472 SCIENCE PROGRESS 



while it is without doubt wise to err on the side of caution in 

 these matters, it is well to remember that over-caution may 

 lead to as much misconception as over-confidence. 



I see no reason why the lower stratum of the gravel at 

 Piltdown should not be a Pliocene deposit overlain by gravelly 

 strata of later date, and I know that such an association of 

 beds of different ages occurs not infrequently in the valleys 

 of East Anglia. In a Supplementary Note on the discovery 

 of the Piltdown Skull 1 Messrs. Dawson and Smith Woodward 

 state, " We cannot resist the conclusion that the third or 

 ' dark bed ' is, in the main, composed of Pliocene drift, pro- 

 bably reconstructed in the Pleistocene epoch," and if, as I 

 think, such reconstruction is very problematical, it is clear 

 that the geological evidence does not conflict seriously with 

 the view based upon the characters of the human bones them- 

 selves, that these bones must be of a very considerable anti- 

 quity. But it is when we turn to the evidence afforded by 

 the flint implements found with the Piltdown person, that this 

 great antiquity seems definitely established. If I, as a prac- 

 tical flaker of flint, had been shown Dr. Smith Woodward's 

 reconstruction of the Piltdown skull and jaw, and had been 

 asked what sort of flint implements in my opinion such a 

 very primitive semi-human creature would be capable of 

 producing, my answer would have been " the very primitive 

 edge-trimmed flints generally known as eoliths." 



I should not regard it as in any way probable that such an 

 ape-like man would be able to make even the earliest of the 

 pointed or ovate palaeolithic implements, which I know from 

 experience require much thought and skill to produce. Now 

 if we turn to the excellent illustrations of the flint implements 

 found in situ at Piltdown, 2 it will be realised that such a sup- 

 position is correct, as not a single example of a pointed or 

 ovate palseolith appears among these illustrations. There are 

 certainly some flints illustrated of which the legend reads, 

 " Palaeoliths from Piltdown," but I beg leave to dispute the 

 correctness of this description. Some little time ago Dr. Smith 

 Woodward very kindly gave me an opportunity of examining 

 these specimens, and I at once recognised, as is also clear in 

 the drawings, that the workmanship of the flints is quite dis- 



1 Q.J.G.S. April 1914, vol. lxx. p. 85. 



8 Q.J.G.S. March 1913, vol. lxix. Plates XVI. and XVII. 



