Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-grxwn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-12T01:51:35.557Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Mammoth Fraud in Science

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

James B. Griffin ,
David J. Meltzer ,
Bruce D. Smith  and
William C. Sturtevant
James B. Griffin
Affiliation:
Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
David J. Meltzer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275
Bruce D. Smith
Affiliation:
Sturtevant, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560
William C. Sturtevant
Affiliation:
Sturtevant, Department of Anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Holly Oak pendant is a shaped piece of marine whelk (Busycon sinistrum) shell with two holes drilled in one end that bears an incised depiction of an extinct proboscidean (woolly mammoth or mastodon). It allegedly was recovered in 1864 from an archaeological site in Delaware. There was speculation in the 1970s as to its age and significance, and it was illustrated and cited as a Paleoindian artifact of Pleistocene age. Subsequent analyses indicated the artifact was fraudulent: The engraving probably was done in the 1880s on a shell recovered from an archaeological site. This has been confirmed by a recently obtained AMS radiocarbon date. The Holly Oak pendant is a modern forgery.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , July 1988 , pp. 578 - 582
Copyright
Copyright © Society for American Archaeology 1988

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Brinton, D. G. 1892 Current Notes in Anthropology-12. Science 20 : 90–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brinton, D. G. 1893 Current Notes in Anthropology—22. Science 22 : 75.Google Scholar
Dexter, R. 1986 Historical Aspects of the Calaveras Skull Controversy. American Antiquity 51 : 365–369.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gould, S. J. 1986 Evolution and the Triumph of Homology, or Why History Matters. American Scientist 74 : 60–69.Google Scholar
Grayson, D. K. 1983 The Establishment of Human Antiquity. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Kraft, J. C. 1977 Late Quaternary Paleogeographic Changes in the Coastal Environments of Delaware, Middle Atlantic Bight, Related to Archaeological Settings. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 288 : 35–69.Google Scholar
Kraft, J. C, and Custer, J. F. 1985 [Untitled letter.] Science 227 : 246.Google Scholar
Kraft, J. C, and Thomas, R. A. 1976 Early Man at Holly Oak, Delaware. Science 192 : 756–761.Google Scholar
Lartet, E. 1865 Une lame d'ivoire fossile trouvee dans un gisement ossiftre du Perigord, et portant des incisions qui paraissent constituer la reproduction d'un elephant a longue crinere. Compte Rendu des Seances de I' Academie des Sciences 61 : 309–311.Google Scholar
Lubbock, J. 1869 Prehistoric Times. 2nd ed. Williams and Norgate, London.Google Scholar
McKusick, M. 1970 The Davenport Conspiracy. University of Iowa Press, Iowa City.Google Scholar
Meggers, B. J. 1972 Prehistoric America. Aldine, Chicago.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D. J. 1983 The Antiquity of Man and the Development of American Archaeology. Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, vol. 6, edited by Schiffer, M. B., pp. 1–51. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D. J., and Mead, J. I. 1983 The Timing of Late Pleistocene Mammalian Extinctions in North America. Quaternary Research 19 : 130–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meltzer, D. J., and Sturtevant, W. C. 1983 The Holly Oak Shell Game : An Historic Archaeological Fraud. In Lulu Linear Punctated : Essays in Honor of George I. Quimby, edited by Dunnell, R. C. and Grayson, D. K., pp. 325–352. Anthropological Paper No. 72. Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Philadelphia Evening Item 1894 EXTRA. A Doctor's Suicide. H. T. Cresson Shoots Himself. Deed Done in New York. Letters Left by Former Philadelphian. Philadelphia Evening Item, September 7, pp. 1, 8.Google Scholar
Powell, J. W. 1893 Are There Evidences of Man in the Glacial Gravels? Popular Science Monthly 43 : 316–326.Google Scholar
Putnam, F. W. 1890 [Untitled Comments at the General Meeting, February 5, 1890.] Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History 24 : 467–469. Boston.Google Scholar
Rau, C. 1876 Early Man in Europe. Harper and Brothers, New York.Google Scholar
Semken, H. A. 1983 Holocene Mammalian Biogeography and Climatic Change in the Eastern and Central United States. In The Holocene, edited by Wright, H. E., Jr., pp. 182–207. Late Quarternary Environment of the United States, vol. 2, Wright, H. E., Jr., general editor. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Pearson, G. W., and Braziunas, T. 1986 Radiocarbon Age Calibration of Marine Samples Back to 9000 Cal Yr BP. Radiocarbon 28 : 980–1021.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P. 1986 A Computer Program for Radiocarbon Age Calibration. Radiocarbon 28 : 1022–1030.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sturtevant, W. C, and Meltzer, D. J. 1985 The Holly Oak Pendant. Science 227 : 242–244.Google Scholar
Weslager, C. A. 1941 An Incised Fulgar Shell from Holly Oak, Delaware. Archaeological Society of Delaware Bulletin 3 : 10–15.Google Scholar