During the mining of gold in the early 50s of the nineteenth century in central California, prospectors began to find stone tools in abundance, and with them human remains. They were found both in the surface layer and in the tunnels laid by gold miners. And, if the age of the artifacts found in the surface layer could cause doubts and controversy, the age of objects found in the latite layer (basalt rock) of Table Mountain could be dated from 33.2 to 55 million years.
State archaeologist J. D. Whitney, interested in the finds of the prospectors, reported them to the scientific community. He also personally examined the collection of antiquities that belonged to Dr. Perez Snell of Sonora, California. It contained spearheads and many other items.
Unfortunately, there was no exact information about where exactly the various items were found. But Dr. Snell, showing Whitney one of the items, said that he "took it with his own hand from a cart, loaded with waste rock, drove out of the bowels of Table Mountain." The find looked like a stone pestle, or tool that could be used to sharpen objects.
More accurately documented is the location of an item found in Mesa by Albert J. Walton, who owned the Valentine's mining site. While mining for gold, Walton discovered a stone mortar that was 15 inches in diameter. It was buried in gold-bearing rock at a depth of about 55 meters under a layer of latite. And she could not get from the upper layers to the lower ones.
In 1870, Oliver W. Stephens presented a notarized written testimony: “I, the undersigned, visited the Sonora Tunnel in Mesa, about half a mile northwest of Shaw's Flat, around 1853. At this time, I saw a cart with gold-bearing gravel driving out of the aforementioned tunnel. And I, the undersigned, raised from a pile of this gravel, mined in the tunnel deposits under the basalt layer, at a depth of about 200 feet (61 meters) horizontally and 100-120 feet (30-36.5 meters) vertically, a mastodon tooth … Then I managed to find a relic, in its shape resembling a large stone bead, possibly made of alabaster. The find may be between 9 and 66 million years old.
In 1871, James Carwin received a message that he had found a stone ax in 1858. It was found at a depth of about 29 meters from the surface in gravels under the basalt platform about 90 meters from the entrance to the tunnel. There were also several stone mortars.
J. H. Neal signed the document of his discovery on August 2, 1890: “In 1877, Mr. J. H. Neal was Superintendent of the Montezuma Tunnel Company and supervised the excavation of the Montezuma Tunnel in the gravels under Table Mountain, Tuolumn County … In the distance 1,400 to 1,500 feet (426 to 457 meters) from the tunnel entrance, 200 to 300 feet (61 to 91 meters) from the top edge of the basalt layer, Mr. Neal
saw several spearheads about a foot long, made of dark rock. Upon further examination of the find, he personally discovered a small, irregularly shaped mortar, three or four inches (7.5 - 10 cm) in diameter. Then he came across a well-shaped pestle, now the property of Dr. RI Bromley, and next to a large, regular mortar, now also in the possession of Dr. Bromley.
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Scientific institutions of the highest rank have been informed about the artifacts found. In 1899, the Smithsonian Institute reviewed and analyzed the values recovered from gold mining. The analysis noted that most of the finds were found in sand deposits ranging in age from 38 to 55 million years. But at the same time, it was emphasized that the artifacts were there either as a result of mining near the surface of the earth, or as a result of erosion of rocks. Experts pointed out that the items discovered by the prospectors may have been from later Indian cultures.
The Smithsonian review, supported by other works of similar content, nullified any hint that scientific ideas about the age of mankind could be refuted. But whether the conclusions published by the institute's employees correspond to reality, or they were made at the convincing request of those who were beneficial, we still do not know. For some unknown reason, further research on this issue was not carried out, and there is no complete clarity with the Table Mountain artifacts to this day.
Mikhail Ostashevsky