886 MAN 



of iuiniaii beings who inhabited England long before history had made its 

 feeblest beginnings. The stratum in wliich tlie Piitdow ii i'ossil rested indicated 

 ati antiquity, according to Dr. Woodward, dating back to the early part of 

 the Pleistocene period. The estimates of this geological period in terms of 

 years vary considerably. Such authorities as Professor SoIIas and Professor 

 Pencl:, for example, believe the period comprised between 400,000 and 

 500,000 years. Professor Rutot is more conservative and sets the ligurc at 

 140,000 years. Sir Arthur Keith, who made a subsequent reconstruction ol 

 the Piltdown skull, advocates an antiquity even more remote, dating back 

 to some portion of the Pliocene. Even if it is impossible to be more exact in 

 these estimations of geological time, it seems clear that a very primitive 

 race inhabited England long before Caesar's invasions; in fact, ages before 

 the ancient Britons chiimed the land which was destined to produce the 

 most brilliant lights of history. 



Endocranial casts of the Piltdown skull have been made by Dr. Wood- 

 ward and Su" Arthur Keith. These reproductions ^•ar^,■ in eertaui details, 

 jiarticularly in regard to the archof the\ ertexand theestimated volume of the 

 brain. Both ol the casts show a distmct superiority w hen com])ared w ith that 

 of pithecanthropus (Fig. 366). Especially decisive is the gain made by the 

 Dawn man in the \ault of his skull and the e\|)anse of his forehead. The 

 general flatness in llu' cranial \ault of the Ja\an ape-man gi\es place to a 

 degree of arching in the Piltdown skull. This modilication is in ri'sponse to 

 expansions in the frontal and parietal regions. But increasing proportions are 

 not limited to these areas. The temporal as well as the occipital lobe ol the 

 Dawn man have enlarged. By comparison it is e\ident that the brain ol the 

 ape-man was smaller, less well develo|3ed and less specialized. The volume ol 

 the pithecanthro]ius brain, as originally estimated by Dubois, was 855 c.c. 

 Subsequent measurements with corrections by McGregor place this figure 

 at ij^o c.c. This brain volume, while considerably above the average lor the 



