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A modern human jaw from Foxhall, Suffolk (UK)

In 1855, the jawbone of an anatomically modern human was discovered by workmen in Pliocene deposits at Foxhall (Suffolk, UK). It was sold by one of the men to a passing American physician, a Dr Colyer, who was intrigued by the discovery of a human fossil of such apparently early date. Colyer showed the specimen to the leading authorities of the day, who were unable to agree on its status. Interest in the fossil waned and its whereabouts is no longer known. The obvious explanation – that this was a relatively recent bone from a burial that had been cut into Pliocene deposits – is found wanting by Cremo & Thompson in Forbidden Archaeology: the hidden history of the human race for no better reasons than that some genuinely ancient fossil hominid remains also had equally poorly validated provenances and some have disappeared. This is an argument based on false analogy. The Foxhall jaw must be assessed on its own merits. The provenance of other objects has no bearing on these specific claims.

This page was last updated on 19 August 2007
Written by Keith Fitzpatrick-Matthews and James Doeser