The Glozel Artifacts

In Glozel, France, there is a little necropolis where over 60 years ago finds have been made. About 2500 objects have been discovered with carved symbols, animals and mysterious inscriptions. On almost every object made of bones or ceramic there is script. Most of the artifacts were dated 3000 B. C. But there are also pieces that are younger and some that might be 17.000 years old. Less known is the fact that also numerous stone relics with carvings were found, that are very old and caused controversy among the French scientists. The artifacts were dated between 4.500 and 15.000 years. Also some tablets of clay with different unknown letters have been found. This discovery wasn’t taken seriously because the scientists wouldn’t believe that men of the Ice Age were able to make such objects. The typical carvings of Glozel are also found on stone relics. The meaning of those findings is unknown. Experts think that they might have been used for an occult purpose or for ceremonies.
The main problem with the collection of Glozel is, that something similar wasn’t found yet. But the symbols on the tablets are similar to symbols of the Harappa culture. In April 1999 the finds have been analysed by archaeologists from the Harvard University – they have been proven as authentically ancient pieces. The discovery was made on 1 March 1924 by 17-year old Émile Fradin (born August 8, 1906) and his grandfather Claude Fradin. Émile was guiding a cow-drawn plow when its foot became stuck in a cavity. Freeing the cow, the Fradins uncovered an underground chamber, with walls of clay bricks and 16 clay floor tiles, containing human bones and ceramic fragments. Adrienne Picandet, a local teacher, visited the Fradins' farm in March, and afterwards informed the Minister of Education about the site.

On July 9, another teacher, Benoit Clément, visited the Fradins representing the Société d'Émulation du Bourbonnais, later returning with a man called Viple. Clément and Viple used pickaxes to break down the chamber's remaining walls, which they took away with them. Later, Viple wrote to Émile Fradin identifying the site as Gallo-Roman, dating to between about A.D 100-400, and possibly of archeological importance.

Antonin Morlet, a Vichy physician and amateur archaeologist, visited the farm on 26 April, offering 200 francs to be allowed to complete the excavation. Morlet began his excavations on 24 May, 1925, discovering tablets, bisexual idols, bone and flint tools, engraved stones and a few human bones continued to appear from the soil. He also found, in the top layer of soil, a few pieces of stoneware pottery and some vitrified objects.

Below that was a layer of yellowish clayey colluvium, in which most of the older artifacts were found. Some 100 ceramic tablets bearing inscriptions are among the artifacts found at Glozel. The inscriptions are, on average, on six or seven lines, mostly on a single side, although some specimens are inscribed on both faces.

When Dr. Capitan, an elderly and very famous French archaeologist, visited Vichy for his health, Dr. Morlet invited him to visit the site. Capitan was enthusiastic and offered to publish information on the finds at Glozel. But Dr. Morlet, becoming alarmed at indications that Capitan wished to appropriate the site for himself, hastily published the first of a series of little booklets on Glozel. Morlet identified the site as Neolithic in a report entitled Nouvelle Station Néolithique published in September 1925, with Émile Fradin listed as co-author. French archaeologists were quick to point out the improbability of Morlet's interpretation of the site. They were also outraged that an amateur archaeologist and a young peasant boy had the presumption to publish books about Glozel. Capitan changed his mind about the authenticity of the finds. And so the controversy began.

Two other tombs were uncovered in 1927. More excavations were performed in April 1928. After 1941, a new law outlawed private excavations, and the site remained untouched until the Ministry of Culture re-opened excavations in 1983. The full report was never published, but a 13-page summary appeared in 1995. The authors suggest that the site is medieval (roughly A.D. 500–1500), possibly containing some earlier Iron Age objects, but was likely enriched by forgeries.

However in March 2001 there was an examination and analysis of the artifacts. It resulted that the objects haven’t been worked with a metal tool. The pictured animals and the symbols have been made with the same types of tools. That means that the script has not been added later, like sceptics are used to say.

The symbols on the tablets are reminiscent of the Phoenician alphabet, but they have not been conclusively deciphered. There were numerous claims of decypherment, including identification of the language of the inscriptions as Basque, Chaldean, Eteocretan, Hebrew, Iberian, Latin, Berber, Ligurian, Phoenician and Turkic.

Sources :
Unsolved Mysteries : “An Exhibition of Unsolved Mysteries and Enigmatic Findings in the History of Humanity” PARTIAL EXHIBITION CATALOGUE (ENGLISH) by Reinhard Habeck, Dr. Willibald Katzinger and listed authors;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glozel;
http://www.glozel.net/index.html

Pic Source :
http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?s=e014422ced3326b69580eb95dec7092d&showtopic=107678&st=15