SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PILTDOWN DISCOVERY 287 



the teeth of sapiens being as small as, or smaller than, those of 

 heidelbergensis. The chin prominence of modern man is usually 

 explained by the rapid contraction of the alveolar surface in 

 accordance with the reduction of the size of the teeth during 

 the latest stages in human evolution, and the chin is therefore a 

 hint, though only a hint, that true man has a very recent 

 ancestor with teeth larger than those of heidelbergensis. Or, 

 in other words, it is easier to derive the human jaw from one 

 that was large anteriorly and small posteriorly, than to derive it 



H. sapiens. 



toanthropus 



H.neandertalensls. 



H. heidelbergensis. 



Fig. 4. 



from a mandible of the Heidelberg type, and Woodward's 

 Piltdown jaw has just the form required by theory. Amidst the 

 maze of uncertainties, it appears that Woodward is wholly 

 right in claiming a close relationship between the Piltdown 

 Race and true man. 



Thus both these theories, though not impossible, are difficult 

 to reconcile with the extraordinary differences between the two 

 most ancient jaws. But the facts are susceptible to another 

 interpretation of a totally different kind. Is Dr. Woodward 

 right in the importance he attaches to the mandibular symphysis 

 as a sign of relationship ? May not the absence of a flange, 



