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The Topper Site in South Carolina
Among the objects from the "pre-Clovis" stratum dated to 16,000-20,000 years BP, it is this author's opinion that the "Topper Chopper" shown above (both sides) offers some of the most compelling evidence for human agency. Aside from the bifacial flaking of the edge, this simple implement, although badly weathered, still clearly displays the classic zoomorphic features repeatedly appearing in the material first recognized in 1987at Day's Knob and, not surprisingly, many other locations that have since come to light. Note the typical overall abstract bird form and, outlined on the photo below, two very characteristic features consistently deeply carved into such figures: a mouth cut in the form of a bird facing inward, and a diamond-shaped eye. It is also significant that the figure incorporates "reflectional symmetry", a hallmark of human agency, in that the image is repeated (although not as distinctly in this case) on the opposite side of the rock.
The general form of this stone is a very common one both in North American artifact material and in European artifacts dating from the Paleolithic. For example, consider the Topper Chopper in comparison with this "chopper" (image reversed) from northern France (Abbevillian/Clactonian/Acheulean), about 450,000 years old, from the collection of Charles Belart:
Note that the French chopper (much less weathered) incorporates essentially the same zoomorphic image (including mouth and eye), deriving in part from natural features of the rock opportunistically incorporated into the piece. The three photos below show the same form and zoomorphic imagery in artifacts from the Day's Knob site - the top two are both sides of the same piece - note both the thematic symmetry and the common bifrontal ("janiform") imagery, a simple zoo- morphic head at each end:
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Above: Apparently a simple scraper/pick from Topper, seeming to incorporate the usual imagery, more anthropomorphic in this case. (Note in particular the charac- teristic eye, upper right, and the crest over the forehead.) It is, of course, of no little interest that this object is from the Topper stratum radiocarbon dated to at least 50,000 years BP. It will be interesting to see what further exploration at this level produces to provide "replicability". Below: Rotated clockwise, the object shown above incorporates the classic round-faced bird form, the elongated eye being deeply carved into the rock. This is an image that appears constantly and consistently in this evidently very old artifact material. Beneath this, a bird-form pick from Day's Knob in Ohio.
_________________________ _________________________ It has become apparent to this author that the people who created these implements cut the zoomorphic or zoo-anthropomorphic images into them as a matter of routine, however hastily, incorporating both form and function. One might speculate that this was the expression of an animistic belief system of ancient and primal origin; essen- tially this same motif also appears constantly in the Paleolithic artifacts of Europe and other parts of the world. From the apparent similarity of artifacts at Topper to those at North American locations not yet dated, it seems likely that "pre-Clovis" material is to be found in abundance at many sites not overlain by more recent and quickly recognized aboriginal American artifacts. Verification and documentation of chronological stratigraphy at Topper has been meticulous and of the highest quality, and this team has the courage and intellectual integrity to identify and present whatever artifact material appears, whether or not it is consistent with preconceived notions. Dr. Goodyear and his team deserve an expression of gratitude for their superbly orchestrated "Clovis in the Southeast Conference" in October 2005, and in particular for their remarkable generosity in permitting the attendees, including amateurs like this author, to closely inspect and photograph the oldest artifact material from the Topper site. It was interesting but rather disconcerting to note that the exhibit of Topper's artifact material, which included the oldest and securely dated finds, did not attract nearly as much attention as those of well known and often displayed "Indian" flint points. Many of the profes- sionals queried by this author on the second day of the conference stated that they thought the oldest Topper material to be only naturally formed rocks, but over half of these admitted they had not even briefly looked at them. When the first (very few) photos of Topper's apparently pre-Clovis artifacts were shown publicly, this author noted a possible similarity to those at Day's Knob and other sites. In October 2004, Dr. Albert Goodyear, in a brief conversation with this author, not surprisingly expressed incredulity, saying that he does not see images anywhere that are not "very obvious". Given the skepticism with which the Topper material has been greeted, it does seem reasonable at this point to demonstrate the artificiality of the Topper stones mainly from the well accepted but simplistic per- spective of arrowheads and flint knapping; citing the presence of graven images would likely be about as well received as claiming an association with Babylonians or extraterrestrials. Be this as it may, the presence of zoo-anthropomorphic imagery in much of the Topper material is quite identifiable and quantifiable, down to specific incision marks, as is its similarity to that of simple artifacts from other locations in North America and elsewhere; this is almost certainly real Paleolithic, no longer within the popular "Indian" paradigm to which most American archaeologists cur- rently limit themselves. In the long term, a Paleoarchaeologist that can not (or will not) see simple and subtle iconography in the artifact material is much like an Egyptologist unable to recognize hieroglyphs. This certainly is not to suggest a cognitive deficiency on the part of the Topper investigators, but rather an endemic and long cherished dysfunction in the discipline as a whole. And one must consider the overall risk-averse mindset of American archaeology - someone digging below what is "supposed" to be there is seen as being as madly daring as a fifteenth century explorer sailing to where the sea was assumed to spill over the edge of the earth. (But why would one even think of not digging deeper?) _________________________ _________________________
More Photos: Left, pre-Clovis Topper artifacts; right, artifacts from Day's Knob of similar form and incorporated imagery, some subtle, some very clear.
The photos below show heavily weathered but clearly worked chert rocks collected by this author at the surface of the quarry area on the gentle slope immediately uphill from the Topper dig. They are very light, having lost much of their mass over a long time in this environment apparently adverse to the preservation of material. (The investigators of the site declared these to be archaeologically uninteresting, so they are now in this author's possession.) As surface finds, their temporal association is, of course, unknown, but it is interesting that they bear the incorporated imagery characteristic of material both from the stratigraphically dated pre-Clovis levels at Topper and from Day's Knob and other North American locations. Note the classic bird form with the quasi-anthropomorphic face, and the "reflectional symmetry" - the image appearing on both sides of the rock.
Below: The same rock turned 90 degrees - displaying again, on both sides, the quasi-anthropomorphic face, topped with the characteristic crest, rather elaborate in this case, giving the object the functionality of a pick with a comfortable right-handed grasp. (The pointed top of the crest(s) in the rightmost photo is quite interesting in its own right.)
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