Reviving the Calico of Louis Leakey, Part 1

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Inside - Challenging the tenets of mainstream scientific a g e n d a s -

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Losing two of Calico Watch— Leakey Calico talk—new our best science watched transcription & audio P A G E 3

Two greats depart: David McIntyre and Sam L Val- Landiham Editors Reminiscences and Forbidden art— Book review, Michael layers at Calico politicized archaeology Cremo’s science & religion

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Calico Watch Virginia Steen-McIntyre Designed by nature: Symbols & myth

By Maggie Macnab the infinite, and how most look to nature to create my P A G E 5 human-designed systems are work as a matter of practical- Graphic designer, design structured. Nature, on the ity as well as aesthetics. Louis Leakey Calico theorist, author, lecturer other hand, is Symbols en- talk remastered completely gage us deeply John Feliks intercon- as expressions My primary design back- nected within of the organic ground is as a symbolic itself, and as principles and logo designer, which I such has infi- forms that all P A G E 8 have professionally been nite and eter- of life embod- creating for over 30 years. A lifelong personal nal trails into ies. Nature is My interest in symbols and history at Calico all things… common to myth, however, go back as most particu- everyone, and Tom Baldwin far as I can remember. I be- larly, those when it is used lieve this is a natural human things that symbolically in inclination because symbols appear super- Fig. 1. Micro to macro, a handful of visual lan- and myth lead us into under- P A G E 1 0 ficially unre- patterns construct everything in guage, the standing the larger whole of the universe. The weaving pattern lated. When- chance of cre- Forbidden art and nature around us intuitively, of the helix combines two opposites ever you see ating a rela- politicized archae- comprehensively and truth- in cooperation. Left: the basis of an aha! in a tionship with ology fully. In effect, it sets our organic life (DNA molecule closeup; design, or Wikimedia-commons), Right: Dou- the audience is minds aside (no easy task!) Vesna Tenodi hear it in a ble Helix Nebula at the center of the significantly and allows us to experience punch line of Milky Way galaxy: NASA (2006). elevated be- our senses rather than to a joke, those cause it mir- [simply] think about them. P A G E 1 6 invisible connections have rors the relationships within Necessarily, this cannot be been made apparent. Your and around us. Nature even broken down with complete mind is getting it after being embeds symbols that mirror BOOK REVIEW success into bits—or as hu- informed symbolically and universal processes directly in My Science, My man language comprised of experientially. our DNA in the form of the Religion by Mi- words. Bits don’t—never have double helix (Fig. 1). This and never will—explain chael Cremo Because symbols are derived particular structure is directly wholes. But this is how our Richard Dullum from nature they are the first referencing the penetrating minds are hardwired to grasp language of all humans, and I > Cont. on page 2

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motion necessary to funnel a made up of the very same dreds of thousands of genetic blueprint into the fundamental formulas. We years—and are far older next generation, while simul- know a fit when we experi- than civilization itself. But taneously acknowledging its ence it. because three-dimensional origin of two opposites com- space is continually morph- bined in mutual cooperation Your intuition knows that a ing, time erases nearly all to create a third, new possi- circle is the shape of whole- traces. From what has been “Humans bility with optimal potential ness or com- found to date have survived for survival. pletion (there is evi- and (planets, dence of com- Art or design that eggs, cells, prolif- plex symbolic incorporates natural molecules, behavior going erated symbolism reso- seasonal back as far as by nates intuitively well cycles); that 200,000 to reading before the intellect waves oscil- 500,000 “makes sense” of it. late to bal- the uni- years!), we Written language is ance ex- know that our versal processed intellectu- tremes predecessors princi- ally first, before it is (atoms and recognized the ples understood as im- galaxies do value of the ages or emotions. this, too); and information The author. Photo by Without a doubt, that the contained in forms of Liz Lopez. designs that appeal branch pat- natural pat- nature to me have to do tern (tree terns and as a common with my preference for visual branches, forms all information, which you may veins, light- symbolic lan- around us share. But it is more univer- ning or the (See Fig. 4 on guage.” sal than that. network of the following nerves that page). Any piece of art or design drive impulses that embeds a universal throughout Patterns, principle is your body) shapes and connected to moves life’s Fig. 3. Top: The design of this processes of something energy from Acheulian age flint handaxe the natural (from Hoxne in Suffolk, Eng- more, someone place to world cue our land, c. 350,000 years old, thing real, another; and inspiration and something we and the first handaxe ever that mirrored published in archaeology, John understanding just know … halves contain Frere, 1800) displays re- by revealing you naturally bilateral sym- flected, bilateral or mirror the eternal process visual metry—the symmetry. This type of sym- baseline of information basic struc- metry is intuitively familiar to existence. You us since it is the structural intuitively tural form of simply can’t form of most animal life in the before intel- almost all stop noticing lectually un- world. Symmetry provides higher ani- structural containment. Re- nature’s proc- derstanding it, mals, includ- flected symmetry in particular esses in your Fig. 2. Bilateral symmetry is the dominant so let’s begin ing humans provides balance that makes peripheral symmetry in all higher life forms; it is a com- with image (Fig. 2 ). for efficient movement vision. As con- pelling and intuitively recognizable principle. and intuition through physical space possi- Human anatomy image: Visual Language ; stants of or- first. When a uni- ble. Bottom: A bilaterally- Snake skeleton image: Srdjan Draskovic. ganic struc-

symmetric logo designed by the versal princi- ture, they pre- ple becomes a author featuring several sym- SYMBOL-SPEAK bols recognizable from nature. sent an inter- primary ingre- esting para- Humans have survived and dient in a dox: the workings of nature proliferated by reading the piece of communication, be it are typically dismissed by universal principles and literal or visual, something our sped-up intellect as be- forms of nature as a com- tells us to take note. Human ing commonplace, but are mon symbolic language, no designs that do this resemble simultaneously recognized matter when or where they independent, self-animated by the senses as being es- have lived. The principles “life” by presenting the very sential and eternal. that constitute an effective same qualities ( Fig. 3a & b ). design, be it architectural, Nature’s process dictates environmental, cultural, ar- Symbols predate written effective human design. Lan- tistic or graphic, resonate to language by at least tens of thousands—perhaps hun- your depths because you are > Cont. on page 3

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guage barriers preclude this and functioning design—be it distance ourselves from it for ability to communicate uni- manmade or natural—balance very long. When you see a versally and immediately. reigns supreme. Modern cul- piece of design that simply “Visuals are im- Visuals are immediate be- ture could learn from this: the makes you feel good, what cause they connect as a ge- opposite sides of your brain you’re really seeing is an ex- mediate be- stalt, and they communicate are not meant to contradict pression of nature flowing in cause each other and place. It feels right because the they entangle without common denominators that connect resolution. Being underscore all of life are the creative is not of truest part of the human experi- as a ge- more or less value ence. It’s the most compelling stalt, than being stra- reason there is. Designs that and tegic. They are resonate with your senses are they meant to work living loops, little visual ecosys- together. You tems that stand independently commu- can expand this on their own while being con- nicate thought into the nected into the whole, just as in both greater world. each of us is designed to do. Divisive human univer- systems are de- sal and signed with imbal- MAGGIE M ACNAB is an interna- person- ance in mind and tional award-winning graphic Fig. 4. This six-meter-long python, discovered in Africa in 2006, fundamentally designer, author and educator ally is embellished with more than 300 manmade “scales” and is contradict the with a career spanning several relevant approximately 70,000 years old. Humans have been using their decades. She teaches at Santa natural world ways.” brains symbolically since “time out of mind.” Image: Sheila Fe University of Art and Design, Dawn Coulson. around us. At this the Institute of American Indian juncture, is it truly Arts, the University of New Mex- in both universal and per- our choice to be further sepa- ico, and Santa Fe Community sonally relevant ways. rated from our source…or are College. Macnab’s work has received top honors and has been accepting and honoring human differences and acknowl- recognized by leading design THE MANIPULATED AND publications. Her two books, edging our intrinsic common- THE MANIPULATOR Decoding Design (2008) and alities more relevant? Design by Nature (2011), have Human design mimics life by been translated into several Despite the rather incredible visually expressing some of languages. Macnab is also a the most basic principles that technological advances made lecturer in the popular TEDx make up the entirety of living by humanity in the current era, program (“Ideas worth spread- organic nature. There is one we still lag behind our ancestors ing”) and is committed to design and creative problem solving basic principle that under- in understanding an important based on nature. scores all of the different sym- lesson displayed by the simple

metries and structures that form of good design. We are design can take on, and that nature and cannot put ourselves Website is balance . In any beautiful above our source, nor can we http://macnabdesign.com/

Losing two of our best—Dave McIntyre, Sam VanLandingham

Since the last issue of Steen-McIntyre; and sec- words from those who knew Pleistocene Coalition ondly, Co-founder, Dave and Sam News was published geologist, Sam L. along with some we had two great VanLandingham, fascinating bio losses in the Coalition. who passed away history on these in January. The two open-minded This was first, Dave McIn- two passed away scientists who tyre, who passed away in within two months played such im- December—retired geolo- of each other. portant roles not gist, USGS (U.S. Geologi- only in the Coali- cal Survey), critical be- Next month, in tion but in the hind-the-scenes technical Issue #22 of the geological sciences Sam VanLanding- consultant and husband newsletter, we will Dave McIntyre and in general. ham in the field of Co-founder Virginia have a few tribute Virginia Steen-McIntyre

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Calico Watch

By Virginia Steen-McIntyre Ph.D, Tephrochronologist (Volcanic ash specialist)

In the July-August 2012 the removal/destruction grant monies, and we won’t issue of PCN newsletter goes on. get it as long as we are the (Issue 18, p. 7) we ‘Early Man Site.’ published a copy of a In the Fall 2012 issue of letter of concern from Calico Core, the newsletter 2. The present name is Sam VanLandingham for members of the Friends sexist. … to the president of of Calico, Inc. Early Man Archaeological Site, the 3. We want to be taken the Friends of Calico, seriously. … It is time we sent June 26 certi- lead article, “All the Sorted/ing Details of Cal- had a name that reflects fied/return receipt. It our commitment to the discusses the removal ico’s lab work” reports on sorting artifacts by units at Archaeological site and the and/or destruction of scientific community. … catalogued material the museum. Their good from the Calico site news: “Finally, we are fin- 4. So, I suggest we get the housed in the San ished going through the BLM to change the name to Bernardino County boxes that contained the the Calico Archaeological Museum in San Ber- specimens from the Calico District (that includes 900+ nardino, California. Early Man Site and have at acres, the 12 other sites, Sam never received a last identified the geofacts and Calico) and the Calico “As to the reply. and artifacts from the Archaeological Site. I don't site” (emphasis mine). know how much work this deeper, Sam, who unfortunately Recent field work has con- will take, but if we do, we older ma- passed away only a few will be in a position to be weeks ago, was a well- centrated in the near- terial? I surface, young Rock Wren taken seriously in the aca- wonder if known geologist and dia- demic world.” tomist with over a hundred Pit and Henry Pit sites. there are publications in peer- As to the deeper, older ‘nough said! plans for reviewed journals including material? I wonder if there ever doing the journal Nature and was are plans for ever doing any more also one of the founding any more work there. The members of the Pleistocene Project Director's Report work Coalition. VIRGINIA S TEEN -MCINTYRE , PhD, (page 3) is chilling: is a tephrochronologist there. The (volcanic ash specialist) in- Sam’s letter was in re- “I would like everyone to Project Di- volved in preserving and pub- sponse to former Director consider changing the offi- rector's lishing the Palaeolithic evidence of the site Fred E. Budinger cial name for our organiza- from Valsequillo since the late Report Jr’s two-part article, Saving tion and for the site. At this 1960s. Her story first came to (page 3) is Calico ( PC News, Issue #17 time, we are officially ‘The public attention in Michael chilling.” (May-June 2012 ) which Friends of the Calico Early Cremo’s and Richard Thomp- was a plea for preservation Man Site, Inc.’ son’s book, Forbidden Archeol- of the physical evidence ogy (1993), and in the Bill Cote and data from Calico Early “I would like to suggest we television special, Mysterious become ‘The Friends of the Origins of Man, hosted by Char- Man Site acquired during leton Heston (1996). excavations and surface Calico Archaeolgical Site, study over the past 50 Inc.’ There are several rea- years or so. Fred’s article sons for this name change. was a plea to fight against 1. First, the ‘Early Man Site’ the systematic destruction has too much controversy of evidence by the site’s attached to that name. If current director. we want to obtain grants to It appears that Sam’s letter improve the site, no one is has been ignored, and that going to look twice at our proposal. … We need the

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Reviving the Calico of Louis Leakey, part 1

A review of PCN Calico articles plus a new transcription and re-mastering of available audio from Louis S.B. Leakey’s 1970 Calico talk

By John Feliks

If I were to be asked, “what However, in the case of stone too many complex languages is more important, discov- tools, their study additionally in the Western Hemisphere to ery of a few apelike involves the step-by-step have developed in the mere creatures in Africa real-time processes by which 12,000-15,000 years humans purportedly aligning they were made using undis- are taught to have been there) with a popular scien- puted physical evidence to is the most innovative part tific axiom ( axiom : an “prove” these processes, so of his work while his pre- idea not demanding it involves a level of science programmed belief in African evidence in order to beyond the speculations of origins, and his finding there be accepted as true) paleontologists and biologists. exactly what he was pro- or the discovery of grammed to look for, will ‘cultural’ evidence This conflict between submit- eventually be seen as a true of early man in the ting to a popular theory that embarrassment not only to Americas,” I would one was trained to believe while anthropology but to all science. unhesitatingly go at the same time being open to As public knowledge that with the cultural adjusting evidence. ones opin- ions based Fig. 1. The late Dr. Louis This is because cultural on new Leakey, Project Director at Calico evidence, since it repre- evidence is Early Man Site from 1963 until sents the products of the legacy his death in 1972. Leakey’s ex- human creativity, has of Louis pertise as the single most recog- the potential of being Leakey nizable name in early human recognized for exactly (Fig. 1 ). archaeology and paleontology is what it is. ‘Apelike,’ or being undermined by destruction In our of the evidence from Calico. even ‘humanlike’ fossils on the other hand, modern without absolute direct associa- science Fig. 3. Two views of Calico Master Pit 1 started by Dr. Louis tion with cultural evidence (e.g., mentality Leakey outside Barstow California in 1963 with funding from the tools, engravings) can Leakey’s National Geographic Society. The pits and their controversial evidence are now being blocked from archaeologists while pub- be interpreted as just work in Africa pro- lished and catalogued artifacts are being systematically destroyed. about anything—as the Left photo : T. Oberlander; Right photo : D. Griffin; calicodig.org . history of palaeoan- moting the popular thogpology has re- opposing evidence is routinely peatedly shown (see paradigm that man evolved there and then slowly spread blocked from them increases, PCN #3, January- the weaknesses of everything February, 2010 , Ardi: through Europe and Asia is regarded as important while his Darwin proposed (including How to Create a Sci- cognitive evolution) will start ence Myth). work at Calico Early Man Site— a site in the Americas with becoming more visible. Calico Unlike in normal sci- signs of human culture dating showed that Leakey was an Fig. 2. Beaked graver from Calico ence where objectivity to c. 50,000-200,000 years old objective scientist. The fact is, Master Pit 1 . Like similar treatment is paramount, in the (Figs. 2-4)—is derided by pro- like the similar story of Virginia of evidence from 250,000-year old modern study of bio- moters of the standard para- Steen-McIntyre, Leakey’s Hueyatlaco, Mexico, and 400,000- logical fossil remains digm as an embarrassment involvement in Calico created yr old Bilzingsleben, Germany, problems for the evolution there are obviously other motives everything in the (see Chris Hardaker’s, The besides the scientific quest for truth realm of interpretation Abomination of Calico, part 1, community; that is the real behind blocking Calico’s evidence. depends upon the PCN #6, July-August 2010 ). cause for the ridicule he faced. Photo: D. Griffin, calicodig.org . predispositions of sci- In this article and its accom- entists and what they I suggest that the exact opposite is true, that Leakey’s work panying audio recording of are ‘looking for.’ This is as true Leakey’s 1970 talk about the of plant and animal fossils as at Calico (partly inspired by his observation that there were far it is of human fossils. > Cont. on page 6

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Reviving the Calico of Louis Leakey (cont.)

problems of Calico the reader International Conference on the difficult to hear sections. Apart will be able to hear about the Calico Mountains Excavation, at from deleting a few repeated matter straight from the horse’s San Bernardino Valley College, words this transcript is verbatim mouth. This is likely something including “Pleistocene Man in and contains much information most readers have never America” and “The Problems not in the original publication. thought to do being satisfied to of Calico.” The conference was From the re-mastered audio simply trust what the debunkers sponsored by the San Bernar- one can hear Leakey’s passion “I have say. My recommendation, after dino County Museum, University and enthusiasm for Calico. 20 years experiencing miscon- of Pennsylvania Museum, and from the duct in anthropology, is that if the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation. The new transcript reproduced very begin- the debunkers are known evolu- below begins at Leakey’s first ning taken tion fanatics then immediately With Calico now being threat- complete sentence in the ened in a manner inappropri- original as, unfortunately, the into very stand back, take note, and then listen to whatever they have ate to archaeology combined first few paragraphs were not close con- to say with a grain of salt. with the passing of two of the recorded. Dr. Leakey is talking sideration Coalition’s primary members, on the topic of distinguishing this ques- First, here is a list of enlight- Virginia’s husband, David McIn- between human-made flakes ening articles related to Calico tyre, and Sam VanLandingham, of stone, i.e. artifacts, and tion of published in Pleistocene Coali- as well as many difficulties for similar-looking objects created whether or tion News the past three years: the main pillar of the Coalition, by nature. The rest of the tran- Virginia, I thought it a good script will appear in Issue #22 not these Articles by co-founder Chris Har- time to put in a little extra work of PCN . The re-mastered audio could have daker as noted above; copy editor and offer this ‘unedited’ tran- will be available on the Coali- been the Tom Baldwin who worked at Calico since Louis Leakey was its Director script of Dr. Leakey’s 2nd talk, tion homepage shortly after work of na- (Lake Manix, PCN #3, Jan-Feb. 2010 ; “The Problems of Calico.” It this issue goes to press. All ture. Any Reassessing American archaeology, is, in fact, the only verbatim emphasis in italics represent PCN #12, July-Aug. 2011 ; Breaking one single transcript of the talk. It shows emphasis by Leakey. Words the Clovis barrier, PCN #16, March- Leakey’s confidence in Calico as in [brackets] are uncertain. April 2012 ); archaeologist Fred E. one just influenced by his 47 years of Louis Leakey speaking: Budinger Jr., former Director of Calico possibly experience making stone tools Early Man Site in the years after direc- “You get situations on beaches. tors Leakey and Ruth D. Simpson and doing experimental flaking, could. But I’ve seen it at Weymouth; and when they (Protecting Calico, parts 1 & 2, PCN his research and discoveries in #17, May-June 2012 ); co-founder and Africa and Europe, as well as his then I did study there of what are in con- tephrochronologist Dr. Virginia Steen- studies of other controversial waves do in a storm when on the centration McIntyre (The collapse of standard sites. He explains the differ- pebble beaches of Weymouth. paradigm New World prehistory, ences between human-made And then Desmond Clarke who … and PCN #14, Nov-Dec. 2011 ; To clean artifacts and what the main- says in a similar study (I think when we or not to clean, PCN #16, March-April of Eastborne or somewhere 2012 ); Early man in northern Yukon, stream tries to brush off as else and under storm conditions put down PCN #20, Nov-Dec. 2012 ; co-founder ‘geofacts.’ The latter is some- pits into and geologist, the late Dr. Sam L. thing that the public buys on a pebble beach) stones are hurled at each other and a cer- the fan VanLandingham (VanLandingham without looking into the evi- responds to Calico destruction, PCN dence. Fig. 4 will give the tain number hit each other in elsewhere #18, July-Aug. 2012 ); co-founder Dr. reader an opportunity to make such a way a flake comes off. James B. Harrod (Out of-Africa revis- without up their own minds as to But the number is infinitesimal ited, PCN #3, Jan-Feb. 2010 ); PhD and scattered over a length of getting candidate, Paulette Steeves (Deep whether or not artifacts from beach, not a concentration in time ancestors in the Western Hemi- Calico—in cases identical to that con- a small area with nothing else- centration sphere, PCN #7, Sept-Oct. 2010 ; artifacts from Europe—are Decolonizing Pleistocene archaeological man-made or nature-made. where. There’s a uniform scatter. … then it is research in the Americas, PCN #16, I worked (first I visited with much more March-April 2012 ), Dr. James L. Bisch- The original recording from 1970 off, geochemist USGS (Upholding the from which the transcript was Hazeldine Warren and worked convincing 200,000-year old dates for Calico, PCN made was provided by Fred E. subsequently myself) at the #13, Sept-Oct. 2011 ), and copy editor still.” Budinger Jr., former Director of famous Bullhead Beds, Grays, in David Campbell (Solutrean solutions, Calico Early Man Site. Painstak- England [Ed. Note: Eocene age] -Louis Leakey, PCN #19, Nov-Dec. 2012 ). ing work over headphones was where you have movement of anthropologist Louis Leakey along with Ruth D. necessary after noise reduction, earth over the top of a partly Simpson began the Calico exca- rumble, hum, and hiss removal, dissolved chalk where lumps of vation in 1963 with a grant from and EQ to bring some clarity to flint are sticking out of the the National Geographic Society. the voice in order to transcribe surface of the chalk and then On October 24, 1970, Dr. Leakey the recording word for word movements of sand with stones presented several talks at the along with research to confirm > Cont. on page 7

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Reviving the Calico of Louis Leakey (cont.)

and things moving across and And I think you can say that out exception—and I can only pushing off flakes that we de- there’s another thing about the think of two exceptions in my scribed many times. That situa- site which will be elaborated I mind—they are not flakes struck “Nature is tion is not to be found at Calico. hope by Tom Clements, pres- off of a bad piece of chert; they never selec- ently. The fan deposits which are flakes struck off a selected I’ve seen what can be done in you have seen are not a great piece of chert or a piece of jasper. tive. ...And outwash glacial gravels. And I one of the mass of stones moving down would just simply say that I want together but stones mixed up There are [inaudible 3 syllables] most striking you to realize that in claiming with sands and gravels. and again, there are other materials besides cherts and jasper available in that fan; and we do not have those flakes until the few in limestone. This selectivity is something nature never does. Nature is pushing off flakes at random. Man pushes off flakes, knocks off flakes, for a specific purpose. [Fig. 4 is a blade from Calico dismissed as Fig. 4. Comparing a flaked stone blade from Calico, c. 50,000-200,000 BP, with a virtually identical artifact from ‘nature-made’ by the Gravettian site of Brassempouy, France, c. 29,000-22,000 years BP. Left: Artifact #16605 from archaeologist Chris Hardaker’s Calico Lithics Photographic Project, Part 4a, Introduction to Blades (see “The Abomination mainstream scientists of Calico, part one,” PCN #6, July-August 2010). Hardaker’s plate shows several views of the artifact including compared with an the blade’s central channel and bulb complex. The upper three photographs are of the artifact held upright in identical piece called a sand. Right: a flint blade from the famous site of Brassempouy in France; Wikimedia Commons. The similarity ‘human artifact’ by the between these two blades is undeniable. Leakey was confident that the specimens from Calico were artifacts like same scientists. It is any others despite attempts by mainstream scientists to denounce them as ‘geofacts’ while readily accepting provided so the reader identical objects as ‘artifacts’ if they were found in Europe. Leakey classified the artifacts at Calico by the same can see the type of standard divisions used in Europe, Africa, and Asia. Tools classified as blades are at least twice as long as they are wide, with straight, parallel sides; they are very often delicate. Blades were some of the most characteristic evidence Leakey is tools of the late Paleolithic in Europe and Africa and are believed to have been used by Homo sapiens 35,000- describing and what 10,000 years ago. Blades were also used as starting points to create tiny flakes known as microliths which were mainstream keeps inserted as components into large and complex composite tools made of wood and bone for special purposes from the public eye. (microliths are also ‘inconveniently’ known from the Lower Paleolithic site of Bilzingsleben whose Homo erectus Hopefully this com- inhabitants are regarded ape-men by mainstream science). The mainstream problem obviously has nothing to parison will be an easy do with science. It exists only because accepting Calico as a 200,000-year old site creates problems for the one for anyone won- belief that humans didn’t make it to the New World until a mere 15,000 years ago. dering whether or not the objects from things, even that the artifacts which we have And finally on this point—not Calico are evidence of early with the cor- found and which we are going to the other points covered—on humans in the Americas.] show a proportion to you (not too this point, finally, I would say tex flakes at many show you all but a relative that nature is never selective. So, again I ask you to take that Calico, is that good sample) this afternoon, I [We have] beds of a French into account very closely as you they are flakes have from the very beginning site—Belaise—or the [charred listen to Dee presently and then struck off a taken into very close considera- place] where you’ve got natural to listen to Tom again this after- tion this question of whether or flaking and many other sub-sites, noon when you see the material.” selected piece not these could have been the nature pushes off flakes of good ...To be continued. of chert or a work of nature. Any one single material and bad material. A piece of jas- one just possibly could. But when piece of chert that’s heavily rid- JOHN FELIKS has specialized in the study of they are in concentration—it’s a dled with holes is pushed off so early human cognition for nearly twenty per.” years using an approach based on ge- limited area—and when we put the flake that comes off it is rid- ometry and techniques of drafting. He has -Louis Leakey, down pits into the fan elsewhere dled with holes and irregularities. much experience with publication block- anthropologist without getting that concentra- ades of empirical evidence challenging the tion—sometimes getting none at And one of the most striking mainstream view of early humans. Feliks all or getting a singleton—then things, even with the cortex flakes taught computer music including MIDI, at Calico, is that almost with- digital audio editing, and music notation it is much more convincing still. in a college music lab for 11 years.

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Calico Early Man Site Layers and reminiscences, a 4-decade personal history

By Tom Baldwin

My history with the Calico I have to I became a Early Man Site (Fig. 1) admit that “Dirt Digger” goes way back to its be- there was as they ginnings. I think that of a big gap called us people who still consider between amateur themselves Friends of Calico, that initial archaeolo- “I do not only Chris Christensen (Site visit and gists that have many Manager) has a longer his- my later worked at memories tory with the site than my involve- Fig. 1. Calico Early Man Site outside the site in own. I first visited it in 1965 ment. Af- Barstow, California. Photo: Tom Baldwin. the mid 80s. of that first when I was part of an Ar- ter high The diggers visit except chaeological Explorer Post. I school I went to college in come out the first weekend that the was a senior in high school South Carolina and taught of each month (except dur- site was that year. The Explorer Post school in Arkansas and ing the five hottest months was part of the Boy Scouts Maryland. It would have of summer when the Mojave buzzed that but we had girl members – been the mid 70’s before I is just too sweltering for any day by a something that in today’s was back at Calico. My first work). We dug in Master Pit low flying uptight scouts I suspect wife and I stopped in on a 3 which is only about six feet aircraft would be considered pure trip across the desert. We deep (unlike Master Pits 1 heresy. At any rate the Post saw the sign, and it trig- and 2 which are in excess of taking pic- served as a junior auxiliary gered memories in me, so twenty five feet deep). The tures for for the Pacific Coast Ar- we pulled in and took the ground is hard, and can’t be the Na- chaeological Soci- worked with a tional Geo- ety. Our Post went trowel. You have out to the Early to use a mallet graphic Man Site on a field and an awl to chip Magazine.” trip when the site and break it up. was just 2 years For that reason old and still under the digging is slow the direction of the and a few inches a 20th Century’s month is all you can preeminent ar- expect to work your chaeologist, Louis way down through. Leakey. I do not Fig. 2 is my grand- have many memo- daughter in MP3 ries of that first learning to be an visit except that archaeologist. the site was buzzed that day For the next by a low flying twenty years I was aircraft taking Fig. 2. The author’s granddaughter, Chelsea Amberson, learning a regular at the pictures for the the techniques involved in archaeology at Calico Master Pit 3. Early Man Site. National Geo- The experience graphic magazine. I also tour. We were invited to taught me a lot about ar- remember that the wind come and be a part of what chaeology and how to tell blew down all our tents that was going on, but life was when you are looking at an night. My final memory is too busy then and the years artifact and when you aren’t. wandering the hills around went by again. Then there When I first started I remem- the site and being as- was another trip across the ber taking many a rock that I tounded at the shear num- desert, another stop, an- was proud of digging up to bers of artifacts that could other invite and this time it Fred the Pit Master (not to be be found scattered all over was accepted. confused with Fred Budinger, the surface there. > Cont. on page 9

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Calico, a 4-decade personal history (cont.)

the Site Director). Fred would the surface during the survey. quarter million years does look at my find, turn it over not mean the rock next to it Over the twenty years or so “If Fred in his hand, and then likely does too. You can see how that I was a regular worker really liked as not, toss it out of the pit this would throw a monkey at Calico I became pretty and down the hillside and wrench into things. Archae- what we had good at what I did. I then after good-naturedly ologists normally date arti- learned, I taught, I absorbed found … we complaining about me wast- facts by their context. If they and I think I became knowl- would then ing his time, send me back to are found in rock that is edgeable enough to consider measure the my digging. We didn’t just dated to half a million years, myself an accomplished collect anything. it is assumed the artifacts amateur archaeologist. I Fred wouldn’t let are of the same age. How- even wrote a novel called us. It had to be ever this theory of a jum- The Evening and the Morning obviously man- bling of the rocks from the that is a fictionalized account made if we were Early Man Site makes that of the peopling and discov- to keep it. If Fred way of dating unreliable. really liked what ery of Calico Early Man Site. we had found, It is kind of a Clan of the I, however, don’t buy this which would be Cave Bear meets Native avalanche theory. I spent too about three or American Archaeologist. many years digging in those four times a Here is a Link to the novel at pits to think of the sediments weekend, we Amazon Kindle . But, as all I worked as being homoge- would then meas- things change, so too did my nous. They aren’t. They are Fig. 3. A typical example of tools I found ure the location life, a deteriorating disk in layered, and land slides don’t in our intensive survey of the Calico re- my back made it hard to lay down sediments in layers. gion about a half mile in every direction. where the artifact was found at in squat in the Master Pit for To verify my memories I three dimensions (distance hours digging. Then we went hunting through some location from the NW corner of the moved to Utah. Now the site of my old pictures taken at where the grid square we were working, was a six hour drive away. the site over the years. I artifact was distance from the NE corner, My attendance dropped off. found this one, Fig 4. You can clearly see layers of hand and then its Things changed at the Calico sized cobbles, sandy layers, depth, so an ac- Early Man Site too, and not and layers of larger stones. curate record for the better. The first three From my point of view, that could be made of Site Directors, Louis Leakey, of someone who spent dec- where everything Ruth Simpson, and Fred ades digging at Calico, I think had been found) Budinger all believed the age it is safe to call the avalanche then it was of the Calico Early Man Site theory so much balderdash, bagged and sent to be ancient, dating it to although in this case it might to the San Ber- the Pleistocene or about a be more correct to call it nardino County quarter million years old, “boulderdash.” Museum to be and they had test results to added to the Cal- prove their contention. Now, ico collection. Fig. 4. The sediments at Calico are not however, there is a new site TOM B ALDWIN is an award- ‘homogenous’ as claimed by debunkers; We also conducted director that isn’t a believer. winning author, educator, and amateur archaeologist living in they are layered. Photo: Tom Baldwin. a very intensive She, Dee Shroth, when questioned about the tests Utah. He has also worked as a survey of the sur- successful newspaper columnist. found at in face around the site, checking that show the site to be ancient, refused to commit Baldwin has been actively in- every square foot for about a volved with the Friends of Calico three dimen- herself. Link to Fred Bud- sions … then half mile in every direction. (maintaining the controver- That work took some years to inger’s interview with Shroth sial Early Man Site in Barstow, it was accomplish. We would wander from a previous PCN issue . If California) since the early days when famed anthropologist Louis bagged and the hills around the site and I understand her correctly, she believes we have been Leakey was the site's excavation sent to the when we found an artifact on Director (Calico is the only site the surface we would use a digging all these years in a San Bernar- pile of rubble that was laid in the Western Hemisphere GPS to record its location, we which was excavated by dino County would then log it in with a down by a massive land- Leakey). Baldwin's recent book, Museum to description of what it was slide that took place some The Evening and the Morning , (core, flake, tool, etc.), its 30 to 50 thousand years is an entertaining fictional be added to story based on the true story of dimensions, and if it was ago. Older and newer rocks the Calico will have been combined into Calico. Along with Virginia Steen- really nice we took its picture McIntyre and David Campbell, collection.” too. Fig. 3 shows an typical a homogenized mix. Thus she can state that just be- Baldwin is one of the core editors example of a tool I found on of Pleistocene Coalition News . cause this rock dates to a

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Forbidden art and politicized archaeology

By Vesna Tenodi MA, archaeology; artist and writer

Intellectual and scien- quently and logically out- pathies to color their in- tific freedom versus po- lined all the disastrous con- terpretations. I believe litical correctness sequences that politicians that it is from a mixture “Fabrication of that time could not have of Aboriginal politics, and In the “Wanjina Rock Art” and falsifi- imagined. Throughout the the commitment of some and “Mungo Man” articles 1980’s he kept pleading involved in the investiga- cation of (PCN #17, May- with the then Prime Minis- tion or administration of Australian June 2012 ; PCN ter Bob Hawke and the La- the prehistoric past in history #18, July- bour Government in power Australia that a danger- August 2012 ) it and pre- to show some sense and ous doctrine has is clear that prevent the consequences emerged that the Abo- history science and poli- that this great visionary so riginal people of Australia started in tics have be- accurately foresaw. have the ‘world's oldest the early come insepara- continuous culture.’ I do ble in Australia. Dr Mulvaney kept warning not think that the evi- 1980’s, Hawke: “Australia will be- I am passion- dence can support such a with the come a laughing stock of view, quite apart from ately involved in the scientific world! We’ll Australian art and archae- the implied insult to the Archaeo- be the only nation to bury Chinese…” ology, and artis- its past!” logical tic and intellec- He concluded: Association tual freedom are very im- Apart from the ANU team portant to me. of archaeologists, few other “My point is simply this: (AAA) push brave researchers raised whilst we must believe for the un- Also, I use Australian pre- their voices in consterna- that modern Aborigines conditional Aboriginal art, referenced tion at the AAA push for all descended from pre- to today’s politics, to tell a return of all repatriation. Dr Iain David- historic Aborigines, in the universal story of harass- son (University of New same way as some would archaeologi- ment and ridicule. Artists England, Armidale, New argue that Europeans cal material and researchers have suf- South Wales) wrote to the have genes from Nean- to the pre- fered such treatment in Minister for Science Barry derthals, we do not totalitarian regimes sent-day Jones, arguing that the therefore need to regard through the ages all over prehistoric remains should all prehistoric material as Aboriginal the world. But I had never be preserved, rather than the property of those tribes.” imagined it would become returned and destroyed. He descendants. There is a our reality in democratic, wrote: very real sense in which liberal Australian society. it is the property of all “Prehistorians are com- humans, just as the ar- Fabrication and falsification mitted to the study of the of Australian history and chaeology of the Nean- prehistoric past through derthals is.” prehistory started in the archaeological research, early 1980’s, with the Aus- and, without political Another passionate advo- tralian Archaeological Asso- commitment to the cause cate for free scientific en- ciation (AAA) push for the of any cultural group. It quiry, paleoanthropologist unconditional return of all is, of course, a savage Peter Brown, in his submis- archaeological material to irony that many prehis- sion to Barry Jones urged the present-day Aboriginal torians have, neverthe- the Government to inter- tribes. One of the most less, been committed vene and stop the politi- vocal opponents was Dr more or less explicitly to cally-driven repatriation of John Mulvaney, often called Aboriginal political important scientific mate- “the father of Australian causes, and some have archaeology.” He elo- even allowed their sym- > Cont. on page 11

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Forbidden art and politicized archaeology (cont.)

rial, explaining that: opposition to that practice and immoral, as it favors was threatened with legal the feelings of one group at “Sacrifice of this material action for “breach of the the cost of the broader so- in the search for short Australian Archaeological ciety. term power or political Association’s Code of Ethics expediency is criminal for Australian Archaeolo- Who can benefit from such and should be considered gists” introduced in 1991. an iron-fisted approach to an offense against all scientists and artists? In mankind. I ask for your The critics of the ANU sci- the long run, nobody can. intervention on behalf of entists call their findings Least of all Aboriginal peo- “The ar- these fossil skeletal ma- “provocative” and offensive ple. The disastrous conse- chaeological terials. Ensure their pres- to Aborigines. But the team quences can now be clearly ervation so that future members refused to adjust seen, just as John Mul- material generations may have their opinion to suit any vaney predicted. that proves some idea of the proc- politically-driven agenda. politically esses which have shaped The late Alan Thorne, for undesirable modern human popula- standing by his findings, Hidden evidence and tions. Ensure that these was in 2001 accused of suppression of data and unac- materials are equally upsetting conventions, ceptable accessible to all people, bruising egos and threaten- I am very concerned with ‘dissident’ irrespective of their ra- ing reputations. He refused this bizarre situation, for theories of cial background… The to give ground, even several reasons. My first end product of the though he understood the concern is that the human pre- amendment to the Victo- fear and the threat that his rights of artists and free- Aboriginal rian legislation is that a team’s findings posed to thinking intellectuals are populations unique collection of hu- Australian political circles being breached. My second was literally man fossils will be de- and scientific community in concern is that the Aborigi- stroyed and that in order their efforts to rewrite the nes, who are ostensibly to buried or to study aspects of Abo- past. be “protected” by the cur- destroyed.” riginal history and culture rent agenda, will suffer in Victoria you have to be Today, the important ar- most from the loss of sci- of Aboriginal descent. chaeological material is no entific knowledge of the This sort of racist legisla- longer available and au- deep past. tion is abhorrent to the thentication tests cannot be In the Dreamtime Set in world academic commu- performed. The results Stone book, Aboriginal nity.” achieved by the ANU team are being “revised,” and elder Goomblar Wylo men- bones re-dated with an tioned the practice we were arbitrary age reached by all aware of. A great num- Fabrication of Australian “consensus” among several ber of Aboriginal sites of prehistory Australian groups, in order significance, such as mid- But the members of the to make the findings com- dens, were destroyed in a AAA maintained that the patible with political goals. few days just before the Aboriginal Heritage Protec- “ethical considerations” and In my opinion, the aggres- the feelings of Aborigines tion Act came into force in sive enforcement of oppor- 1972. Farmers were wor- far outweigh actual and tunistic policies has indeed potential losses of scientific ried that their lives and marked the end of intellec- livelihood would be endan- values. The archaeological tual freedom in Australia. material that proves politi- gered, as they had become To add insult to injury, the entangled in endless and cally undesirable and unac- same principles are being ceptable ‘dissident’ theories costly “negotiations” with applied to artists, with irra- the Aboriginal tribes. Land of pre-Aboriginal popula- tional demands for them to tions was literally buried or owners were concerned “seek permission” to use that they would lose the destroyed. The important any motif inspired by pre- data were suppressed and right of having any say historic Australian cave art. about what is to happen on replaced with fabricated This practice is both illegal theories. Any person in > Cont. on page 12

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Forbidden art and politicized archaeology (cont.)

their own land, and even What the anecdotal evi- download from October 20, have their land confiscated, dence shows today is that 2012, at Wanjina Dream- if any Aboriginal tribe people, especially individ- Raiser WorldWide Club: started to make claims that ual small farmers, bulldoze http://www.facebook.com/pages/ it was their “sacred site.” anything that might attract Wanjina-DreamRaisers- an Aboriginal claim which WorldWide- Those concerns proved to could result in a piece of Club/136140966405904 be valid and justified, as their property being de-

“My great- over the last couple of dec- clared a “sacred place.” ades we saw a great num- est concern ber of farmers and devel- My concern is that a lot of is that very opers entangled in pro- important material, includ- VESNA T ENODI is an archaeolo- little of tracted court cases. One of ing cave art, is being delib- gist, artist, and writer based in the most grotesque cases erately hidden or de- Sydney, Australia. She received what has her Master’s Degree in Archae- was the Hindmarsh Island stroyed, to avoid the heart- been writ- ology from the University of case in 1991, which ache that politicians and Zagreb, Croatia. She also has a ten over dragged on for 10 years bureaucrats can cause, diploma in Fine Arts from the the last and cost the developer 30 with their ill-advised poli- School of Applied Arts in Za- few dec- million dollars. It started cies and totalitarian tactics. greb. Her Degree Thesis was focused on the spirituality of ades can with the proposal to build a marina and a bridge over My greatest concern is that Neolithic man in Central Europe as evidenced in iconography be trusted. the marsh. A few anony- very little of what has been and symbols in prehistoric cave Most of the mous Aboriginal claimants written over the last few decades can be trusted. art and pottery. After migrating objected, saying that the to Sydney, she worked for 25 research Most of the research mate- material marsh has the shape of a years for the Australian Gov- vagina, is therefore rial and expert reports ernment, and ran her own busi- and expert “sacred,” and that the Abo- were written on demand, ness. Today she is an inde- reports riginal universe would col- under lawyers’ supervision, pendent researcher and spiri- in order to support the cur- tual archaeologist, concentrat- were writ- lapse if the bridge was built ing on the origins and meaning over the “sacred vagina.” rent politically-driven ten on de- agenda. Today, any consci- of pre-Aboriginal Australian rock art. In 2009, Tenodi es- Ten years later, the court entious researcher, and mand, un- tablished the DreamRaiser der law- decided it was all a fabrica- any person with common project, with a group of artists tion, and the developer was sense, must turn to older who explore iconography and yers’ su- given the go-ahead to build literature, from the time ideas contained in ancient art pervision.” the bridge. Books were when it was uncontami- and mythology. written about that bizarre nated by political correct- case, but none of the par- ness and its enforcement. ties involved seems to have We should cross-check any Website: www.modrogorje.com learnt from it, as similar theory that we are being claims are still being made forced to adopt today, with today. the theory as formulated Email: [email protected] by the original scientists. People have become aware what awaits them if they

stumble across anything of Note: This article is a tribute to archaeological importance late Australian prehistorian on their land. Their lives Rhys Jones, in appreciation for will be in turmoil, develop- his sharing his thoughts with ment projects delayed for me in our conversations during years, until the endless the mid 1980’s. consultations have taking

place, with a number of advisory committees and Forbidden Art, Politicised enquiry groups holding Archaeology and Orwellian their meetings, causing Politics collection of articles increasing frustration. is available as a free

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BOOK REVIEW

My Science, My Religion: Academic Papers (1994-2009) by Michael A. Cremo

Reviewed by Richard Dullum specialty editor, Pleistocene Coalition News

To the reading public, Mi- humanly- this evidence chael Cremo’s My Science, worked flint grows, it will My Religion , a collection of hand-axe at tip the bal- his papers presented in con- the base of ance of the ferences of scientists world- a 19th Cen- existing para- wide, offers what many of us tury dig that digm toward who read Forbidden Archeol- had, amaz- the edge of a ogy and Human Devolution ingly, re- cliff of its wanted when we had finished mained own making. those books. More. And more untouched Michael is what we get. More detail. since that Cremo has Author Michael Cremo More background. More time. started push- thoughts. More Hindu cosmo- ing and oth- Many read- “In total, the logical concepts, starting with ers are join- Cremo’s paper, “Puranic Time ers will find ing in. Given collection is an and the Archaeological Re- the 24 pa- a worldwide expansion and cord,” presented at the 3rd pers by audience an exposition World Archaeological Con- Cremo col- including lected in of human ori- gress, New Delhi, December many scien- 1994. this new tists, one gins from the volume to be not only a valu- wonders and waits to see Vedic perspec- Michael Cremo digs deeper able compendium of thought who will push next. into cases from Forbidden on the history of science but tive, with all Archeology on the road, to also on how the philosophical the available Boncelles, Belgium, to un- and religious enter into scien- MICHAEL A. C REMO is a long-time researcher on the topic of human earth and photograph Rutot’s tific discourse and are never (thanks to antiquity and an independent Cremo) ar- specimens from the Oligo- far away. They will see how a historian of archeology. He is chaeological cene. Then we visit Otta, linear view of time, a materi- best known for his comprehen- Portugal to Ribeiro’s collec- alistic philosophical outlook, a sive volume, Forbidden Archeol- evidence tion of Miocene implements rejection of the spiritual and ogy , which he co-authored along taken into ac- and then on to Berkeley, a dogmatic adherence to with the late Dr. Richard Thomp- California, to view the arti- evolutionary concepts really son, as well as for the controver- count to draw sial television special, The Myste- facts found by Whitney. We limits scientific thinking on more valid rious Origins of Man , hosted by learn that these 19th Century human origins and forces the Charlton Heston. Cremo was the conclusions scientists were real scholars, facts into a pre-made mold first to bring Virginia Steen- about the true made real discoveries under like Cinderella’s stepsister McIntyre’s story to public atten- reality of the rigorous conditions, and that trying on the glass slipper. tion and has written many articles they found evidence that for Pleistocene Coalition News .

human story.” went against the nascent In total, the collection is an expansion and an exposition Darwinian view then taking RICHARD D ULLUM is a surgical R.N. shape. of human origins from the working in a large O.R. for the Vedic perspective, with all past 30 years as well as a re- Inspired by Forbidden Arche- the available (thanks to searcher in early human culture. ology , a colleague and I have Cremo) archaeological evi- He is also a Vietnam vet with a ourselves located the artifact dence taken into account to degree in biology. In addition to collection (in a museum draw more valid conclusions his collaborative work with Kevin Lynch, he is one of the specialty basement, where you would about the true reality of the editors of Pleistocene Coalition expect it to be, boxed and human story. As this is being News and has written, including bagged). We also investi- written, even more evidence those with Lynch, eight prior gated a site worked by a for the vast antiquity of hu- articles for the newsletter . 19th Century archaeologist in mans continues to come out. England. There we found a Eventually, as the weight of

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• Learn the real story of our Palaeolithic ancestors—a cosmopolitan story about intelli- gent and innovative people—a story which is unlike that promoted by mainstream science.

• Explore and regain confidence in your The own ability to think for yourself regarding human ancestry as a broader range of Pleistocene Coalition evidence becomes available to you.

• Join a community not afraid to chal- lenge the status quo. Question with confi- Prehistory is about to change dence any paradigm promoted as "scientific" that depends upon withholding conflicting evidence from the public in order to appear unchallenged.

PLEISTOCENE COALITION CONTRIBUTORS to this Pleistocene Coalition NEWS, Vol. 5: Issue 1 ISSUE News is produced by the (January-February) Maggie Macnab Pleistocene Coalition © Copyright 2013 bi-monthly Tom Baldwin since October 2009. PUBLICATION DETAILS Vesna Tenodi Back issues can be found EDITOR-IN-CHIEF/LAYOUT Richard Dullum near the bottom of the John Feliks PC home page. Virginia Steen-McIntyre

John Feliks To learn more about early COPY EDITORS/PROOFS man in the Pleistocene visit Virginia Steen-McIntyre our newly redesigned Tom Baldwin David Campbell website at

pleistocenecoalition.com SPECIALTY EDITORS

Paulette Steeves, Alan Cannell, The Pleistocene Coalition has James B. Harrod, Rick Dullum, completed its third year of chal- Matt Gatton lenging mainstream scientific dogma. If you would like to join ADVISORY BOARD the coalition please write Virginia Steen-McIntyre to the editors.

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