FOR INFORMATION
(This is the copy of a letter which I posted on my "Online Archaeology" Palaeolithic Scotland site last July.)
Some of our most noted and respected Archaeological Press Correspondents received a personal e-mail on the subject with a copy of the "Letter to The Editor.
I have never received replies from any of them. Their silence speaks volumes I feel.
What do you think?
LETTER.
Attached for info is copy of a letter to various "National Press Editors" sent a couple of days ago.
I hope that if they do not recognise the significance of what we have uncovered on the "Moss of Cruden" then they might do me the kindness of requesting clarification.
Jack Sneddon.
Sir,
PALAEOLITHIC SCOTLAND AND HIDDEN SOIL HORIZONS
It is with pleasure that I write to your respected paper and it is right that I should do so not only for the benefit of every one on the Planet but especially for my fellow countrymen and women here in Scotland.
Scotland has long been denied the honour of having had an early Palaeolithic heritage. This denial has essentially been carried along through the ages on the premise that Scotland would not supply any human
evidence of early Palaeolithic habitation as any evidence which may have been there would have been scoured away by the glaciers?.
Well, this line of thought may or may not be true for some parts of Scotland but it caries no weight in an area which is proven to have never experienced any late primary glaciation.
That is to say, today what is known as Morraineless Buchan and containing the Moss of Cruden; did not experience any late primary glaciation and could have been ice free for about 1,000,000 years or more. Oh! it would have been cold; indeed it would have been very cold but it would have been then more of a Tundra landscape encircled at one time by gently sloping and icy uplands.
Over the past 15 years or so, I and others have had the honour and privilege to work with Dr. E.A. Fitzpatrick, Kubiena Gold Medallist in Soil Science; in exploring and excavating “Morraineless Buchan”.
Using Dr. Fitzpatrick’s, now axiomatic work; on “Hidden Soil Horizons” allowed us to retrieve material which proves, until any other motion to the contrary is tabled; that Scotland can take its place with dignity among others as having been in the cradle of human evolution and at much senior level than previously anticipated.
I will welcome all reasonable queries on this communication but there is still much to tell.
e.g. One of our sites was visited by an extremely well known and internationally respected archaeologist whom I had worked with. They advised that we had to get the geology sorted out!
We have done this via Dr.Fitzpatrick’s work on Hidden Soil Horizons!.
This same archaeologist presented samples of our excavated materials to other respected Archaeologists at a well known English University and asked if they believed that the specimens were naturally fractured. Their
consensus was No However when they asked where the specimens came from and were advised “N.E. Scotland” they all recanted!
One must, therefore ask ones self if there is some sort of “Taboo” over the finding anything of an Early Palaeolithic Scotland anywhere in Scotland?.
Our findings are significant enough in their own right; but to have excavated them from the bosom of a hidden soil horizon which was probably laid down over 2,000,000 years ago is taking us right back to an era
when some of the horizons found at Olduvai Gorge were being laid down!
In the light of what we have excavated from the Moss of Cruden, it appears that some past opinions regarding N E Scotland being devoid of early Palaeolithic artefacts are in need of a “good deal” of reviewing.
Some sceptics to our findings are either missing the point or choosing to ignore the fact that when we excavated that day on the Moss of Cruden the selection of the area to be investigated was based on Dr. E A Fitzpatrick’s work on “Hidden Soil Horizons”.I well remember asking Dr. Fitzpatrick where we should set the JCB and him guiding us to a very specific location where he said to me “We’ll go in here Jack!”.
The rest, as some might say; is history. None the less; I am not aware of any other situations, at least within the British Isles; where application of the science relating to hidden soil horizons has been utilised as a tool in the identification of an area worthy of archaeological investigation.
I am convinced that what we uncovered on the Moss of Cruden will allow us to bring Scotland’s heritage out of the neglect it has experienced over the past century or so and have it shown for what it really is i.e.
" A door to a better understanding of how the Human Race colonised Planet Earth"
.
Jack Sneddon.
07/07/11.
I hope that if they do not recognise the significance of what we have uncovered on the "Moss of Cruden" then they might do me the kindness of requesting clarification.
Jack Sneddon.
Sir,
PALAEOLITHIC SCOTLAND AND HIDDEN SOIL HORIZONS
It is with pleasure that I write to your respected paper and it is right that I should do so not only for the benefit of every one on the Planet but especially for my fellow countrymen and women here in Scotland.
Scotland has long been denied the honour of having had an early Palaeolithic heritage. This denial has essentially been carried along through the ages on the premise that Scotland would not supply any human
evidence of early Palaeolithic habitation as any evidence which may have been there would have been scoured away by the glaciers?.
Well, this line of thought may or may not be true for some parts of Scotland but it caries no weight in an area which is proven to have never experienced any late primary glaciation.
That is to say, today what is known as Morraineless Buchan and containing the Moss of Cruden; did not experience any late primary glaciation and could have been ice free for about 1,000,000 years or more. Oh! it would have been cold; indeed it would have been very cold but it would have been then more of a Tundra landscape encircled at one time by gently sloping and icy uplands.
Over the past 15 years or so, I and others have had the honour and privilege to work with Dr. E.A. Fitzpatrick, Kubiena Gold Medallist in Soil Science; in exploring and excavating “Morraineless Buchan”.
Using Dr. Fitzpatrick’s, now axiomatic work; on “Hidden Soil Horizons” allowed us to retrieve material which proves, until any other motion to the contrary is tabled; that Scotland can take its place with dignity among others as having been in the cradle of human evolution and at much senior level than previously anticipated.
I will welcome all reasonable queries on this communication but there is still much to tell.
e.g. One of our sites was visited by an extremely well known and internationally respected archaeologist whom I had worked with. They advised that we had to get the geology sorted out!
We have done this via Dr.Fitzpatrick’s work on Hidden Soil Horizons!.
This same archaeologist presented samples of our excavated materials to other respected Archaeologists at a well known English University and asked if they believed that the specimens were naturally fractured. Their
consensus was No However when they asked where the specimens came from and were advised “N.E. Scotland” they all recanted!
One must, therefore ask ones self if there is some sort of “Taboo” over the finding anything of an Early Palaeolithic Scotland anywhere in Scotland?.
Our findings are significant enough in their own right; but to have excavated them from the bosom of a hidden soil horizon which was probably laid down over 2,000,000 years ago is taking us right back to an era
when some of the horizons found at Olduvai Gorge were being laid down!
In the light of what we have excavated from the Moss of Cruden, it appears that some past opinions regarding N E Scotland being devoid of early Palaeolithic artefacts are in need of a “good deal” of reviewing.
Some sceptics to our findings are either missing the point or choosing to ignore the fact that when we excavated that day on the Moss of Cruden the selection of the area to be investigated was based on Dr. E A Fitzpatrick’s work on “Hidden Soil Horizons”.I well remember asking Dr. Fitzpatrick where we should set the JCB and him guiding us to a very specific location where he said to me “We’ll go in here Jack!”.
The rest, as some might say; is history. None the less; I am not aware of any other situations, at least within the British Isles; where application of the science relating to hidden soil horizons has been utilised as a tool in the identification of an area worthy of archaeological investigation.
I am convinced that what we uncovered on the Moss of Cruden will allow us to bring Scotland’s heritage out of the neglect it has experienced over the past century or so and have it shown for what it really is i.e.
" A door to a better understanding of how the Human Race colonised Planet Earth"
.
Jack Sneddon.
07/07/11.
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