Monday 15 August 2022

Somerton Man: What do his fingerprints tell us? His occupation maybe? UPDATED August 16th 2022 (Originally Posted 19th September 2014)....


....SOMERTON MAN FINGERPRINTS
A Closer Look & Discussion....:



When you look closely at the Somerton Man's fingerprints and in particular the right thumb, forefinger and middle finger, you will see quite noticeable areas of wear. Compare them to his left hand and you will see the the difference. I have separately found and examined numerous sets of fingerprints and compared them to these shown above. Of around 20 randomly sourced specimens only 1 had similar markings but unfortunately there was no mention of the mans occupation. More work to be done.

For this reason I say that the Somerton Man was right handed and that he worked with some kind of tool, probably metal, which caused the wear patterns. One tool that comes to mind is an engraving tool, quite heavy and made of metal, such tools were used for wood carving and of course for carving metals. Metal workers use similar tools for scribing.

TOOLS:

1. Engraving:

2. Metalworking:



3. Intaglio Platemaking (Printing):



4. Engineers:



5. Rough Handmade:


The final image of knives has examples that are similar to items found on escaping Japanese POWs at Cowra on August 5th 1944.

For me, I see similarities in engraving, intaglio printing, and the bound handled knives.


SUITCASE TOOLS

Returning to the tools found in the suitcase, the knife the scissors even the brush could make up an engraver's kit and possibly be used by those engaged in the printing industry. The engineer's and metal worker's tools are too refined.


Back to the Fingerprints:

This fingerprint example is interesting for a variety of reasons:


This man was in fact a possible SM candidate. Byron, you would be interested in this, Mr. Michaelson was a prospector. He arrived in 1931 on the Eridan, add 17 years to this man and who knows? Would prospectors use a hand tool similar to an engraving tool for some purpose?


This man, Frank Ernest Gransgog arrived in Australia around the same time and both were miners from Finland, same age as  well.



This image compares Gransgog with the pre Burial image of the Somerton Man:


                            
Gransgog would have been 31 years old in 1941 when this photo was taken, You can access his NAA file via his service number V500310.

Was he involved in printing?

As mentioned, another option for SMs occupation would be in the printing field. The tools found in the suitcase, the knife, the scissors, the screwdriver and the brush, may all have been used in the printing process. But perhaps most interesting is the combination of various chemical elements that were found via the Mass Spectrometry tests carried out on samples of the mans hair, the three items most of interest were found to be:

Lead
Silver
Tin

In the printing field and in those times, lead was used in fonts, tin was added to the lead, and silver was used in the gelatin silver process to enhance the printing of images. This particular process was first used by Richard Leach Maddox in 1871 so it was a well-tried and proven element of printing technology. Lead was not considered a health risk as long as normal precautions, washing of hands, etc, were followed. However if the lead type was stored in 'damp' conditions then lead oxide, the dangerous stuff, would form. It was practiced in those days to remelt the lead type for further use and it is the high temperatures needed in that process that produced a highly toxic environment. These were the immediate post-war years and there was a huge focus on the re-use of all sorts of materials including those used in the printing industry.

In summary, the foregoing has served to confirm he was right-handed and that he very probably used some form of a tool similar to those used in the engraving, scribing, carving, and printing fields. The next step is to see just where this part of the puzzle fits.








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4 comments:

  1. Hi Gordon, Quite interesting stuff. I seem to remember theories, I think, on Pete Bowes site that he was a sign writer of some sort? Just a thought. Clive

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Clive,
      That's correct, Pete did make mention of that, I think it was when we were discussing how the larger letters of the code were put in place first as the layout and then micro letters/numbers inserted. This was much the same process that sign writers use.

      Delete
  2. Michaelson looks quite a lot like him. Comparing ears, hairline, philtrum, etc. Many similarities. Isn't there a fingerprint expert that could look at a possilble match of the sets of fingerprints?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good point, we can check that out. When you compare them roughly the prints form the right hand don't appear to match as there's no wear, but then again the Michaelson document was dated 17 years earlier so maybe the wear wouldn't have occurred at that time. There are some other references to him being discounted, I'll chase them down.

    ReplyDelete

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