Chris Stringer is claiming that these pieces are nothing more than pieces of stone. However Dr. Cuozzo has numerous x-rays, and photo micrographs of the bone surfaces which show nutrient canals, and mastoid air cells, evidence that these are bone not rocks as Stringer claims.
Letter from Chris Stringer Thu, 07 Jun 2001 17:29:02
"In April 2001 I became aware, through third parties, that the creationist Dr J. Cuozzo (author of the book "Buried Alive") was claiming to have discovered two additional fossil human bones at Swanscombe. E-mailed comments about these, sent or forwarded to me, are copied below. I eventually managed to track down the two "bones" at The British Museum in Bloomsbury, where they had been forwarded by the British Embassy in Washington, and they were sent here. On inspection it was evident that these specimens had neither the texture nor appearance of genuine fossil bone from Swanscombe, and instead closely resembled chert and flint components in the gravels.
To investigate this further, on June 7th they were subjected to non-destructive Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry in the Mineralogy Department, in comparison with gravel and genuine fossil bone from Swanscombe.
Sample 1 is claimed by Cuozzo to be a left mastoid process from the Swanscombe skull,
and sample 2 is supposedly the pubic bone from the skeleton. For comparison,
sample 3 is a piece of siliceous gravel from the Middle Gravels at Swanscombe, which contained the human skull, and sample 4 is a Bison phalanx from the Middle Gravels.
Unfortunately, the actual fossil human bones from Swanscombe were too large to enter the EDX analytical chamber, but their texture is consistent with the other Swanscombe fossils and also unlike Dr Cuozzo's specimens. Representative results of the analyses are attached as jpg files. In the case of sample 4, the genuine fossil bone, two spectra are shown, one for the bone surface (spectrum 1), and one for an attached quartz grain (spectrum 3). As can be seen, Dr Cuozzo's finds display the characteristic spectra of siliceous rocks (note the Silicon and Oxygen peaks), and do not display the peaks for Calcium and Phosphorus found in the genuine Swanscombe fossil bone.
Sample 1: claimed by Cuozzo to be left mastoid process of the Swanscombe skull | ![]() |
Sample 2 is supposedly the pubic bone from the skeleton. | ![]() |
For comparison Sample 3 is a piece of siliceous gravel from the Middle Gravels at Swanscombe, which contained the human skull, | ![]() |
Sample 4 is a Bison phalanx from the Middle Gravels. | ![]() |
Once it was established that these were pieces of siliceous gravel, they were thin-sectioned, further demonstrating that their internal structure is entirely mineralogical, lacking the microstructure of bone. I will retain Dr Cuozzo's specimens for the moment in case anyone else wishes to examine them.
I would like to thank my colleagues in Mineralogy, John Spratt, Terry Greenwood, Terry Williams and Tony Wighton, for their assistance with these analyses."
Chris Stringer
Click Here an introduction to the new remains found at Swanscombe by Dr. Jack Cuozzo Swanscombe page 1
You are currently reading: Swanscombe page 2
Click Here to Read Dr. Cuozzo's response to Dr. Stringer Swanscombe page 3
Click Here for comments from Chris Stringer, and his scans of the bones Swanscombe page 4
Click here for furthur evidence that the new Swanscombe material is bone Swanscombe page 5