几何形状的天然矿物。因为镁的含量低, 维也纳地质学家R. Gill 博士认为这个东西是铸铁。1973年, Hubert Mattlianer从另一个详尽的研究得出结论, 这个东西是把大块的手刻的腊或粘土压入一个沙型, 铸入铁形成模子造出来的。
最后的结论是, 这个奇怪的东西的确是人造的, 不能解释的是, 它被包在第三纪, 有六千万年历史的煤里。
一亿两千万年历史的金属结核
1968年, 法国洞穴学家Y.Druet 和 H.Salfati报道, 他们发现了埋藏在Saint-Jeande Livet 的Aptian白垩层采石场的不寻常的金属结核。这些金属结核呈褐色, 薄片状, 两端中空, 3~9 厘米长, 1~4 厘米宽。两个调查者在发现这些结核的金属特性前, 开始认为它们是化石。后来, 他们理论上认为它们是陨石的残余物。然而, 仔细的研究显示这些结核有着均匀一致的形状, 天然是难已形成的。化学分析表明, 碳的含量和现代的锻造和铸造的技术一致。但是, 这些人造物体怎么在白垩层被造出来的, 因为这些白垩层是百垩纪末的产物, 它已有一亿两千万年的历史了。正如Druet 和 Salfati 得出的结论, 这些物体证明了在史前考古学家所认为的人类存在之前地球上就有高级生命存在了。
三亿年历史的煤里掉出的金链子
1891年6月9日, 依利偌斯州Morrisonville 市的 S.W.Culp 女士在把煤铲进厨房时, 一大块煤分裂成两块, 从里面掉出一个金链子。这条链子大约10英寸长, 含8克拉金, 重8便士, 曾被描绘为古玩精品 。 6月11日的Morrisonville时报报导说调查者们确信这个链子不是意外落进煤块的: 一部分煤块仍粘在链子上, 而和煤块脱离的部分仍带有原来在煤块里的印记。时报仅能评论说, 这是一个吸引喜欢钻研地球的地质结构以及它的发展的考古学的学生兴趣的话题, 因为宾州地区三亿年历史的煤里掉出金链子太能勾引人的兴趣了。
三亿两千五百万年前的煤里出来的铁锅
类似的事件还发掘出更早年代的金属物。1912年, 两个俄克拉何马州托马斯市电子厂的员工把煤铲进工厂的壁炉里, 这个壁炉用附近一个已开采出的燃料作能源。一块煤太大了, 工人们用一个大锻锤猛击, 当煤裂开时, 它们发现一个铁锅包在里面。当把铁锅拿掉后, 裂开的两半煤正好形成这个铁锅的模型。两个工人都签名证实发现了此物。经过几位专家检验, 专家们都不愿意评论这个铁锅以及它的发现情况。这是容易理解的, 因为这个物体是从三亿两千五百万年前的煤里出来的。
六亿年由机器精密加工出来的夹层
必须提到的另一个不寻常的金属界的发现又把我们带到最久远的化石生物。1880年6月13日, 一个名叫Walter Carruthers在Inverness Courier工作的记者在苏格兰靠近Maree湖和 Victoria瀑布的地方度假。Carruthers是一个业余采石爱好者,他决定探索这个区域的地质状况。Carruthers发现在Victoria瀑布上方300~400码, 紧靠着水流西边的三个小瀑布的岩石上有奇怪的印记。这个岩石是寒武纪时代的Torridon红沙岩, 16 x 16英尺大小。这个印记包括两条连续的, 靠在一起的平平的夹层,1.25~1.5 英寸宽, 大约0.25英寸深, 笔直地穿过这个部位的沙岩层, 正好16英尺长,消失在盖在上面的岩石的西边, 仅在沙岩被腐蚀的地方中断过。几个星期后, Carruthers的同事, 这个地区的检验员, William Jolly先生也去看了这个奇怪的夹层。Carruthers以为这个印记是一些极不寻常的生物形成的, 但是Jolly认为这连续的, 等宽, 方形的夹层似乎不可能随便形成。Jolly进一步评论,这个双夹层更象是把两个铁条紧紧地放在一起留下的中空的印记。几年以后, 氧化铁的微粒被取样下来, Jolly的观察得到证实。负责研究的人认为,铁条曾经被插入岩石中, 或许为了加固结构。但是其它的发现没有证实这种说法。第一, 夹层在瀑布上方, 几乎不可及的地方, 加固结构几乎不起作用。第二, 夹层只有四分之一英寸深,任何紧靠它的东西不可能坚持很长时间。第三, 与夹层两边平行的是沙岩的波纹状的印记, 这显示在沙子被水冲过来,变成石头以前, 铁条曾在沙里造成涌动。第四, 沙岩的印记有细条纹,它含有铁的微粒。这再一次说明, 金属在固化前被原始沙作了印记。最后,一个夹层的一部分弯向地表, 仔细的挖掘显示, 在包围它的沙岩里存在着氧化铁。
Jolly还发现在同一地区其它的夹层印记: 有一个第三夹层长在其它两个边上, 但没有其它两个明显,也不连续。它多两条边, 比岩石表面低大约二英尺, 只有7英尺长, 而其它两个夹层位于更高的地方, 3英尺长。Jolly还看见在水流的另外一边, 相同的沙岩上有更多的夹层, 它们互相平行, 一个3英尺, 另一个6英尺, 还有一些小的。
我们可以猜猜, 这些夹层作什么用的。我们所知道的是, 所有的夹层厚薄均匀, 带有方角, 留下来的微粒显示,它们曾被卷过和切断过, 所有这些都是由机器精密加工出来的。
但是, 这是完全不可能的。如果我们相信地质学家, 这些沙岩产生于寒武纪, 按照他们的推测, 距今六亿年, 谁在那个时候操作铁制的机床, 因为那个时候应该是无脊椎动物统治世界的时候。
亘古时代的人像和讯息
使用金属工具无疑是先进文明的独有标志：其他标志如产生艺术、建筑及文字著述等。
由于我们已经考察了好几个内嵌金属制品的地质岩石块，不奇怪我们可能会找到深埋在地下的其他的文明成分。
1921年，在位于芬驰北方2英里的克罗雷冈有一排沙砾坑，阿肯色州人罗兰子在其中一个里面进行发掘时，突然铁铲碰上了一个坚硬的大家伙。起初他以为是块大石头，但当把周围的东西清理掉后，罗兰子立即辨认出是个大的石雕人头像。头像高约4英尺、四方形轮廓、下巴突出、紧闭的小嘴、鼻子短小、额头有皱纹，扁平金片镶嵌成的凝视的双眼。另外2个金的圆片在耳朵上作装饰，一个铜制心形物品镶嵌在胸口。头部带着雕刻出来的头巾一直下垂到颈部，并且绕在脖子上。在头像所在地层，罗兰子还挖出一些小玩艺：一枚金介、一个小火山岩浮石箱（该地区没有这种东西）、以及若干小石人、石动物、石月亮星星。 头像和其他古物很快在当地成为一景，报纸将那个怒目而视的头像称为“克罗雷王”。
几个调查者来鉴别真伪，但解释不了为什么他们存在于10英尺深的17万5千年前的沙砾层中。头像等物品被送到李陶?罗克的阿肯色自然历史博物馆。博物馆馆长也反复检查了这些古物，并且将发现过程备档；他坚信该发现的真实性，认为可以公开展示。同时，其中一些小雕刻品邮往华盛顿特别保守的史密森学会，该学会将其归为确实“无法解释类”，但说不通为什么这些岩层里会有这些古物。最后，经过15年的磨蹭，史密森学会的正统观念获得胜利：克罗雷冈出土的古物不可能有17万5千年；因为这同已有的人类文明进化理论相矛盾，所以那些东西统统是赝品。为了同久负盛望的学会的保守论调保持一致，阿肯色自然历史博物馆立即将这些古物搬出展厅、最后出卖给了一个无名的私人收藏者。“克罗雷王”被运离加利福尼亚，其他物品则散落世间。如今全无下落。
有人想知道到底有多少这种出格的贵重文物，因为不合历史、地质学的“合理”体系而同样被这些研究机构扔掉或者丢失。
1969年6月27日，在俄克拉荷马市和埃德蒙市之间第122街的百老汇段，因工人们打断了一个石头架子而有了新发现，发现在专家们之间引起了许多争论。发现的是一处平铺拼嵌地板，在地面下3英尺处，有好几千平方英尺。在1969年7月3日的《埃德蒙推动者》上，俄克拉荷马市地质学者德沃?佩特这样评论这处地板：
“我确信这是人造的，因为石头铺设成完美的平行线，并且交叉成菱形，菱形全都指向东方。我们还发现2个柱子孔洞同另2个柱子孔洞间距一样。石面平整，如果拿起一块来，会发现石板下参差不齐，表明被地面磨损。每件东西都很自然地摆放着。”还发现石板上有个臼形。现在他相信石地板是附近很大地区内几个人类居住地点中一个室内公共场地。俄克拉荷马测震仪公司地质学者戴伯特?史密斯在《塔尔萨世界》（1969,6,29）上撰文这样总结神秘的拼嵌地板：“这些东西确凿无疑地铺在那里，但我搞不明白是谁造的。”而神秘的另一点是年代问题。有几种不同观点，最恰当的估计是石板铺设于20万年前。
1889年8月1日，在爱达荷州纳帕的自己家附近，职业钻井人士M.A. ?廓兹同另外2个伙计挖井，突然他们的气泵喷出一块11/2英寸长的褐色粘土块，外形很像人。纳帕的好几个永久居民都目睹了这一切。使他们吃惊的是，这个粘土“娃娃”出自320英尺之下-15英尺厚的熔岩层、100英尺的沙层、165英尺的粘土层、40英尺的沙层、165英尺的粘土沙子粗沙等混合层。
据奥柏林学院专家艾伯特?A. ? 瑞特考证，这个粘土小“娃娃”的成分是粘土、石英各半，不是出自小孩或者业余人士之手，作者是个真正的艺术家。尽管它已经随着时间有破损，外表还是很明显：圆圆的脑袋、尚可辨认的嘴巴眼睛，宽肩、胳膊粗壮、长腿，右腿已经残缺。人像上还有微弱的几何标记-因为大多在胸前、脖子周围以及胳膊上，或许表示衣服样式或珠宝。泥偶是有着高度文明的人的形象，风雅盛装。
纳帕偶人引起了波士顿博物协会G.F. ?瑞特博士的注意，他想确认偶人发现点的深度- 以确证其久远的年代。一次他实地考察了廓兹的设备和打出的洞，还约见了那些目击者。瑞特博士开始身心发现的真实性。廓兹展示了井已经用一根6英寸宽的沉重铁管给填上，保证发现偶人的深度没有搞错。而且气泵只朝一个方向钻，如果有东西落进去，保证会搅碎。瑞特写了份结论报告给波士顿博物协会，“没有理由质疑沙泵带出的偶人来自所报告的深处。”在另一次研究中，会员、波士顿市民F.W. ?普特曼通过显微镜分析发现，偶人右臂里的石英颗粒已经被铁分子粘牢。这个事实同样证明了发现偶人深度的地层有着久远的年代。
纳帕偶人到底有多古老？廓兹的钻透的火山岩层哥伦比亚高原源自史前冰川纪一次火山爆发岩浆流。而偶人在其下约300英尺。根据最精确的现代地质学估计，偶人产生于30万年以前。如今，纳帕偶人陈列于博伊西的[美国爱达荷州首府]州立历史协会。
更让人好奇的是，1880年某个时候，在俄亥俄州斯塔克县马尔博罗附近， 钻井工人也钻出了一个人形的东西。该偶人由杂色黑大理石做成，6英寸高-发现深度只有120英尺，但其嵌入的沙砾层的类型和年代都同纳帕偶人的发现地点一样。有2点值得一提：一、这种大理石俄亥俄没有；二、样子同纳帕偶人惊人地相似。同样是圆圆的脑袋、简洁的面部特征、身材粗壮、四肢修长。俄亥俄偶人纳帕偶人来自同一个神秘的未知文明吗？证据表明：是。
代表高度文明最有说服力的证据是书写文字。早在1891年春季，布莱德利县（离田纳西州克利夫兰市13英里）农民J.H.胡颇在自家领地上一个树木繁盛的山脊上巡查时，一块罕见的石头引起了它的注意。开始他以为是块墓碑，但是随着它的挖掘，很快发现这只是一个深埋在地下的建筑的凸起部分。接着胡颇花费了好几个星期的时间去揭开他不寻常发现的秘密：是一段有上千英尺长的墙，平均2英尺厚、8英尺高，带有很多凸起部分-就像第一个发现的-在墙头上间距有25~30英尺。墙以约15~20度的夹角朝东。除了已挖出的部分，墙还在朝两端延伸，跨过山脊的顶峰、朝着查塔努加（美国田纳西州东南部城市）南边的海华沙河北岸方向，并且延伸到了河底。墙的地质年代接近于100万年前的第四纪初期。
墙经3个步骤造就：红砂岩石块砌成；用一种含盐份的暗红色粘土粘合；再涂上红色的、暗蓝灰色的或黄色的灰泥层。在离墙北端16英尺处的一段，胡颇有个确凿无疑的发现：隐藏在外灰泥层下，有一些砂岩的表面上有一批莫名语言的象形文字。字母拍成波浪线形、平行线形、菱形线形；还点缀着一些陌生动物的小图片，许多无法识别。还有其他如太阳、娥眉月形似乎有天文意义的符号。一共发现有872个字符，许多都重复-显示这是一种类似中文的象形文字的手迹。
不管这堵墙意味着什么，也不管未知文字的究竟，该发现在科学界遭遇了普遍的漠视。只有在《纽约科学院周报》上发表了一篇A.L.罗逊写的短讯，他检查过那堵建筑和一手的字迹，还发表了一些象形文字和图片的拓印。仅此而已，再没有深究。
1936，科罗拉多州洛基山脉西斜坡高原谷镇的居民汤姆.肯尼要挖一个越冬地窖储存蔬菜，在挖到10英尺处铁锹碰到障碍。清理掉上面的杂物后，他挖出一个花砖铺设的便道，全部是5英寸宽的人造品。花砖铺设成菱形，后来分析表明其化学成分在该山谷中的任何其他物质都不包含。问题复杂之处在于该便道所处的是有3000万年之久的包含中新世三趾马化石的地层。
1829年11月，在离费城(美国宾西法尼亚州东南部港市)西北12英里远的韩德逊采石场，从地下60~70英尺处挖出一块有30多立方英尺的黑色大理石。石块被送往附近诺里斯镇的生石切割厂给切成建筑石板了。当工人们搬开一块3英尺宽6英尺厂的石板后，发现有些不寻常：石板有非自然的直边和不规则的锯齿口。镇上几个有名望的人士被请来见证，当着他们的面，其他的石板被小心地搬开。显露出2个雕刻清晰的字母，很像一个“I”和一个有方底的“U”。锯齿口长11/2英寸宽5/8英寸。因为字母深嵌在大理石里，起源绝不会短。更神秘的是大理石内嵌在一块特别古老的石灰岩里。估计年龄有6500万年了。
1869年12月17日《洛杉矶新闻报》 发表了一篇来自《克利夫兰先驱》通讯记者从俄亥俄州维尔斯韦利发来的报道。报道写道，在今年秋季，在哈蒙德村一个雷姓船长运营的一处煤矿，在100英尺的深度，矿工詹姆士.帕逊思正在松动一大块东西，突然露出一块带有奇怪文字的平整石板。凸起的字符很清晰。覆盖在上面的煤清楚地留着这些字符的印痕：显示早在这些煤炭还是植物状态时就已经存在了，还被墙挤压成这种样子。每个字符的大小都是3/4英寸，排列成精确间距3英寸的行。第一行有25个字符。当地的教师和牧师都来检查过，但未给出任何解释。就在要安排几个大学教授来核实才发现时，石板的表面和文字不幸因为在空气中暴露而剥落。万幸的是，该发现已经完好归档，并经过好几个可信的目击者的认可。最让人无法回避的事实是石板几所带浮雕文字出现在煤炭中-2亿年前的石炭纪的煤炭。
在《美国科学杂志》（卷一，1号刊，页155，1822年）博物学者艾萨克.李撰文报告自己 在匹兹堡（美国宾西法尼亚州西南部城市, 是美国的钢铁工业中心）北1/4英里一处砂岩延伸带（莫南戈黑剌河同一侧）发现了一个极为独特的样本：一块罕有地平整的矩形表面，3英尺长、5~6英寸宽。一端被岩石压断，所以最初究竟有多长还不得而知。另一端终止于岩石的表面里，形成一条整齐的直角线，好像整个地撕掉了一卷纸。在平面上有一行行均匀分布的完美的菱形，每个中心都有一个斜凸的起。李不知如何分类，好像属于动植物类。可是图案太精确了，不是自然产物，只能是出自由智慧的人的手。幸亏李考虑到对其进行精确测量并画下草图，当他再次返回这里想把它搬走进行研究时，一个采石工人把他给揍跑了，还毁了那件东西。他小心翼翼地记录了那块石头面在周围地区的位置。而石头所在那座山的高度尚不到当地石炭纪煤床的高度-还低250英尺。在保留下的石块中，李发现了原始有节植物的化石-一种出现在4亿年前的泥盆纪(古代生物的一个时期)的植物。
石头上的神秘图案究竟是什么？我们不得而知，不过证据上确实带有人类艺术和智慧的手艺。据称那时的人类与地球上最原始的植物同时代存在。
分析及结论
在刚刚出现化石纪录的年代就存在有人类的迹象，这如何才能解释？过去那种盛行的均变论-进化论线形谱系模型对此无能为力，因为仅仅这些深埋在地下的人类遗物就足以彻底摧毁它的全部前提：地球和生命、人类、人类文化是缓慢的、逐步的、向前发展起来的。如果在直到最低级生命存在的地质年代都伴随有人类和人造物品的存在，哪里会有人类的连续进化的证据？或者哪有人类文明从最原始状态发展的证据？答案我们显然要到别处去寻找。
现在除了均变论-进化论线形谱系模型之外，还有人提出了三种新的模型，每一种都有自己对历史的解释。分别是：地外生物论、灾变进化论和神创论。然我们分别单独来看看吧。
通过《众神之车》等的作者厄尔士.范.戴尼肯的著述，大多说人都开始注意了地外生物论模型。通常没有人意识到，范.戴尼肯的观念不但对芸芸大众很有吸引力，还对理论界、科学界产生了明显的冲击。对于在考古纪录和我们述及的化石和地质纪录中，发现的那些因有着高级特性而显得意外突兀的史前古器物之谜，范.戴尼肯用了一种似乎似是而非的说法来解释。按照他的观点，设想来自其他世界的外星人在整个史前时期和各个历史阶段都来到过地球，我们所发现的那些意外的遗迹就是它们的飞行员与早期人类接触的产物。根据在一些地层中发现的东西相信是提早纪录的人类外形，然后那些地外生命又将其丢下的。既然让那些意外古物来自“其他世界”，范.戴尼肯就巧妙地解释了这些东西的出现，同时还不用抛弃已被接受的进化论。其实他是把那些东西划到地球体系之外了，这样就不同缓慢的、逐步的、向前发展起来的说法对立-只是偶尔会撞车。
不过地外生物论模型有好几处瑕疵。范.戴尼肯拿不出一个实物能显示哪怕一个“太古宇航员”的存在。仔细检查他的“证据”，很大程度上基于他自己对一些原始图画和古代纪录的个人解释：看起来像或者（对他来讲）似乎像人穿着太空衣、或者大约驾驶着太空船。而对他作为证据的每一个“太空”画或纪录，都有一个更简单、更“接近地球”的解释。
当我们仔细检查这些意外的古器物时，尤其是我们研究过的那些镶嵌在地质层中的，我们发现它们毫不陌生；在制造技术上，它们一点都没有展示出与我们今天文明的技术有什么不同之处。而且，在我们发现这些东西的地方，都同时伴有清楚的人类存在的迹象：您或许还记得那些化石纪录中的发现吧，我们不仅看到金属、石头等的劳动工具，还有人类头盖骨、骨骼和脚印等。既然是人在那里，逻辑上讲那些古物就是他们造的。寻找答案并不需要把太空人拉进来、也无须指望其它星系-答案已经摆在地上，就像我们研究的这些情况：就在地球上。
过去还有过第二种现代模型：灾变进化论，就像名字所意味的，它是旧的渐进进化论的修正版本。灾变进化论者主张全盘接受地质层中人类遗迹的存在，然而将年代同它们所在地层区分开。亦即想象人类在历史中出现、发展到一定程度的智力和技术水平、最终由于地球的剧变而毁灭，这样周而复始了6亿年。乍一看这种理论还挺说得通。但有许多问题欠考虑。如前所述，史学家们以不超过1万年为界来测量我们人类的古物。如果把这视为一个技术社会的平均“寿命”，那么当我们用它来分析这许多文明的情况时，则预示着从寒武纪人类时代到如今竟然曾经有过6万个不同的文明存在过，令人难以置信。而且，最解释不通的是，所有这些是文明如何都消失的-除非你再想象分别有6万次的灾难。不过地质记录并不支持有过多次世界变动的说法。地质记录还显示：如果在那时只有最初级生命的简单形式存在，那么人在那种环境里是无法生存的，更谈不上什么活跃的文明社会了。最后，关于人类起源于何处还是没有答案，对这问题，大家有目共睹，进化论简直是无从下手。
我们的第三个模型毫不陌生-其实是远在地质均变论出现之前就被认可的模型。就是神创论，或者创世-洪水学说，因为它来自于圣经故事《创世纪》中的神创造了世界、生命和人，以及毁灭世界的大洪水。神创论和其他学说的截然不同之处是说出了早在大多数地层形成之前就有了人类。而且人类在开始就被创造成有智慧、有文明的形式生存着。《创世纪》的记载描述了创世后发生的事情和大洪水后的事情，亚当的后人-大洪水以前的人-具有一种高级文明，包括农业、都市、艺术、金属工具和高度发展的工程技艺。大洪水彻底毁灭了大洪水以前的人类文明和整个世界，遗迹（根据创世纪大洪水地质学）在很短时间沉积成为从寒武纪到第三纪初期的所有地质层。大洪水过后，诺亚的第一批后裔建立了另一个在技术上登峰造极的文明，并建造了巴别塔。在巴别塔被毁掉后，洪水后文明的遗迹被冰河时代(在新生代的第四世)的天灾扫荡殆尽，遗留在了第三纪的更新世地质层里。
创世-洪水模型能解释过去地层中挖掘出的人类遗迹和高级史前古物，还解释了大洪水之前和紧接着大洪水后的文明迹象。因为大洪水的突然发生，还有巴别塔-冰河时代发生那场天灾的陡然降临，创世-洪水模型更预示了被埋葬古物可能十分稀少，被发现的在岩石中的存留残余会很罕有-事实的确如此。
另一个难题正好被神创论所解释，由于神创论拒绝均变论的漫长地层纪年，所以能够解释不同地质层中那些突然出现的古器物具有的显著共同特征。例如：在第三纪、白垩纪、侏罗纪、三叠纪和宾夕法尼亚纪的岩石中好几次发现过巨人骨骼和巨人脚印。在“公认的”地质纪年表里，这会意味着有一种极为特殊的生命形式持续存在过-个头巨大且类型相同-跨越了3千万年的漫长年代。只是在任何化石记录里都没有这种幸存的先例。但是当我们看到所有地质层都是在很短的时间内形成的、并且当我们把里面的遗迹视为被毁灭的世界的残迹，那么那些巨人遗迹的发现和它们之间的类似之处就得到了解释。还有，巨人骨骸和脚印还确证了《创世纪》中记载的有关在大洪水之前的状况：“在那时候有巨人存在，他们有势力、有声望。”
这里有一个神创论必须回答的问题，至少给出一个满意的答案。问题和脚印、鞋印还有在化石中发现的绝迹动物的印迹有关。圣地亚哥的神创论研究所约翰.D.莫理斯博士认为，在派乐希河白垩纪地质层下有一层8500英尺厚的沉积岩，发现了人类足迹和恐龙足迹。那么，根据神创论模型，这肯定都是在大洪水时期沉积下来的。就像莫理斯所说，存在的问题是“人和恐龙是如何从大洪水的开始幸存下来，目睹了这场巨大的沉积过程，并将自己的脚印留在了厚厚的地质层上？”
答案或许就在位于玫瑰谷西南方向那块高耸的寒武纪巨石身上。覆盖整个派乐希地区的沉积岩在寒武纪高岩上只有一点痕迹，这说明在大洪水的初次来临时，那里曾被人和其他动物当作避难所。水似乎即刻就退下去了，人和恐龙就从巨石上爬了下来，小心翼翼地穿过派乐希地区，可能在找吃的。派乐希的人类脚印有一个显著的特征，就是全都是清楚的整只脚印，表明他们的步幅缓慢且慎重，肯定没有奔跑，否则脚印应该较深且只有前脚掌印。脚印还朝各个方向走动，似乎为了在更大的范围搜寻，幸存者们分成了好几拨。但就在他们还没走多远，大洪水又席卷而来，顷刻就吞噬了这些人和生物，而且新的沉积物迅速将它们的踪迹掩埋了-新增的沉积物将这些踪迹完好地存留到如今。
洪水退去和回头的特殊场景不但能解释派乐希的情况，还适用于其他地区发现的脚印鞋印化石。洪水地质学家拿出了各种沉积岩来证明大洪水的涨落。例如，有种煤层看上去包含有无数炭化植物和石灰石的交错层。地质学家说这些产生于巨大洪水的“摇摆”运动。一端携带的海生有机物遗骸，还有另一端携带的陆生生物，分别被巨浪抛下并且摇来摇去。在这些地层中，不时会有煤层相接、或者石灰石层相接而并不交替的情况。表明洪水暂时完全消退，然后又大举回潮并留下大量沉积。《创世纪》中有个显著事实，诺亚形容大洪水“蔓延了整个大地。” 希伯来语里用“蔓延”来含蓄地表达“往复运动”。
现在来总结讨论过的各种模型吧。我们发现：
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均变论-进化论线形谱系模型不够资格去解释地质纪录中的人类遗迹，因为这些遗迹的存在同该模型的假设直接相悖：它说生命是从原始的简单形式缓慢、逐步地发展起来的。
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地外生物论模型有赖未经证实存在的外太空生物，还错误地假设人类自己造不出高级的东西-尽管那些器物同人类骨骼和脚印在一起。
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灾变进化论模型要先假设存曾经有大得不可能的文明毁灭次数，才能解释那些被埋起来的东西，并且还不能回答人类进化起源于哪里的基本问题-因为人类遗骸同最原始的化石层一样古老。
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创世-洪水模型为这些秘密和意外的化石文物提供了一个可行的解答，而且答案还同观察到地质现象的灾难前提相一致。该模型还解释了不同地质层里发现的那些古物之间为什么有类似处、相同点，这一点其它模型都做不到。
那么，根据这些发现，我们完全可以得出结论，在解释地质纪录中的人类遗迹之谜、史前文物之谜上，神创论高于所有其它学说。这些“地球深处奇怪的出土文物”，其实证实了创世-洪水模型的正确，并且还证明了：目前所有其它学说的主要观点都是错的。
参考文献
Allen, E.A. “Footmarks in Kentucky” American Antiquarian (1885) vol. 7.
American Antiquarian (1885) vol. 7, 364-365.
Bergier, Jacques Extraterrestrial Visitations From Prehistoric Times to the Present New York: New American Library, 1974.
Berlitz, Charles Mysteries From Forgotten Worlds New York: Dell Publishing, 1972.
Bible Science Newsletter July, 1970, p. 2.
Binder,Otto O. Unsolved Mysteries of the Past New York: Tower Publications, 1970.
Braidwood, Robert J. Prehistoric Man New York: William Morrow and Co., 1967.
Brandon, Jim Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978.
Browne, J.B. “Singular Impression in Marble” American Journal of Science vol. 1, no. 19, p. 361, 1831.
Chapman, Glen W. “Archaeological Findings of Pre-Flood Cultures in America” Bible Science Newsletter August-September, 1969.
Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de The Appearance of Man New York: Harper and Row, 1965.
Charroux, Robert Forgotten Worlds New York: Walker and Co., 1973.
Charroux, Robert One Hundred Thousand Years of Man’s Unknown History New York: Berkeley Publishing, 1971.
Corliss, William R. Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts Glen Arm, Md.: The Sourcebook Project, 1978.
Corliss, William R. Strange Artifacts, 2 vols. Glen Arm, Md.: The Sourcebook Project, 1976.
Donelly, Ignatius Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel, rev. ed. New York: Steiner Books, 1976.
Edwards, Frank Strange World Secauscus, N.J.: Lyle Sturat, 1974.
Fange, Erich A. Von “Time Upside Down” Creation Research Quarterly June, 1974.
Flint, Earl “Nicaragua Footprints” American Antiquarian (1889) vol. 11, 306-311.
Fort, Charles The Book of the Damned New York: Ace, 1941.
Itao, Jude Studies of the Stratigraphy and Dating of Geologic Anomalies in North America and Europe Unpublished, 1975.
Keel, John A. Our Haunted Planet New York: Fawcett Publications, 1971.
Kolosimo, Peter Not of This World New York: Bantam Books, 1973.
Landsburg, Alan and Sally In Search of Ancient Mysteries New York: Bantam Books, 1974.
Le Conte, Joseph “Carson Footprints” Nature May 31, 1883, 101-102.
Marsh, O.E. “On the Supposed Human Foot Prints Recently Found in Nevada” American Journal of Science (1883) vol. 3, no. 26, 139-140.
Mooney, Richard E. Colony Earth Greenwich, Conn.: Fawcett Publications, 1974.
Nelson, Byron C. The Deluge Story in Stone Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1962.
Noorbergen, Rene (researched for by J.B. Jochmans) Secrets of the Lost Races New York: Bobbs: Merrill, 1977.
Norman, Eric Gods, Demons and UFO’s New York: Lancer Books, 1970.
Pauwels, Louis The Eternal Man New York: Avon Books, 1972.
Pauwels, Louis Impossible Possibilities New York: Stein and Day, 1971.
Pierce, Josiah American Antiquities and Discoveries in the West: 1835.
Rehwinkel, A.M. The Flood St. Louis: Concordia Publishing, 1957.
Sanderson, Ivan T. Investigating the Unexplained Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentise-Hall, 1972.
Silverberg, Robert Man Before Adam Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Co., 1964.
Steiger, Brad Mysteries of Time and Space Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentise-Hall, 1974.
Tomas, Andrew On the Stones of Endless Worlds New York: G.P. Putman’s Sons, 1976.
Tomas, Andrew We Are Not the First New York: Bantam Books, 1973.
附：英文原文
Strange Relics from the Depths of the Earth
by J.R. Jochmans, Litt.D., 1979
Index
- Short Summary
- Accepted theories and unaccepted facts
- The bones of forgotten men
- Muddy footprints across the face of time
- Out-of-place metal objects
- Images and messages from the incredible past
- Analysis and conclusions
Short Summary
Dr. Jochmans cites numerous accounts of human artifacts being found in earth strata, which according to the standard evolutionary time scale, predate human evolution. These accounts show human existence far far back into earth history, and prove evolution theory false.
Important Notes
Although Dr. Jochmans writes “as though” human remains and artifacts are hundreds of thousands or millions of years old, is it is clear from his conclusion that he considers this world to be young, in accordance with a normal, straight, reading of the Bible and its genealogies.
I do not have any background on, nor contact with Dr. Jockman. I cannot contact the “Forgotten Ages Research Society” of Lincoln, Nebraska, USA, which, I understand, originally published the booklet. This booklet was available through the Bible-Science Association some time back.
Accepted theories and unaccepted facts
In most of the academic and scientific world today, the interpretation of the history of the earth, of life, of man, and of human culture, is defined within the narrow boundaries of specific, prevailing theories. The geology of the earth, for example, is viewed almost exclusively in terms of uniformitarianism. This means that the present-existing processes of erosion and volcanism are thought to have been the only forces at work in the past. Because of the slowness of these processes of change, and the tremendous transformations observed in the earth’s depths, the age of the earth is thus counted in billions of years - today, it is put between 4 1/2 and 5 billion years.
Likewise, the history of life on this planet is seen as a lengthy development by evolution, or, the progression from simple to increasingly more complex forms. Since the simplest - and supposedly earliest - life forms appear in Cambrian rock, and Cambrian rock is dated geologically at 600 million years, this is deemed the age of life on earth. Only in the final stage of evolution did man appear on the scene, the ultimate end-product: According to the most recent anthropological finds, the earliest man-like creatures roamed the earth just 4 million years ago. Finally, the very nature of evolutionary theory dictates that man’s cultural development must have been linear - a slow, gradual, but constant, upward climb from primitive beginnings, spanning the last 10,000 years, with the advent of modern technological civilization and its products the recent culmination of that climb.
These theories, which together form the uniformitarian-evolution-linear model, have predominated modern science for the past century, to the extent that all finds made - every rock sample, every fossil, every human remains and every artifact - have been carefully interpreted and categorized so as to fit this model’s framework, at the exclusion of all other. But it is becoming increasingly apparent that not all facts from the past find their “proper” place. Other discoveries have been made that contradict the accepted model. Yet these discoveries are largely ignored, since it is far easier for the majority of scientists and historians to uphold what is “established,” than to try to build a new model based on the “exceptions.”
One of the greatest pitfalls of the uniformitarian-evolution-linear model is that it must accept the premise that man, as an intelligent being, was a very recent arrival in the history of the earth. With the geologic record counted in billions of years, the fossil record in hundreds of millions of years, the record of human fossils in the millions of years, and human civilization only in the thousands of years, there would be no way to explain the presence of human bones, or sophisticated artifacts derived from the hand of man, in deep rock strata. In fact, the finding of even a single such item would be totally devastating to the model, for it would negate the entire concept of uniformity, and the evolution of man and human culture in the past.
The point that will be brought out in this book is that there is evidence for man, and the products of human civilization, in the deep recesses of the earth. Herein are presented the case histories.
The bones of forgotten men
Walk into any natural museum today, or read any textbook on anthropology, and one invariably finds a large chart exhibited, tracing the ancestry of man back through more primitive forebears, until the line is lost somewhere amid the apes. Recently, paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey, excavating in Ethiopia, announced the discovery of what are supposed to be the oldest accepted fossil remains of man - about 4 million years old. What has been disturbing about the new finds is that they are, in part, too human: Their great age, yet partly “modern” appearance, has forced evolutionists to push back the departure of man from the ape stock farther into the past, so that now it is beginning to infringe upon the time period necessary for the development of the apes themselves.
But while the African finds are revolutionary, there have been other discoveries of human fossils greatly more important, but these have been deliberately neglected or denounced, because they are far older than man is “supposed” to be.
Over a hundred years ago, in the 1850’s, gold miners began digging tunnels into the sides and top of Table Mountain, northwest of Needles, California. Gold was discovered, but along with it were bones of extinct mastodons, mammoths, bison, tapirs, horses, rhinos, hippos and camels - all dating from the Pliocene. In 1863, a physician from nearby Sonora, Dr. R. Snell, began to collect specimens from the excavations. In that year, with his bare hands, he loosened from among the fossils a stone disc that appeared to have been used for grinding. But Dr. Snell was not the first, or last, to unearth mysterious objects from the mountain gravel: In 1853, Oliver W. Stevens made affidavit that he removed a large stone bowl from the lowest level tunnel; in 1857, the Honorable Paul Hubbs, of Vallejo, dug up part of a human crania from inside the Valentine shaft; and in 1862, Mr. Llewellyn Pierce also signed affidavit that he had found a stone mortar 200 feet in from the mouth of the same shaft. The most dramatic find, however, was reserved for a Mr. Mattison, one of the owners of the mines. In February of 1866, Mattison unearthed from beneath a layer of basalt an object which - because of the encrustation’s - he first thought was the petrified root of a tree, but on closer examination discovered was a complete human skull. The miner sent the skull to the office of the State Survey in June of the same year. Eventually, the skull came into the possession of Dr. L. Wyman, of Harvard College, who removed the encasing material around the cranium. Dr. Wyman, and an associate named Professor Whitney, identified the skull as very modern in type, but also noted that, “the fragments of bones and gravel and shells were so wedged into the cavities of the skull that there could be no mistake as to the character of the situation in which it is found.” The stickler was, however, that this meant the skull, along with all the artifacts found, were 12 million years old.
In 1958, Dr. Johannes Huerzeler, of the Museum of Natural History in Basel, Switzerland, unearthed a human jawbone at a depth of 600 feet, in a coal mine in Tuscany, Italy. The bone had belonged to a child, between the ages of five and seven. Though flattened like a sheet of iron, the jaw was declared by several experts to be not only human, but modern-looking at that. But what mystified them was that it had been encased in a Miocene stratum - geologically dated at 20 million years. Dr. Huerzeler declared it to be the world’s oldest man” - but his fellow anthropologists did not dare give it the same distinction. Here were human remains more modern in appearance than all the “ape-men” forms ever found - yet they were five times as old as any of them. In fact, the jaw bone is as old, if not older, than many ancestors of the apes. The bone raised more problems than answers - so the find was quickly “shelved,” and no further work was ever done to give it due recognition.
Early in November of 1926, archaeologist J.C.F. Siegfriedt made a discovery in another mine, this one the Number Three shaft of the Mutual Coal Mine of Bear Creek, 55 miles southwest of Billings, Montana. What Siegfriedt found was a human tooth, in which the enamel had been replaced by carbon and the roots by iron, by seepage petrification. In an account published in the Carbon County News and dated November 11, 1926, Siegfriedt reported that he had meticulously preserved the mineral matrix that had been deposited around the tooth, and several dentists identified the mold created as being a human second lower molar. The tooth, however, came from the lower level of the mine - from an Eocene deposit dated at 30 million years old. Siegfriedt could generate no interest in his find among other specialists, and as far as is known, no one has done any further study of the mystery.
One of the more controversial of the “out-of-place” bones from extreme antiquity is today part of the collection of the Freiberg Mining Academy in West Germany. It is a poorly preserved human skull, found in brown coal in 1842, from an undisclosed locality. Early European authorities dismissed the skull as a fake, but more recent research and analysis has questioned this hasty pronouncement, putting it back into the realm of the authentic. The reason for its initial denunciation is understandable: The coal it was embedded in, a portion of which still clings to the skull, is estimated to be as much as 50 million years old.
It seems that even when authentication is overwhelming, the response by the scientific community is, inversely, underwhelming. In 1973, a rock collector named Lin Ottinger was searching over a rock plateau that had just been bulldozed over, in preparation for the beginning of mining operations by the nearby Big Indian Copper Mine. The mine is situated 35 miles southwest of Moab, Utah. During his pickings in the exposed rock, Ottinger suddenly found pieces of bone and teeth, and traced these to a patch of sand with a brown stain - the tell-tale sign of decayed organic matter. Carefully removing the sand, Ottinger discovered the top portion of a large intact bone. The rockhound, realizing the importance of his find, decided to have a credited expert look at it, and let him do the digging, so that everything would be “scientifically acceptable.”
A week later, Ottinger returned to the plateau with Dr. J.P. Marwitt, professor of anthropology at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, several photographers, a news reporter, and a number of observers. With cameras recording the event, Dr. Marwitt carefully removed the lower halves of two human skeletons. The bones were articulated - that is, laid out naturally - showing the bodies had not fallen or been washed into the stratum in which they were situated. These and other factors revealed the bones to be as old as the layer in which they were found. The one problem was, the layer is Lower Dakota and Upper Morrison formations -over 100 million years of age, according to uniformitarian geologists. Yet, as Marwitt noted, the bones were not simian or even half-ape: They were fully human and modern-looking.
The skeletons were taken by Marwitt back with him to the University of Utah, to run laboratory datings on them. But whether the tests were ever run, there was no official confirmation. One gets the impression they were, and that the findings were too disturbing for conservative thinking. Marwitt suddenly became “disinterested” in the project, and left Utah to take up a teaching position elsewhere. After a year waiting for results, Ottinger recovered the bones - and that ended the scientific inquiry.
More finds, made in the last century, were similarly reported, and promptly forgotten. The Saturday Herald of Iowa City carried an article that on April 10, 1867, human remains and artifacts were brought to light at the Rocky Point Mine, in Gilman, Colorado. At a depth of 400 feet below the surface, excavators found human bones embedded in a silver vein. Along with the bones was found a well-tempered copper arrowhead. As best as can be calculated, the vein in which the items were situated was 135 million years old, by present geological standards. ((SR. #2))
At times, the discoveries made revealed “mysteries upon mysteries.” In July, 1877, four prospectors were looking for gold and silver outcroppings in a desolate, hilly area near the head of Spring Valley, not far from Eureka, Nevada. Scanning the rocks, one of the men spotted something peculiar projecting from a high ledge. Climbing up to get a better look, the prospector was surprised to find a human leg bone and knee cap sticking out of solid rock. He called to his companions, and together they dislodged the oddity with picks. Realizing they had a most unusual find, the men brought it into Eureka, where it was placed on display.
The stone in which the bones were embedded was a hard, dark red quartzite, and the bones themselves were almost black with carbonization - indicative of great age. When the surrounding stone was carefully chipped away, the specimen was found to be composed of a leg bone broken off four inches above the knee, the knee cap and joint, the lower leg bones, and the complete bones of the foot. Several medical doctors examined the remains, and were convinced that anatomically they had indeed once belonged to a human being, and a very modern-looking one. But an intriguing aspect of the bones was their size: from knee to heel they measured 39 inches. Their owner in life had thus stood over 12 feet tall. Compounding the mystery further was the fact that the rock in which the bones were found was dated geologically to he era of the dinosaurs, the Jurassic - over 185 million years old. The local papers ran several stories on the marvelous find, and two museums sent investigators to see if any more of the skeleton could be located. Unfortunately, nothing else but the leg and foot existed in the rock.
The next and last skeletal find takes us another quantum leap in geologic time, and plunges us even deeper into the earth’s strata. A Scientific American article published in 1880 reprinted the particulars of a discovery made in the spring of that year, reported in the St. Louis Republican. Dr. R.W. Booth, who operated an iron mine about 3 miles from Dry Branch, in Franklin County, Missouri, unearthed from a depth of 18 feet a human skull, portions of ribs, vertebrae and a collar bone. With them were two barbed arrowheads of flint, and pieces of charcoal. Dr. Booth realized the significance of all this, but was frustrated when at just a touch the skull crumbled to dust, and the other bones likewise broke into pieces. But these pieces nevertheless told their story: Later analysis showed they were definitely human. Two and a half weeks later, Dr. Booth reached a level of 24 feet, and found more of the same skeleton - a thigh bone, vertebrae, and more charred wood. What is more, the remains were found resting on a layer of iron ore, which bore the impressions of coarse matting. One could still see the marks of criss-crossing fibers. What astounded Booth was that the layer in which both portions were dug up was the second or saccharoidal sandstone of the Lower Silurian - dated an incredible 425 million years old.
Let me repeat that: 425 million years. We have gone far beyond the purported age of human culture, of man himself, the apes, all mammals, even the age of the dinosaurs. According to evolutionary theory, the Silurian age saw the advent of life on land and was in fact more than two-thirds of the way back to the supposed advent of life itself. But what are the remains of man and his products doing at this level? Something, certainly, is very wrong.
Muddy footprints across the face of time
Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington once wrote: “We have found a strange footprint on the shores of the unknown. We have devised profound theories, one after another, to account for its origin. At last we have succeeded in reconstructing the creature that made the footprint. And lo! it is our own.” There is more truth in this statement than first meets the eye, for there are many instances where not only did man leave his remains in the rock strata, but also his imprint.
In 1884, Earl Flint, a geologist representing the Peabody Museum and Harvard University, discovered in a rock quarry near Managua, Nicaragua, on the shores of Lake Gilva, a layer containing fossilized human tracks, 16 to 24 feet below the surface. Flint described the tracks in these words, written in 1884:
“The footprints are from one-half to three inches in depth and none exceeded eighteen inches. Some of the impressions are nearly closed, the soft surface falling back into the impression, and a crevice about two inches in width is all one sees, and my first glance at some parallel to one less deep, gave me an idea that the owner of the latter was using a stave to assist him in walking. In some the substance flowed outward, leaving a ridge around it - seen in one secured for the museum; the stride is variable, owing to the size of the person, and the changing nature of the surface passed over. The longest one uncovered was seventeen inches, length of foot ten inches, and width four inches, feet arched, steps in a right line, measured from center of heel to center of great toe over three steps. The people making them were going both ways in a direction consonant to that of the present lake shore east and west, more or less.”
Among these, and others in nearby sites, Flint found examples of both barefoot and well-defined sandaled-foot impressions. All were geologically dated as being over 200,000 years of age. Now supposedly at this remote time, man was nothing more than a naked, hairy creature, capable of chipping a few flints and just beginning to overcome his fear of fire. In sharp contrast, the Nicaragua finds reveal the intelligent use of a walking stick, and the wearing of sandals that appear to have been best designed for both comfort and protection. We are confronted here with not just the footprint of a half-beast, but rather the footprint of a civilized being.
Two years earlier, in the summer of 1882, inmates working in the quarry at the State Prison near Carson City, Nevada, brought to light a layer of sandstone covered with fossilized animal tracks, among them a number having belonged to the extinct mammoth. What caused considerable scientific consternation, however, was the fact that several human tracks were also found. The tracks were in six series, each with alternate right and left tracks. The stride was from two and a half to over three feet, and the individual prints were from 18 to 20 inches in length - that of a giant. The straddle - the distance between the lines of left and right prints - was 18 to 19 inches. Geologist Joseph Le Conte read a paper on the investigation done on the Carson City tracks to the California Academy of Science on August 27,1882, and attempted to explain them as the marks left by an extinct giant sloth that lived during the late Pliocene - over 2 million years ago. But sloths, in order to walk upright on only two feet, as the fossil tracks indicate, would have had to have used their tails as a balance, and there were no tail grooves in the sandstone. Not only this, but a comparison between the Carson City tracks and known sloth impressions showed several dissimilarities. The sloth’s prints have marked toe protuberances as well as definite claw marks; the Carson City tracks have neither. The Carson City tracks, in fact, showed signs that their maker had worn some type of sandal or foot protection - very definitely not the habit of an animal.
The May 25, 1969 issue of the Tulsa Sunday World carried the story of a curious fossil find made on a hilltop overlooking the eastern part of Tulsa, Oklahoma. The find was made by Troy Johnson, a field geologist of thirteen years’ experience, and though he showed plaster-casts of his discovery to several experts, each and every one refused to accept it or its implications. Johnson had unearthed a sandstone strata filled with fossil tracks - many five-toed and distinctly human. The fact that a number of examples of these were overlaid by the tracks of now extinct creatures demonstrated that the mantracks could not have been of recent origin, but dated back between 3 and 5 million years.
One remarkable mantrack find was reported in the Soviet journal (no. 8, 1961). In 1959, a joint Russian-Chinese paleontological expedition under the direction of Dr. Chou Ming Chen, discovered in the Gobi Desert of central Asia the fossilized print of a shoe with a ribbed sole. The find appears in sandstone dated at 15 million years. Members of the expedition who carefully examined the shoe-print were quick to recognize that it was not the footmark of any animal, for the ribbing was too straight and regular to be of natural origin.
Even more recent examples of foot and shoe prints were brought to light in the 1970’s, in the Carrizo Valley in northwest Oklahoma. The prints occur in both the Morrison formation and Dakota sandstone - over 100 million years old. The bare foot marks are somewhat eroded, but show evidence of definite pressure ridges. Several are in very close proximity to dinosaur tracks. The shoe prints are more clearly defined, and reveal their wearers to have been above normal size, with the imprints averaging 20 inches long and 8 inches across the ball of the foot.
Probably the most publicized mantracks are those found along the Paluxy river, near Glen Rose, Texas. They were first observed in 1908, after a flood washed away a portion of shore ledging, exposing geologic levels of the Glen Rose Formation, the Paluxy Formation, and the Twin Mountain Formation of the Trinity Group - all dated to the early Cretaceous, between 120 and 130 million years. Interestingly, these same rock types occur at Bandera, not far from San Antonio, and there, too, human prints have been uncovered and documented. On the Paluxy, serious research into the mystery of the fossil prints did not begin until 1938, when Roland T. Bird, of the Department of Vertebrate Paleontology of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, removed a trail of brontosaurus tracks that were alongside a series of what his eyes beheld with the “official” position, but admitted in the May, 1939 issue of Natural History: “No man ever existed in the age of reptiles although the tracks are perfect in every detail.” Bird could only conclude that the prints he saw were those of some “extinct ape” - but this explanation was most unsatisfactory, since according to evolutionary theory, apes were not to appear for another 100 million years after the epoch of the brontosaurus.
The Paluxy site became a tourist attraction, and during the Depression, locals began excavating both dinosaur and man prints, and selling them for souvenirs. Some of the specimens sold were really hand-carved by the more unscrupulous opportunists, and unfortunately in later years, conservative scholars were quick to point to these few examples of fakery as the answer to all the tracks discovered. But on-the-spot diggings by geologists and paleontologists have uncovered many new prints found in situ that could not have been hoaxes, for they were discovered deep within the rock layers, and at times several feet back into the Paluxy banks, where no fabrication could possibly be made.
The sum total of finds along the Paluxy reveal quite a mixture of man and animal types having lived all at the same time. There are heavy brontosaur tracks, the talon marks of the feared Tyrannosaurus Rex, three-toed spoors of other dinosaurs - and the imprint of a saber-tooth tiger, which was supposed to have lived only a few million years ago, not in the era of the giant lizards. As for the human prints, many are found in series, popping out of the Paluxy banks in a very natural stride, then wading into the river bed. A good number of the prints are bare, with the large toe in particular clearly distinguishable; others show signs of the maker’s feet having worn some form of foot covering, like a moccasin or thin sandal. in one instance, in fact, the fossil print is so well preserved that the impression of the lacing on the moccasin is still visible. Some human tracks are of men of modern stature, with shoe sizes from 7 to 13; others are of children, whose prints are both proportionally smaller and shallower. Several more, however, are 1 6-inches, with not a few of men with 21 and 1/2-inch feet and a 7-foot stride - giants in the true sense of the word.
The most remarkable fact of all, however, is that these prints are in the same layer as dinosaur tracks, and in a few instances, the human and dinosaur prints cross each other, showing that the two had been contemporary when the rock had been mud. The significance of these examples was noted by Dr. A.E. Wilder Smith of the University of Illinois: “One authentic man-track found in the same stratum as one authentic brontosaurus track throws out one hundred years of evolutionary teachings. It is sufficient to bring the whole Darwinistic theory down and revolutionize all biology today.”
But the out-of-place footprints go back even further in geologic time. The American Anthropologist, volume IX (1896), page 66, describes the finding of a perfect human imprint in stone about 4 miles north of Parkersburg, on the West Virginia side of the Ohio river. The track was 14 1/2 inches long, and was found embedded in a large stone. Though few specifics were given, one expert has calculated from the type of rock depicted, and its position on the river’s edge, that the track must be at least 150 million years old, according to modern geologic dating.
In the late 1970’s, Dr. Rex Gilroy, director of the Mount York Natural History Museum of Australia, discovered a giant impress on Mount Victoria. One tentative estimate puts the track at 200 million years of age.
One of the most remarkable tracks was found in Fisher Canyon, Pershing County, Nevada. On January 25, 1927, an amateur geologist named Albert E. Knapp was descending a small hill in the canyon, when he spotted the fossil laying topside up among a pile of loose rocks. He picked up the find, and took it home with him. Upon closer examination, Knapp was astounded to discover, “it is a layer from the heel of a shoe which had been pulled up from the balance of the heel by suction, the rock being in a plastic state at the time.” The shoe print was in a marvelous state of preservation - the edges of the heel were smooth and rounded off as if cut, and its right side appeared more worn than the left - suggesting it had been worn on the right foot. But what Knapp found really amazing was that the rock in which the heel mark was made, was Triassic limestone - 225 million years old - which runs in a belt through the canyon hills he had been exploring. The rock was later examined by an expert geologist at the Rockefeller Foundation, who confirmed Knapp’s analysis. The presence of minute crystals of sulphide of mercury throughout spaces in the fossil also testified to it being of great antiquity.
The real surprise about the age-old heel imprint, however, did not come until micro-photographs revealed that the leather had been stitched by a double row of stitches, the twists of the threads is very discernable. One line followed along the heel’s outer edge, and the second line paralleled the first precisely, inwards by one-third of an inch. What baffled investigators was the fact that this double-stitching had been done with thread much smaller, and more refined in workmanship, than that used by shoe-makers in 1927, when the fossil print was discovered. As Mr. Samuel Hubbard, Honorary Curator of Archaeology of the Oakland Museum in California, commented: “There are whole races of primitive men on earth today, utterly incapable of sewing that moccasin. What becomes of the Darwinian theory in the face of this evidence that there were intelligent men on earth millions of years before apes were supposed to have evolved?”
In 1885, Professor J.F. Brown of Berea College, Kentucky was called upon to examine a puzzling find, made 16 miles east of the town of Berea, on Big Hill in Rock Castle County, one of the spurs of the Cumberland Plateau. Near the summit, an old wagon trail cut through a stratum of carboniferous limestone, and removal of earth to widen the trail into a road had exposed a new section of this stratum. As E.A. Allen reported in the American Antiquarian, volume 7, page 39, preserved in the layer were the fossilized impressions of several creatures. What mystified those who witnessed the remains was that among these tracks were two well-preserved prints of a human being. They were described as “good-sized, toes well spread, and very distinctly marked.”
It was not until 1930 that further and more detailed investigations were performed, this time by Dr. Wilbur Greely Burroughs, head of the geology department at Berea College. Dr. Burroughs discovered a total of twelve 9 1/2-inch mantracks and portions of others, and confirmed that they had indeed been impressed upon gray Pottsville sandstone dating from the Upper Pennsylvanian period -well over 300 million years old.
Several geologists and paleontologists of the conservative school, in search of a face-saving explanation, declared the tracks not to be of human origin, but the marks of some as yet unknown species of amphibian. Dr. Burroughs’ research, however, proved otherwise. He described the configuration of the tracks this way, as quoted in the Louisville Courier-Journal, May 24,1953:
“Of these, two pairs show the left foot advanced relative to the right. The position of the feet is the same as that of a person. The distance from heel to heel is 18 inches. One pair shows the feet parallel to each other, the distance between the feet being the same as that of a normal human being.
Dr. Burroughs concluded that the prints were made by a creature that was exclusively bipedal. Most amphibians and reptiles are quadruped - there were no foreleg prints. And those that have been known to walk upright on their hindlegs, always do so with the tail acting as a tripod or “third leg,” to give balance. As Dr. Burroughs carefully noted, nowhere were there signs of belly or tail marks in the examined stratum. Furthermore, Dr. Burroughs and several of his colleagues performed a microscopic analysis of the mantracks, and based upon the grain count, established that, “the sand grains within each track are closer together than the grains immediately outside the tracks and elsewhere on the rock for the same kind and same combination of grains, due to the pressure of the creature’s foot.” The “creature,” they found, had exerted a weight pressure a little above that of a modern man. As the Science Newsletter of October 29, 1938 commented, no amphibian or reptile that size has been discovered in the fossil record that walked upright in the Pennsylvanian era.
Finally, the clear impressions showing five toes, ball and heel are totally unrelated to an amphibian’s or reptile’s physical makeup - only man has a foot like that. Albert G. Ingalls, writing in Scientific American, January, 1940, declared, “If man existed as far back as in the Carboniferous Period in any shape, then the whole science of geology is so completely wrong that all geologists should resign their jobs and take up truck driving.”
On an outcrop of greyish-blue crinoidal limestone about 200 feet wide and extending along the west bank of the Mississippi for 3 miles just south of St. Louis, are a number of mantrack impressions which a century ago could be observed during low-water stages. The early French explorers along the river were the first to note their existence, and ever since they have created a heated controversy. The first scientific observation of the prints was reported by Henry Schooleraft in The American Journal of Science (volume V), for 1822, and he described them as, “strikingly natural, exhibiting every muscular impression, and the swell of the heel and toes, with a precision and faithfulness to nature I have not been able to copy.” His colleagues dismissed the tracks as Indian petroglyphs, but Schooleraft was convinced of their natural origin: They had been impressed, he carefully noted, not carved into the limestone. Whoever had made them, Schooleraft also commented, had been of average size: The foot lengths were 10 1/2 inches; width across the outspread toes were 4 inches; and the heels were 2 1/2 inches wide.
The American Antiquarian, volume 7, pages 364-367 (1885) gave the account of another find associated with the St. Louis footprints that is perhaps even more disturbing. Quoting from Priest’s “American Antiquities,” a particular set of tracks was described in detail. Then, “directly before the prints of these feet, within a few inches, is a well-impressed and deep mark, having some resemblance to a scroll, or roll of parchment, two feet long by a foot in width.” The squared impression was not a natural shape; neither were there scratch marks that would have indicated the patch had been carved. Rather, the evidence points to the parchment impression having been made when the rock was still in a plastic state - made at the same time as the footprints. What such a find suggests is that the prints’ owners were not only men, but were men with the intelligence to produce some form of paper sheet - and perhaps write upon it. But as if this were not enough of a mystery, the limestone in which prints and paper appear, is dated to the Mississippian age - 345 million years ago.
Still more finds of prints plunge mankind “feet first” even farther down into the geologic column. In 1948, a shoe impress was discovered near Lake Windermere, England. As reported in the natural history journal The Field for that year, the impress had been made in Ordovician limestone - an unbelievable 500 million years old. Remarkable too is the finding that the print bears signs of craft and artistry: Around the edge of both the heel and the foreshoe are circular impressions which resemble tacking; while in the center of the sole and heel are faint decorations of linear and flower-like designs. Though the impression is somewhat distorted in shape due to fractures and crevices in the rock surface, a measurement reveals an extended length of the shoe of about 8 inches and a width of 31/2 inches.
On June 1, 1968, an amateur rock hunter, William J. Meister, of Kearns, Utah was visiting nearby Antelope Springs with his family. The area, which includes the Swasey Mountains and the Cambrian Wheeler shale formation, is famous for its many fossils, and on this particular day Meister was on the lookout for fossilized trilobites and brachiopods - according to evolutionary theory, once among the oldest known living creatures. Meister broke off a rock slab, and, tapping its edge with a hammer, it fell open in two pieces, like the leaves of a book. To his great surprise, inside was a human sandal print, pointed in the toes, rounded in the heel, and with a squashed trilobite in the center of the sole. The sandal print measured 10 1/4 inches long, 31/2 inches wide at the ball and 3 inches at the heel. The sandal appears to have been well-worn on the right side - indicating it had been worn on the right foot - and the heel impression is deeper by one-eighth of an inch, characteristic of the weight distribution of humans on the foot. This particular find was later examined by Dr. Hellmut H. Doelling, of the Utah Geological Survey, and he found no irregularities or evidence of fakery - the print was genuine.
On July 20th, Meister returned to Antelope Springs with professional geologist Dr. Clifford Burdick. Digging in the same locality, Burdick discovered another imprint in the Cambrian shale, this time of a child The print was 6 inches long, and the five toes were barely distinguishable, as if the child was wearing moccasins. Yet Burdick detected that the toes were spread out, indicating the child had only begun to wear shoes, which tend to compress the toes with age. The heel and arch were again well depressed, showing weight distribution, and a segment of a fossil was crushed in its middle. Burdick managed to find a larger fossil imprint, like Meister’s original, though the impression was shallower, and also unearthed a second child’s track, smaller than the first, with the toes broken off, but perfect in its other aspects. Later, a detailed examination revealed that the rock in which the prints were found was made of tiny layers, and where the foot-marks occur, the layers were bowed downward from the horizontal - demonstrating that weight had indeed, been pressed into the once prehistoric mud.
But that “prehistoric mud” with its tell-tale prints, is now Cambrian shale - an astounding 600 million years old. And the fossils in the prints are trilobites - supposed to be among the earliest forms of life on earth. This time, we have literally hit “rock bottom” in the fossil record - and yet here we find the presence of man, and an intelligent, shoe-wearing man at that. How could he have “evolved” from simple life, when the Cambrian prints testify that he is as old as life itself?
Out-of-place metal objects
It is one thing to find evidence of human skeletal remains and footprints in the incredible past, but it is something else again to discover artifacts that prove the existence of advanced cultures in the strata as well. One of the characteristics of any high civilization is its ability to work metals. Conservative historians and archaeologists, who hold to the concept of linear cultural development, point to the ancient Middle East as the home of the very first metal production. Here, they claim, man began to melt and shape copper, iron, gold, and silver only 8,000 years ago. But unusual relics brought up from the depths of the rocky earth tell a different story.
In 1826, a well dug near the Ohio river in north Cincinnati failed to produce water, but did produce the unexpected. From a level 94 feet down, a buried tree stump was brought to the surface which showed the marks of an ax. The marks were deep and well-cut, indicating the use of a sharp and durable blade. The suspicion that the ax had been made of metal was confirmed when, embedded in the top of the stump, an advanced oxidized wedge of iron was found. The layer from which the stump came was estimated to be between 50,000 and 75,000 years old - nearly 10 times the accepted age of the supposed first metal usage.
A letter kept in the Archives of Madrid and dated 1572, records the account of the Spanish Viceroy in Peru and a strange artifact which came into his possession. In the year the letter was written, Indian miners removed from a subsurface layer of gravel a large conglomerate boulder, and broke it into pieces for easier disposal. As the mass shattered to the hammer blow, out of the center of it fell a perfect six-inch nail. The nail was later given to the Viceroy as a souvenir, who had it thoroughly examined, and verified its finding. The first mystery is that iron was unknown to the Peruvian Indians, so the nail did not originate with them. And the second mystery is that the rock from which the nail was freed was in the neighborhood of 75,000 to 100,000 years in age.
In the June, 1851 issue of Scientific American (volume 7, pages 298-299), a report was reprinted from the Boston Transcript about two parts of a metallic vase dynamited out of solid rock on Meeting House Hill, Dorchester, Massachusetts. When the two parts were put together, they formed a bell-shaped vase, 4 1/2 inches high, 6 1/2 inches at the base, 2 1/2 inches at the top and an eighth of an inch thick. The metal of the vase was composed of an alloy of zinc and a considerable portion of silver. On the sides were six figures of a flower in bouquet arrangements, inlaid with pure silver, and around the lower part a vine, or wreath, also inlaid with silver. The chasing, carving, and inlaying are exquisitely done by the art of some unknown craftsman - yet this curiosity was blown out of solid pudding stone from 15 feet below the surface. Estimated age - 100,000 years. Unfortunately, the vase was circulated from museum to museum, and then disappeared. It is probably gathering dust in some curator’s basement, its identity or source long forgotten.
At Lawn Ridge, 20 miles north of Peoria, Illinois, in August of 1870, three men were drilling an artesian well, when - from a depth of over a hundred feet - the pump brought up a small metal medallion to the surface. One of the workmen, Jacob W. Moffit, from Chillicothe, was the first to discover it in the drill residue. A noted scholar of the time, Professor Alexander Winchell, reported in his book Sparks From a Geologist’s Hammer, that he received from another eye-witness, W.H. Wilmot, a detailed statement, dated December 4, 1871, of the deposits and depths of materials made during the boring, and the position where the metal “coin” was uncovered. The stratification took this form: Soil - 3 feet; yellow clay - 17 feet; blue clay - 44 feet; dark vegetable matter - 4 feet; hard purplish clay - 18 feet; bright green clay - 8 feet; mottled clay - 18 feet; paleosol (ancient soils) - 2 feet; coin location; yellowish clay - 1 foot; sand, clay and water - 11 feet. The strange “coin-medallion” was composed of an unidentified copper alloy, about the size and thickness of a U.S. quarter of that period. It was remarkably uniform in thickness, round, and the edges appeared to have been cut. Researcher William E. Dubois, who presented his investigation of the medallion to the American Philosophical Society, was convinced that the object had in fact passed through a rolling mill, the edges showed “further evidence of the machine shop.” Despite its “modern characteristics”, however, Dubois plainly saw that, upon the object, “the tooth of time is plainly visible.”
Both sides of the medallion were marked with artwork and hieroglyphs, but these had not been metal-engraved or stamped. Rather, the figures had somehow been etched in acid, to a remarkable degree of intricacy. One side showed the figure of a woman wearing a crown or headdress; her left arm is raised as if in benediction, and her right arm holds a small child, also crowned. The woman appears to be speaking. On the opposite side is another central figure, that looks like a crouching animal: it has long, pointed ears, large eyes and mouth, claw-like arms, and a long tail frayed at the very end. Below and to the left of it is another animal, which bears a strong resemblance to a horse. Around the outer edges of both sides of the coin are undecipherable glyphs - they are of very definite character, and show all the signs of a form of alphabetic writing.
In 1876, the medallion was presented by Professor Winchell to a meeting of the Geological Section of the American Association in Buffalo. There was much speculation, but few answers. One participant, a conservative historian, Professor J.R. Lesley, tried to explain the object as a “practical joke” dropped into a hole by a passing French or Spanish explorer. The professor even claimed to see the coin’s figures as the astrological signs of Pisces and Leo, and read into the glyphs the date 1572. However, Winchell countered with these arguments against such an interpretation: 1. By no stretch of the imagination were the figures and glyphs decipherable in terms of any known symbology or script. 2. Who, as a practical joke, would have dropped a metal object into a hole and known that someone several hundred years later would happen to drill at that precise spot (within a 4-inch tolerance) and find it? The odds would be phenomenal. And 3. There is the very real problem of explaining the accumulation of 114 feet of deposit over the buried coin. Having examined all the evidence, Winchell was convinced the coin had indeed come from this depth. It had not fallen into a hole in the past - the sediments drilled through were uniform and undisturbed. And the amount of sedimentation was not what would have settled in only a few centuries. In fact, recent calculations based on uniform rates of alluvium deposition and radioisotope dates for this region estimate an age for materials from just below a depth of 100 feet to be between 100,000 and 150,000 years.
What conclusions can we draw about the mystery coin? A lost civilization once existed on the North American continent which worked in copper and other metals; possessed art and writing; attired themselves with crowns and other clothing; knew of and perhaps domesticated several animals including the horse; utilized acids for etching in a manner that is still not understood today; and perhaps the most disturbing, possessed forms of machinery for the cutting, rolling and processing of metal pieces.
As a sidelight, the enigmatic coin was not the only item that came from deep levels in Illinois. In 1851, in Whiteside County, another well-drilling bit brought up from a sand stratum 120 feet deep two copper artifacts: What appears to be a hook, and a ring. Their age is thought to be the same as that of the coin - about 150,000 years old.
On February 13,1961, three rock hunters - Mike Mikesell, Wallace Lane and Virginia Maxey - were collecting geodes about 12 miles east-southeast of Olancha, California. Geodes are spherical stones with hollow interiors lined with crystals. On this particular day, while searching in the Coso Mountains, they found one stone located near the top of a peak approximately 4,300 feet in elevation and about 340 feet above the dry bed of Owens Lake.
The rockhounds took it to be a geode, but later found it was not, because it bore traces of fossil shells. The next day when Mikesell cut the stone in half, he nearly ruined a ten-inch diamond saw in the process, for it did not contain crystals, but rather something totally unexpected. Inside were the remains of some form of mechanical device: Beneath the outer layer of hardened clay, pebbles and fossil inclusions is a hexagonal shaped layer of a substance resembling wood, softer than agate or jasper. This layer forms a casing around a three-quarter inch wide cylinder made of solid white porcelain or ceramic, and in the center of the cylinder is a two millimeter shaft of bright, brassy metal. This shaft, the rock hunters discovered, is magnetic, and after several years of exposure never showed traces of oxidation. Also, surrounding the ceramic cylinder are rings of copper, much of them now corroded. Embedded too in the rock, though separate from the cylinder, are two more man-made items - what look like a nail and a washer.
EDITOR’S COMMENT: Several readers have stated that this artifact is indeed a spark plug from the 1920’s.
The puzzled rock hunters sent their find to the Charles Fort Society, who specialize in investigating things out of the ordinary. The Society made an X-ray examination of the cylinder object enclosed in the fossil-encrusted rock, and found further evidence that it was indeed some form of mechanical apparatus. The X-rays revealed that the metallic shaft was corroded at one end, but on the other end terminated in what appeared to be a spring or helix of metal. As a whole, the “Coso artifact” is now believed to be something more than a piece of machinery: The carefully shaped ceramic, metallic shaft and copper components hint at some form of electrical instrument. The closest modern apparatus that researchers have been able to equate it with is a spark plug. However, there are certain features - particularly the spring or helix terminal - that does not correspond to any known spark plug today. The rock in which the electrical instrument was found was dated by a competent geologist at 500,000 years old.
The rock strata appear to be full of metal “surprises.” The Illinois Springfield Republican reported in 1851 that a businessman named Hiram de Witt had brought back with him from a trip to California a piece of auriferous quartz rock about the size of a man’s fist, and that while showing the rock to a friend, it slipped from his hand and split open upon hitting the floor. There, in the center of the quartz, they discovered a cut-iron nail, six-penny size, slightly corroded but entirely straight, with a perfect head. the quartz was given an age of over one million years.
In 1865, a two-inch metal screw was discovered in a piece of feldspar unearthed from the Abbey Mine in Treasure City, Nevada. The screw had long ago oxidized, but its form - particularly the shape of its threads - could be clearly seen in the feldspar. The stone was calculated to be 21 million years in age.
Twenty years earlier, in 1844, Sir David Brewster made a report to the British Association for the Advancement of Science which created quite a stir. A nail of obvious human manufacture had been found half-embedded in a sandstone block excavated from the Kindgoodie Quarry near Inchyra, in northern Britain. It was badly corroded, but identifiable nonetheless. The sandstone was determined to be at least 40 million years old.
In the fall of 1885, at an iron foundry owned by the sons of Herr Isidor Braun located in Schondorf near Bocklabruck, Upper Austria, a workman named Riedl was breaking up a block of Tertiary brown coal that had been mined from the pits at Wolfsegg, near Schwannstadt, and was about to be used to heat the foundry’s giant smelters. As the block disintegrated into several pieces, out dropped a strange cube-like object. In 1886, mining engineer Dr. Adolf Gurlt made a report to the Natural History Society at Bonn, Germany and noted that the object, coated with a thin layer of rust, is made of iron, measures 2.64 by 2.64 by 1.85 inches, weighs 1.73 Ibs., and has a specific gravity measurement of 7.75. Four of the iron “cube’s” sides are roughly flat, while the two remaining sides - opposite each other - are convex. A fairly deep groove was incised all the way around the object, about mid-way up its height. Other early studies on the iron artifact were in scientific journals of the day as Nature (London; November 11, 1886, page 36) and L’Astronomie (Paris; 1886, page 463). A plaster cast was also made before the turn of the century -important because the original object subsequently suffered from handling, and from being disfigured by samples having been cut from it by investigators for research. The cast is kept in the Oberosterreichisehes Landesmuseum in Linz, Austria, where the original object was also exhibited from 1950 to 1958. The iron cube is presently in the custody of Herrn O.R. Bernhardt of the Heimathaus Museum in Vocklabruck.
In 1966-67, the iron “cube” was carefully analyzed by experts at the Vienna Naturhistorisehes Museum, using electron-beam microanalysis. They found no traces of nickel, chromium or cobalt in the iron - which means the object was not of meteoric origin. No sulfur was detected either, ruling out the chance of it being a pyrite, a natural mineral that sometimes forms geometric shapes. Because of a low magnesium content, Dr. Kurat of the Museum, and Dr. R. Gill of the Geologisehe Bundesanstalt of Vienna, are of the opinion that the object was made of cast-iron. In 1973, Hubert Mattlianer concluded from yet another detailed investigation that the object had been made from a hand-sculptured lump of wax or clay pressed into a sand base, this forming the mold into which the iron had been poured.
The final conclusion, then, is that the strange object is definitely man-made. What is not explained is what it was doing encased in coal dating to the Tertiary - 60 million years old.
In 1968, French speleologists Y. Druet and H. Salfati reported finding unusual metal nodules entombed in an Aptian chalk bed in a quarry at Saint-Jean de Livet. The nodules are reddish brown, wafer-shaped and hollowed at the ends, measuring from 3 to 9 centimeters long and 1 to four centimeters wide. The two investigators at first thought the nodules were fossils until they discovered their metallic nature. Next, they theorized they were residue from a meteor - but careful study showed the nodules were too uniformly shaped to be of natural origin. Chemical analysis showed a carbon content consistent with modern forging and casting techniques. But what had these man-made objects been doing in chalk beds dating toward the end of the Cretaceous - over 120 million years? As Druet and Salfati concluded, “These objects, then, prove the presence of intelligent life on earth long before the limits given today by prehistoric archaeology.”
On June 9, 1891, Mrs. S.W. Culp of Morrisonville, Illinois was shoveling coal into her kitchen stove when a large lump broke in two and out from the center of it fell a gold chain. The chain was about 10 inches long, made of eight carat gold, weighed 8 pennyweight, and was described as being “of antique and quaint workmanship.” The Morrisonville Times of June 11 reported that investigators were convinced the chain had not simply been accidentally dropped in with the coal: One portion of the coal lump still clung to the chain, while the part that had separated from it still bore the impression of where the chain had been encased. The Times could only comment, “Here is one for the student of archaeology who loves to puzzle his brain over the geological construction of the Earth from whose ancient depth the curious are always dropping out.” In this case, the “curious” “dropped out” of a piece of coal from the Pennsylvanian era - over 300 million years old.
Similar events produced another metal object of even greater age. In 1912, two employees of the Municipal Electric Plant of Thomas, Oklahoma, were shoveling coal into the plant furnaces, using fuel which had been mined near neighboring Wilberton. One chunk of coal was too large to handle, so the workmen took a sledge hammer to it. Once it broke open, however, the workmen found that the chunk contained an iron pot, and upon its removal, the two coal halves bore the “mold” of the pot in its interiors. Both employees signed affidavits testifying to the authenticity of the discovery, and the iron pot was subsequently examined by several experts - every one of which was most reluctant to comment on the pot, and the circumstances surrounding its discovery. This was most understandable, since the object came from coal dated from 300 to 325 million years.
One more find that must be mentioned in the out-of-place metal category takes us - once again - to the deepest level of fossil life. On June 13, 1880, a reporter for the Inverness Courier named Walter Carruthers was vacationing near Loch Maree and Victoria Falls, in Scotland, and - being an amateur rock hunter - decided to explore the geology of the area. Between 300 and 400 yards above Victoria Falls, and immediately beside the last of the three lesser falls on the west side of the stream, Carruthers noticed peculiar impressions in the rock. The rock was a l6 x 16-foot exposed surface of Torridon Red Sandstone, placed in the Cambrian age. The impressions consisted of two continuous flat bands side by side, between 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 inches wide and about 1/4 inch deep, running unnaturally straight through the flat layers of sandstone in situ, and perfectly distinct for 16 feet, disappearing on the west side under the superimposed rock, and broken only where portions of the sandstone had been weathered out. A few weeks later the curious “bands” were also observed by a colleague of Carruthers, Mr. William Jolly, Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools for the region. Carruthers had thought the impressions to have been the creation of some highly unusual living creature, but Jolly recorded that “the continuous even breadth and square section of the bands would seem to render this impossible.” Jolly further noted, “The double band resembles nothing more nearly than the hollow impression that would be left by double bars of iron placed closely together.” Jolly’s observation was corroborated years later when micro-specks of iron oxide were taken from the impression cavities. The superintendent thought, however, that perhaps the iron bands had at one time been inserted into the rock, “to clasp some structure to it” - but other findings discount this. First, the bands occur high above the Falls in an almost totally inaccessible place, where a “structure” would serve little purpose. Second, the bands are only one-quarter of an inch deep, so that anything “clasped” to them would not hold for long. Third, parallel on either side of each band are tin)? ripple marks in the sandstone, indicating the presence of the original iron bands had caused turbulence patterns in the sand during the time the sand had been laid down by water, and before it had turned to stone. Fourth, the sandstone in the impressions show tiny striations which are really the preserved grain marks of the iron - again, indicating the metal had been impressed in the primordial sand, before solidification took place. And finally, fifth, one portion of one of the bands bends back into the subsurface, and careful excavation revealed the presence of iron oxide totally encased by the surrounding sandstone.
Jolly also found other band impressions in the same locality: There is a third band that runs alongside the other two, but is much less distinct and is not continuous. Two more lines, about 2 feet lower down on the rock surface, are only 7 feet long, and two more are higher up, running 3 feet long. Jolly also saw still more bands on an outcropping of the same sandstone on the other side of the stream, again parallel to one another - one 3 feet, another 6 feet, and smaller portions of several others.
What purpose these iron bands served, we can only guess. What we do know, however, is that all the bands were very uniform in width and thickness, with squared edges, and the grain marks they left indicate they were rolled and cut - all of which points to precision manufacturing by machine production.
But this is totally impossible, if we are to believe the geologists, for the sandstone in which the bands occur is Cambrian - 600 million years old, by their own measurements. Who, pray tell, was running an iron mill at a time when there was supposedly only tiny invertebrate creatures ruling the world?
Images and messages from the incredible past
Metal-working is by no means the only sign of advanced culture: Other characteristics include such developments as art, architecture and writing. Since we have already observed several examples of metal production encased in geologic rock, it should be no surprise to find examples of other cultural elements also entombed deep within the earth.
In 1921, an Arkansan named Rowlands was digging in one of the many gravel pits on a line of small hillocks known as Crowley’s Ridge, located two miles north of Finch. At a depth of 10 feet, Rowlands’ shovel suddenly struck something large and solid. The object appeared at first to be a boulder, but excavating around it, Rowlands soon discovered that it was a large rock-sculptured head of a man. It stood about 4 feet high, and the figure had a squared, protruding chin, small, tight-lipped mouth, a short nose, and a furrowed brow and stare accented by two flat “buttons” of inlaid gold for eyes. Two more gold discs ornamented the figure’s ears, and a heart-shaped plug of copper was embedded in the chest. The top of the head was covered by a carved hood that draped down the nape, and attached to a piece around the neck. Near the head, and in the same layer, Rowlands dug up a number of smaller objects: a gold ring, a small coffer made of volcanic pumice (which does not exist in this region), and tiny carvings of men, animals, moons and stars.
The head and artifacts soon became a local attraction, and the newspapers dubbed the glowering figure “King Crowley.” Several investigators authenticated the find, though they could not explain its presence in the ten-foot layer of gravel - geologically dated at 175,000 years. The head and objects were sent to the Arkansas Natural History Museum in Little Rock. The museum curators, who also examined the artifacts and had double-checked and documented their discovery, were confident in the findings’ authenticity to place them on public display. At the same time, however, some of the small carving samples were mailed to the Smithsonian in Washington. The Smithsonian - being a far more conservative institution -described the carvings as truly “unexplained items,” but could not reconcile the antiquity of the strata in which they had been brought to light. Finally, after fifteen years of vacillating on the subject, orthodoxy triumphed: The Smithsonian concluded that the Crowley Ridge artifacts could not be 175,000 years old as this contradicted established theory on the age of human civilization, and therefore declared the artifacts fakes. Conforming to this prestigious conservative pronouncement, the Little Rock museum promptly took the stone head and other objects off display, and eventually sold them to unnamed private collectors. The “King Crowley” had was shipped off to California, and the rest of the collection was similarly scattered to the four winds. Today, the location of even a single object is unknown.
One wonders how many other valuable out-of-place items, because they do not conform to “acceptable” schemes of history and geology, have been likewise thrown out or lost by Establishment institutions.
On June 27,1969, workmen cutting into a rock shelf situated on the Broadway Extension of 122nd Street, between Edmond and Oklahoma City, came upon a find that was to create much controversy among the experts. The find was an inlaid tile floor, found 3 feet below the surface, and covering several thousand square feet. Durwood Pate, an Oklahoma City geologist, commented on the floor in the Edmond Booster of July 3, 1969:
“I am sure this was man-made because the stones are placed in perfect sets of parallel lines which intersect to form a diamond shape, all pointing to the east. We found post holes which measure a perfect two rods from the other two. The top of the stone is very smooth, and if you lift one of them, you will find it is very jagged, which indicates wear on the surface. Everything is too well placed to be a natural formation.”
Pate also discovered a form of mortar between the tiles. He believes now that the tile surface served as a common floor for several human shelters over a wide area. Delbert Smith, a geologist and president of the Oklahoma Seismograph Company, summed up the mystery concerning the tile floor in the Tulsa World of June 29, 1969: “There is no question about it. It had been laid there, but I have no idea by whom.” Yet another facet of the mystery involved the question of age. There are some differing opinions as to the geology involved, but the best estimate places the tiles at 200,000 years old.
On August 1, 1889, a professional well-driller, M.A. Kurtz, was working near his home in Nampa, Idaho, along with two other crewmen, when their steam pump suddenly spat out a piece of brownish clay 11/2 inches long that was clearly humanoid in appearance. The discovery was also eye-witnessed by several prominent citizens of Nampa. What amazed these men was that the little clay “doll” had come from below a 15-foot layer of lava rock, 100 feet of sand, 6 inches of clay, 40 feet of more sand, then 165 feet composed of clay, sand, clay nodules mixed with sand, and coarse sand layers - a total of 320 feet.
The small “doll” is composed of half clay and half quartz, and according to at least one expert, Professor Albert A. Wright of Oberlin College, it was not the product of a small child or amateur, but was made by a true artist. Though badly battered by time, the doll’s appearance is still distinct: it has a bulbous head, with barely discernible mouth and eyes; broad shoulders; short, thick arms; and long legs, the right leg broken off. There are also faint geometric markings on the figure, which represent either clothing patterns or jewelry -they are found mostly on the chest around the neck, and on the arms and writs. The doll is the image of a person of a high civilization, artistically attired.
The Nampa doll came to the attention of Dr. G.F. Wright of the Boston Society of Natural History, who sought to verify the depth at which it was found - and thus also establish its great antiquity. In an on-location examination of Kurtz’s equipment, the hole drilled, and interviews with the witnesses, Dr. Wright became convinced the find was genuine. Kurtz demonstrated that the well had been tubed with heavy iron tubing 6 inches in diameter, so that there was no mistake about the occurrence of the artifact at the stated depth. Furthermore, the pump worked in only one direction - had the object fallen into the hole from above, it would have been destroyed by the pump. Wright concluded in a report to the Boston Society that, “There is no ground to question the fact that this image came up in the sand pump from the depth reported.” In another study, fellow Bostonian Professor F.W. Putnam found through microscopic analysis that quartz grains under the doll’s right arm had been cemented by iron molecules. This too - independent of the fact of the depth of the discovery - is indicative of a great age.
How old is the Nampa object? The lava rock layer through which Kurtz’s drill penetrated is part of the prehistoric lava flows of the Columbia Plateau which occurred before the advance of the last Ice Age. And below this layer, the image was discovered another 300 feet down. The best modern geologic estimate puts the date for the layer in which the doll was found at over 300,000 years. Today, the Nampa doll is on exhibit at the Idaho State Historical Society in Boise.
Curiously enough, a second doll-like figure was discovered sometime before 1880 near Marlboro in Stark County, Ohio, by workmen drilling a well. The image - made of black variegated marble and standing 6 inches tall - was unearthed from a depth of only 120 feet, but was embedded in sand and gravel of a similar type and age as that of the Nampa doll. There were two things remarkable about the Ohio figure: First, the marble it is made of is not indigenous to Ohio; and second, it bears an astonishing resemblance to the image found at Nampa. One can see in it the same bulbous head, simple facial features, stocky frame and long arms and legs. Did the two, the Ohio and Idaho “dolls,” come from the same enigmatic lost civilization? The evidence answers yes.
One of the most convincing signs of a high civilization is the written word. In the early spring of 1891, a farmer named J.H. Hooper was examining a wooded ridge on his property, located in Bradley County, 13 miles from Cleveland, Tennessee. A peculiar stone caught his attention, which he first took to be a grave marker. But digging around it, he soon discovered that the stone was only a surface projection of a subterranean structure that extended into the depths below. Hopper spent the next several weeks in an attempt to uncover his unusual find: A length of wall, traced for a thousand feet, on the average 2 feet thick and 8 feet high, with numerous projections - like the first one - spaced along the top every 25 to 30 feet. The wall ran roughly at an angle of 15 to 20 degrees east. The structure continues on beyond the section exposed, in both directions, following the crest of a ridge that extends from the Hiawassee river north of Chattanooga southward, where it dips beneath the Tennessee river. Its position dates it geologically to near the beginning of the Quaternary - well over a million years old.
The wall is composed of red sandstone blocks constructed in three courses, cemented together with a dark red clay mixed with salt, and in numerous places is plastered over with red, slate and yellow clays. Along one stretch of wall, near the northern end a distance of 16 feet, Hooper made without a doubt the most important discovery: Hidden beneath the outer clay plasterings, a number of the sandstone block surfaces were covered with the hieroglyphs of a lost language. The letters were arranged in wavy, parallel and diagonal lines, interspersed with small pictures of strange animals, many unidentifiable. there were other symbols too, of the sun and crescent moon, which appear to have some astronomical significance. All together, 872 individual characters were made out, many repeated - suggesting the script is a form of pictographic writing, like Chinese.
Despite the implications of the wall, and the challenge of the discovery of an unknown writing, the find was met by the scientific community with overwhelming apathy. A short notice on the Tennessee mystery wall appeared in the Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences (11:26-29), written by A.L. Rawson, who examined the structure and script first-hand, as well as published copies he had made of some of the glyphs and pictures. But that was all; no further study was ever made.
In 1936, Tom Kenny, a resident of Plateau Valley, a town located on the western slope of the Rockies in Colorado, was excavating for a winter cellar to store vegetables, when at a depth of 10 feet his spade hit a barrier. Clearing the covering material away, he unearthed a pavement made of tiles, each man-made and five inches square. The tiles were laid in mortar, the chemical composition of which later analysis showed was different from all materials found in the valley. The perplexing problem is that the strange pavement was found in the same layer containing the three-toed Miocene horse - upwards of 30 million years old.
In November, 1829, a block of marble measuring over 30 cubic feet was excavated from a depth of between 60 to 70 feet, from the Henderson quarry, located 12 miles northwest of Philadelphia. The block was sent to the Savage marble saw mill in nearby Norristown for cutting into slabs for construction. After taking off one slab about 3 feet wide and 6 feet long, workmen noticed something strange: They had exposed an unnaturally straight-edged, rectangular indentation. Several respectable townsmen were called to the scene, and in their presence the rest of the block surface was carefully removed. Revealed were two sharply defined engraved letters, resembling an “I,” and a “U” with a squared base. The indentations were 11/2 inches long and five-eighths of an inch in width. There was no way the letters could have been of recent origin - they were deeply embedded in the marble. More mysterious, the marble had come from a very old lime rock. Estimated age: About 65 million years.
The Los Angeles News of December 17, 1869 printed an account supplied to the paper by a correspondent of the Cleveland Herald, writing from Wellsville, Ohio. The account described how in the autumn of the year, at a coal mine operated by a Captain Lacey of Hammondville, a miner named James Parsons was loosening a large mass at a depth of 100 feet, when he suddenly exposed a smooth slate wall covered with strange alphabetic writing. The letters were raised and well defined. The coal that had covered the wall bore their distinct impression - which means the letters date to a time when the coal was in a vegetable state, and had molded itself against the wall. Each sign was three-quarters of an inch in size, and arranged in rows precisely spaced 3 inches apart. The first line of letters contained 25. Local teachers and ministers examined the find, but could offer no explanations. Unfortunately, just before a number of university professors arrived to verify the discovery, the slate surface disintegrated from exposure to air, and the script was lost. Nevertheless, the find was well-documented, and attested to by several reliable witnesses. But the most disturbing fact about the mysterious slate wall and its glyphs was their undeniable presence in coal - coal from the Carboniferous era, well over 200 million years old.
A naturalist named Isaac Lea reported in the American Journal of Science (volume I, number 1, page 155), in 1822, a find he had made in a stretch of sandstone located a quarter mile north of Pittsburgh, on the same side of the Monongahela river. Lea described it as the most singular specimen he had ever seen: An unusually flat rectangular surface, 3 feet long and varying from 5 to 6 inches wide. One end was cut off by a break in the rock - so there is no way of knowing the real length of the original impression. The other end terminated in the middle of the rock face in a straight, square line -as if a roll of paper had been torn off clean. On this flat surface were row after row of evenly spaced, perfect diamond shapes, each with an oblique, raised band across its center. Lea was mystified as to how to classify the impression, as belonging to the animal or vegetable kingdom. The answer is neither: The pattern is too precise to be natural, the diamond shapes too square to be designed by anything but an intelligent hand. Luckily, Lea had forethought enough to make accurate measurements and draw sketches of the impression, for when he returned to remove it for further study, he found that a quarryman had beaten him to it, and had done his work. The naturalist also took meticulous note of the position of the rock surface in relation to the geology of the surrounding area. The hill in which it existed is not high enough to take in the bed of carboniferous coal found in a horizontal stratum about 250 feet above the locality. In fragments of the impressed rock, Lea found fossils of primitive jointed plants - the type which made its appearance in the Devonian era, 400 million years ago.
What exactly was the mysterious pattern in rock? We do not know, but the fact remains that it bore the artistic and measuring hand of man. That hand was contemporary with purportedly the earliest plant life on earth.
Analysis and conclusions
How can this evidence of the presence of man from the very beginning of the fossil record be explained? Certainly, the prevailing Uniformitarian-evolution-linear model of the past is in no position to do so, because the mere existence of deeply buried human objects completely destroys the whole premise of slow, gradual, progressive development of the earth, of life, of man, and of human culture -the very cornerstone of the model. If man and his products can be found all the way down to the lowest level of geologic life, where is the evidence for his continual evolution, or for his long cultural climb from primitive beginnings? It is clear we must look elsewhere for the answers.
Today, besides the Uniformitarian-evolution-linear model, there have been three new and alternative models proposed, and each of these offer their own interpretations of the past. These are: Extraterrestrialism, Catastrophic evolution, and Creationism. Let us look at each one separately.
Most people have become aware of the Extraterrestrialist model through the writings of Erich von Daniken, author of Chariots of the Gods, and other similar works. What is not often realized, however, is that von Daniken’s ideas not only have had popular appeal to the man on the street, but they are having a definite impact on the academic and scientific world as well. Von Daniken offers what appears to be a plausible answer to the riddle of out-of-place artifacts of an advanced nature which have been unearthed from the archaeological record -and, as we have seen from the fossil and geological records as well. According to him, aliens from other worlds have supposedly been visiting the earth throughout history and prehistory, and the out-of-place remains we find were the product of contact between the spacemen and early man. In the case of those objects discovered in those layers believed to pre-date man’s appearance, then the items were left by the extraterrestrials themselves. By giving the out-of-place artifacts an “other world” source, Von Daniken has thus neatly explained their presence, while at the same time preserving accepted” theories of evolution. In effect, he has placed the artifacts in a realm outside the earthly scheme of things, where they do not conflict with slow, progressive evolutionary development - only intervening now and then.
But there are several flaws in the Extraterrestrialist model. In not one instance has Von Daniken been able to demonstrate the existence of a single “ancient astronaut.” His “evidence,” on close inspection, is largely based on his own personal interpretations of primitive drawings and ancient records which look and sound (to him) like men wearing spacesuits, or riding around inside spaceships. In every case, there is another simpler and literally more “down to earth” interpretation for every “space” drawing and record he offers as proof.
When we examine closely the out-of-place artifacts themselves, especially those we have studied embedded in the geologic layers, we find that they do not appear alien to us, and they certainly do not exhibit a technology exclusively different from that of, say, our own civilization today - that is, what man himself has and could have once before produced. What is more, where we have found the presence of artifacts, we have also found clear evidence of the presence of man: You will remember that among those discoveries made in the fossil record, not only did we observe objects of worked metals, stone, etc., but there were also human skulls, bones and footprints. Man was there; the artifacts logically were of his making. There is no need to invoke spacemen, or look to the stars, for an answer - the answer lies here on earth, or as in the case of our study here, in the earth.
A second modern model of the past is Catastrophic evolution -and as its name implies, it is a modification of the old Uniformitarian-evolution model. Catastrophic evolutionists propose to fully accept the existence of human remains in the geologic column, while leaving the column and the dating of the various rock layers intact. What this means is a scenario of human history in which civilizations have been born, risen to intellectual and technological heights, and then were destroyed by earth upheavals, again and again over 600 million years. At first glance, this model might seem plausible enough to explain the facts. But there are problems to consider. As noted earlier, historians measure the antiquity of our own civilization as being no more than 10,000 years. If we take this as the average “lifespan” for the development of a technological society, and attempt to apply this to the multiple civilization scenario, we find that we must presuppose the existence of an incredible 60,000 civilizations to each down to the Cambrian age. What is more, there is the major difficulty of how all these societies would have disappeared -unless one is also to imagine 60,000 separate cataclysms. Unfortunately, the geologic record does not support that many world changes. The geologic record also reveals that, if only simple forms of life supposedly existed in the earliest levels, there was no way such environments could have supported a human population, let alone active civilizations. Finally, there still remains the unanswered question of where man originated - and for that, we have already seen, evolution cannot even attempt a solution.
Our third alternative model to examine is by no means new - in fact it was the accepted model of the past long before uniformitarianism of geology came to the forefront. It is called Creationism, or Creation-Flood science, because it is based on the Biblical account in Genesis of the Divine creation of the world, life and man, and the world-destroying Deluge. What makes Creationism distinctive from the other proposed models is it teaches that mankind existed on the earth before most geologic strata were formed. What is more, he was created and lived as an intelligent, civilized being from the outset. The Genesis record describes how after Creation and before the Flood, the descendants of Adam - the Antediluvians - possessed an advanced culture that included agriculture, urbanization, the arts, metal-working and sophisticated engineering abilities. The Flood completely destroyed the Antediluvian civilization and the entire world, depositing the remains (according to Creationist-Flood geology) in a short time in the form of all the strata from Cambrian to early Tertiary. After the Flood, the first descendants of Noah built another civilization culminating in the technology that constructed the Tower of Babel. The remains of this post-Flood civilization, after the destruction of Babel, were swept away by the Ice Age disaster, and were preserved in the strata of the Tertiary-Pleistocene.
The Creation-Flood model can thus accept the appearance of human remains and advanced artifacts in the geologic past, as evidence for pre-Flood and immediate post-Flood civilizations. Because of the cataclysmic nature of the Flood, and the abruptness with which the Babel-Ice Age disaster occurred, the Creation-Flood model predicts further that buried artifacts are probably few and far between, appearing as rare surviving remnants in the rock - which is the case exactly.
Another upset in Creationism’s favor is that, by its rejection of uniformitarian long-age dating of the earth’s strata, it is able to explain remarkable similarities among the out-of-place artifacts, in diverse levels. For instance, we found several examples of giant human bones and footprints - in Tertiary, Cretaceous, Jurassic, Triassic, and Pennsylvanian rock. This would mean, in “accepted” geologic time measurements, the persistence of a very specialized life form - Homo gargantuan - over a span of 300 million years. There is no precedent for that kind of survival anywhere in the fossil record. But by viewing all these layers as having been laid down in a short time period, and by regarding the remains within as the remnants of one destroyed world, the various giant finds and their similarities are explained. In addition, the large bones and prints confirm what was recorded in Genesis about conditions before the Flood: “There were giants in those days, mighty men, men of renown.”
There is, however, one problem that Creationism must contend with. But that problem at least may have a satisfactory answer. It involves the presence of foot and sandal prints - and, for that matter, the prints of extinct animals - found in the fossil record. Dr. John D. Morris of the Institute for Creation Research, in San Diego, noted that in the case of the mantracks and dinosaur tracks found on the Paluxy river, there is a layer of sedimentary rock 8,500 feet in thickness underlying these Cretaceous formations. Now according to the Creationist model, this must all have been deposited during the Flood. The problem is, as Morris put it, “How could man and dinosaur witness such massive deposition at the beginning stages of the Flood and survive long enough to leave their prints so high up in the geologic column?”
The answer may lie in an uplift of pre-Cambrian rock located just to the southwest of Glen Rose. The uplift shows only small traces of the deposits which covered the Paluxy area, which means it could have served as a refuge for men and animals during the first part of the Flood. The waters appear to have retreated momentarily, and the men and dinosaurs climbed down from their summit, to cautiously walk across the mud-filled Paluxy region, probably in search of food. It is significant that all the Paluxy man prints are clear impressions of the whole foot, indicating that the stride of their makers had been slow and deliberate, and not running, as the impressions then would have been deep prints of the forefoot only. The tracks also go off in different directions, as if the survivors had split their company to search over more ground. But just moments after the impressions were made, the Flood waters must have returned, sweeping men and creatures away, and quickly burying their tracks by new deposits - deposits which aided in the perfect preservation of the prints to this day.
This particular scenario of waters retreating and returning may not only have applied to Paluxy, but to the making of the other fossil foot and shoe prints as well. Flood geologists note many examples in various sedimentary rocks of evidence for tidal water action. Some coal seams, for example, contain numerous layers of limestone alternating with carbonized vegetable matter (coal). These, the geologists say, were created by the “rocking” motion of a large body of water, that carried the remains of marine organisms at one end and land life on the other, and dropped portions of its two different loads with each surge, as it moved back and forth. Sometimes in these layers, coal appears directly on coal, or limestone on limestone, without the alternate material between - indicating a complete retreat of the waters temporarily, and then their dramatic return and deposition. Noteworthy is the fact that in the book of Genesis, Noah described the Flood waters as “prevailing upon the earth.” In the Hebrew, the word used for “prevail” has the connotation, “a movement to and fro.”
Summarizing now the various models we have discussed, we find that:
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The Uniformitarian-evolution-linear model is totally inadequate to explain the presence of human remains in the geologic record, as these remains are in direct contradiction to the model’s premise of slow, progressive development from simple, primitive beginnings.
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The Extraterrestrialist model is dependent upon the unproven existence of aliens from outer space, and rests on the false assumption that man himself could not have produced the out-of-place artifacts - even though they are in fact accompanied by human skeletal remains and imprints.
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The Catastrophic evolution model presupposes the existence of a highly improbable number of destroyed civilizations to explain the buried objects, and cannot answer the basic question of the origins of man by evolution, since his remains are found as far back as the earliest fossil layer.
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The Creation-Flood model offers a workable solution to the mystery of out-of-place fossil relics, which is also consistent with observable geologic phenomena based on a catastrophic premise. The model also explains similarities and parallels between out-of-place finds in diverse layers, which no other model can do.
Based on these findings, then, we must conclude that the Creationist model is superior to all other models in supplying answers to the riddle of human remains and artifacts in the geologic record. These “strange relics from the depths of the earth,” in fact, testify to the validity of the Creation-Flood model, and tend to prove wrong the major concepts of all other models so far proposed.
Reference:
Allen, E.A. “Footmarks in Kentucky” American Antiquarian (1885) vol. 7.
American Antiquarian (1885) vol. 7, 364-365.
Bergier, Jacques Extraterrestrial Visitations From Prehistoric Times to the Present New York: New American Library, 1974.
Berlitz, Charles Mysteries From Forgotten Worlds New York: Dell Publishing, 1972.
Bible Science Newsletter July, 1970, p. 2.
Binder,Otto O. Unsolved Mysteries of the Past New York: Tower Publications, 1970.
Braidwood, Robert J. Prehistoric Man New York: William Morrow and Co., 1967.
Brandon, Jim Weird America: A Guide to Places of Mystery in the United States New York: E.P. Dutton, 1978.
Browne, J.B. “Singular Impression in Marble” American Journal of Science vol. 1, no. 19, p. 361, 1831.
Chapman, Glen W. “Archaeological Findings of Pre-Flood Cultures in America” Bible Science Newsletter August-September, 1969.
Chardin, Pierre Teilhard de The Appearance of Man New York: Harper and Row, 1965.
Charroux, Robert Forgotten Worlds New York: Walker and Co., 1973.
Charroux, Robert One Hundred Thousand Years of Man’s Unknown History New York: Berkeley Publishing, 1971.
Corliss, William R. Ancient Man: A Handbook of Puzzling Artifacts Glen Arm, Md.: The Sourcebook Project, 1978.
Corliss, William R. Strange Artifacts, 2 vols. Glen Arm, Md.: The Sourcebook Project, 1976.
Donelly, Ignatius Ragnarok: The Age of Fire and Gravel, rev. ed. New York: Steiner Books, 1976.
Edwards, Frank Strange World Secauscus, N.J.: Lyle Sturat, 1974.
Fange, Erich A. Von “Time Upside Down” Creation Research Quarterly June, 1974.
Flint, Earl “Nicaragua Footprints” American Antiquarian (1889) vol. 11, 306-311.
Fort, Charles The Book of the Damned New York: Ace, 1941.
Itao, Jude Studies of the Stratigraphy and Dating of Geologic Anomalies in North America and Europe Unpublished, 1975.
Keel, John A. Our Haunted Planet New York: Fawcett Publications, 1971.
Kolosimo, Peter Not of This World New York: Bantam Books, 1973.
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Norman, Eric Gods, Demons and UFO’s New York: Lancer Books, 1970.
Pauwels, Louis The Eternal Man New York: Avon Books, 1972.
Pauwels, Louis Impossible Possibilities New York: Stein and Day, 1971.
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Rehwinkel, A.M. The Flood St. Louis: Concordia Publishing, 1957.
Sanderson, Ivan T. Investigating the Unexplained Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentise-Hall, 1972.
Silverberg, Robert Man Before Adam Philadelphia: Macrae Smith Co., 1964.
Steiger, Brad Mysteries of Time and Space Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentise-Hall, 1974.
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Tomas, Andrew We Are Not the First New York: Bantam Books, 1973.