Ziz said:

You're trying to find proof that the original cuts really do still exist somewhere in LFL's basement. The proof has been there since 2004.

Empire of Dreams.

All the shots of ANH in the sequence where they're talking about the initial release are of the original 1977 print. How do I know? Simple.

It doesn't say "Episode IV A New Hope" on top of the crawl.

That's the first and most obvious. I think they even have a shot of Han shooting first in there and I'm pretty sure it ends with the DS blowing up with NO shockwave ring.

We don't need to figure out IF the original cuts still exist. THEY DO. What we need to focus on is getting Lucas to admit it.

Indeed---good point.

The 2004 videography article also makes a clear distinction between the 1977 O-neg and the 1997 Special edition neg that was scanned to create the 2004 DVD(and 2011 Blu ray):

Interestingly, the negatives that were scanned were not those of the original releases but of the 1997 Special Edition reissues, because of their additional effects sequences (more of which are said to have been added in the DVD releases). Defects such as dirt and scratches from the original negative, then, had made their way through to the 1997 negative

Restoring the Star Wars Trilogy.

Article from: Videography | September 1, 2004 | Hurwitz, Matt

A special edition negative can only be an internegative.