100,000 year old use wear from Pedra Furada, Brazil

Post by **MichelleH** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 1:58 pm

Fascinating e-mail from Chris Hardaker on the Pedra Furada Excavations-Dec. 2006 paper by Niede Guidon, Director Pedra Furada Excavation

Hi Michelle,
Wanted to post this but wasn't sure how to do it. It is remarkable evidence but Guidon has been virtually shut out from publishing in the States. Robson became involved in photographing her specimens right after he took usewear photos for Al Goodyear's early Topper Site lithics.

All the best,
Chris Hardaker
Tucson, AZ

THE FIRST AMERICAN
http://www.amazon.com/First-American-Su ... overed/dp/
1564149420
FIRST AMERICAN Article
http://www.grahamhancock.com/forum/HardakerC1.php
******************
NATIVE AMERICAN GEOMETRY
http://earthmeasure.com

______________________

From a Dec. 2006 paper delivered by Niede Guidon, director of the Pedra
Furada excavations.
Photos were taken by Robson Bonnichsen in late 2004.

Pedra Furada: a revision
Niede Guidon, Summary
"The main purpose of the article is to publish the photos made in the laboratory of the Texas & the M University, of the oldest líticas parts of the Pedra Furada, with a dating TL of 100.000 years, with the commentaries from the Prof. Robson Bonnichsen."

Figure 1
http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.co ... furada%201

Figure 2a
http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.com/pedrafurada2a

Figure 2b
http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.com/pedrafurada2b

Figure 3a
http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.com/pedrafurada3a

Figure 3b
http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.com/pedrafurada3b

And now ...! Dripping silica.

Figure 4a
http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.com/pedrafurada4a

Figure 4b
http://cayman.globat.com/~bandstexas.com/pedrafurada4b

Presented at:

II INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM

SERRA DA CAPIVARA NATIONAL PARK
PIAUÍ, BRAZIL
DECEMBER 16 TO 21 OF 2006

In 1993 the Foundation Museu do Homem Americano invited specialists of various countries to its headquarter in São Raimundo Nonato, Piauí, in order to evaluate the data known so far on the prehistoric peopling of the Americas.

Since then, fresh discoveries, analyses using new technologies and recent methods of dating created an important collection of new data. Consequently, complementary research work was realized at Serra da Capivara National Park. As an example we cite the data on the site Boqueirão da Pedra Furada which, by applying new C-14 techniques and thermoluminescence dating gives us a space of time of 100.000 years.

There are also positive results of analyses carried out by electronic microscope, at Texas A & M University on the wear marks of lithic tools, dating back between 57.000 and 100.000 years. Other examples are the Topper site on the coast of South Carolina, as well as dates and traces in Mexico. We have new discoveries and fresh data in the Americas which deserve an actual reflection.

The Foundation Museu do Homem Americano, the Federal University Vale
do São Francisco and the Department of Post-Graduation in Archaeology and the Preservation of our Patrimony of the Federal University of Pernambuco are organizing a Symposium on December 16 - 21, 2006 when interdisciplinary specialists dedicated to the problem of the peopling of the Americas will meet.

The objective of this symposium is to analyse the data available and to outline the version 2006 of the subject. The final synthesis will permit to define the items not yet fully explored in order to establish an international platform which will lead the research to a reconciliation by explaining the current problems and elaborating a coherent theory based on the actual information.

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to take part in this discussion. As soon as you confirm your interest, we will let you have the documents for your inscription and the details of your trip to Serra da Capivara National Park.
Kind regards,
Niède Guidon.

Museu do Homem Americano
http://www.fumdham.org.br/

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:24 pm

It is remarkable evidence but Guidon has been virtually shut out from publishing in the States.

The Club still has some pull, I see!

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:26 pm

Dammit. Charlie's has got to find someone to look at his stuff under a microscope!

Post by **MichelleH** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:27 pm

Minimalist wrote:
It is remarkable evidence but Guidon has been virtually shut out from publishing in the States.

The Club still has some pull, I see!

Not here......

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 2:49 pm

Minimalist wrote:Dammit. Charlie's has got to find someone to look at his stuff under a microscope!

He's had some really fascinating stuff happen recently involving that "bird" artifact. Mettalurgic analysis shows it to be cast iron that is so oxidized that it has very little magnetism left.

These pictures are courtesy of Charlie, as you can see. I can barely see the use wear marks on them , even at magnification, but they are there. That's amazing. I can only personally testify that there were humans in South Carolina 50,000 yrs. ago, 'cause I saw the evidence first hand.

This is great - Thanks Chris and Michelle!

Post by **Minimalist** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 4:01 pm

Isotopic analysis shows it to be cast iron that is so oxidized that it has very little magnetism left.

I wonder how long that takes?

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 4:36 pm

Eh! Freedom of information act? What does it cover, Stateside?

Rokcet Scientist · Post by **Rokcet Scientist** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 4:37 pm

Speaking as a photographer and photo editor, I see still a lot of unused imaging potential in the photography of those tools (and Charlie's). A pro macro photographer using very precise halogen, UV, and IR lighting can coax 100 times more clarity, contrast and detail from those tools.
'National Geographic class' images like that would be very helpful to 'the cause'.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Wed Aug 22, 2007 5:12 pm

Minimalist wrote:
Isotopic analysis shows it to be cast iron that is so oxidized that it has very little magnetism left.

I wonder how long that takes?

Just to be sure, I should say metallurgic analysis. I went and checked those posts and it looks like all the correspondence and lab results have taken Charlie over a year.

So, a long time.

AD · Post by AD » Thu Aug 23, 2007 12:59 am

Greetings...

FYI, the article in its entirety, from which the Pedra Furada artifact photos presented here were copied, is available at
http://www.fumdham.org.br/simposio/arti ... 0Niede.pdf
The text in English (without photos) is at
http://www.fumdham.org.br/simposio/arti ... 0final.pdf

Dr. Niède Guidon has pretty much dedicated her life to this project, one that presents some apparently quite real evidence of human habitation in this hemisphere long before we are supposed to believe this occurred. Several years ago all this was derailed by a "site visit" by a few "gringo" archaeologists, ill prepared for the job, who dismissed the lithics as natural, claiming, for example, that they were formed by falling from a great height and breaking into their current forms. Later, as evidenced by the photos, Dr. Robson Bonnichsen made considerable progress in demonstrating human agency in the material, but tragically passed away in December 2004. His colleagues had little interest in the matter, and sent the artifacts back to Brazil.

I would like very much to visit the Pedra Furada site, and almost did a couple years ago. In e-mail correspondence, Dr. Guidon told me that she had many artifacts that resembled those from the site I have been investigating here in Ohio, and invited me to come down for a look. Despite a lot of frequent flyer miles from my road warrior days, I was deterred by time constraints, other commitments, and the fact that getting there entails first flying to a major Brazilian city far to the south, then north to some backwater airport, then travelling a long way over bad roads in an area that is generally regarded as not very safe. I'm just crazy enough to do it anyway sometime, as I'd bet the lithic artifact material does have a lot in common with what some of us in this forum are seeing here in our own projects.

With regard to the aforementioned site visit, I might mention that Dr. James Adovasio was one of those that declared the Pedra Furada lithics to be non-artifacts. I find this a bit disturbing in light of a conversation I had with him a few years ago at a symposium, when I showed him a worked limestone from my own site, exhibiting curved and deeply V-profile grooves. He said it must be a fossil. When I told him that professional geologists and petrologists had determined it could not possibly be a fossil, but had every appearance of having been carved with a sharp-edged object, he said he could not dispute this, as his speciality was textiles, and he really did not know a great deal about lithics. Ok - I respect anyone that acknowledges his shortcomings, but why the hell is a magnificently executed project like Pedra Furada officially considered to be "debunked" because of a cursory judgement by someone who is famous but clearly lacking the appropriate expertise? (It's a shame that Bonnichsen isn't still here.) All this really does reek of the closed-mindedness and territoriality of North American archaeology.

Regards, Alan

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 4:33 am

Thanks AD, I've been trying to understand the whole story here. The silicon? All I can think of is that the tool may have been used to cut/harvest certain plants.

If you know, I'd appreciate it, but when I get home later I'll check with Charlie if need be. I'm a little lost on that issue.

AD · Post by AD » Thu Aug 23, 2007 9:41 am

Hi Beagle...

I sure don't pretend to know much about the finer points of use wear analysis, but my impression here is that the silica is not plant residue. (I think plant silica typically appears in the form of tiny fragments.) The "linear tracks of plastically reformed silica" here seem to relate to a component of the rock itself. (You may want to ask someone that is actually familiar with the subject...)

Post by **Minimalist** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:14 am

Just to be sure, I should say metallurgic analysis. I went and checked those posts and it looks like all the correspondence and lab results have taken Charlie over a year.

Actually, I meant how long would it take to oxidize metal down to the point when it lost virtually all of its magnetic properties rather than how long the tests took.

My fault, I should be more clear.

Digit · Post by **Digit** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 11:33 am

I'm totally lost on this one. Is Iron Oxide supposed to be non-magnetic?

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Thu Aug 23, 2007 7:51 pm

Minimalist wrote:
Just to be sure, I should say metallurgic analysis. I went and checked those posts and it looks like all the correspondence and lab results have taken Charlie over a year.

Actually, I meant how long would it take to oxidize metal down to the point when it lost virtually all of its magnetic properties rather than how long the tests took.

My fault, I should be more clear.

I should have known that. Actually, I don't have a clue, but I'm sure it depends on how much oxygen it's exposed to. I'll see what I can find out.