WHOLE VOL. SKELETAL REMAINS OF EARLY MAN HRDLICKA /I 



Geological age. — Taking all the circumstances of the find into con- 

 sideration, Dr. Woodward decided that, " it appeared probable that 

 the skull and mandible cannot safely be described as being of earlier 

 date than the first half of the Pleistocene Epoch. The individual 

 probably lived during a warm cycle in that age." (Quart. Journ. 

 Geol. Soc, p. 123, 1913). In 1922, in his " Guide to the Fossil Remains 

 of Man," etc., 3rd ed., pp. lo-ii, Dr. Woodward says: " So far as can 

 be judged from present evidence, it is therefore reasonable to suppose 

 that Piltdown man dates back to the beginning of the Pleistocene 

 period." The latter is about the generally accepted opinion today. 



THE SKELETAL REMAINS 



Descriptions of the various skeletal parts of the Piltdown finds, 

 equally as excellent as the rest of his reix)rts, are given in the original 

 communications, already quoted, by Dr. Woodward. This author 

 deserves the warm thanks of every anthropologist for, on the one 

 hand, his highly able and restrained reports and studies, supple- 

 mented with beautiful illustrations ; and on the other for the extended 

 painstaking work in the Piltdown gravels, which he has carried on 

 since 191 2, first jointly with Dawson and, since Dawson's death, alone, 

 and which he still pursues. The essentials of his observations will 

 be incorporated in the following paragraphs. 



THE FIRST SKULL 



From the nine fragments of the cranium together with the portion 

 of the lower jaw and the loose canine, a number of the most promi- 

 nent students of the remains have attempted with infinite pains a 

 reconstruction of the whole skull. The principal reconstructions are 

 those of Woodward,' Elliot Smith with J. I. Hunter and J. Beattie," 

 Keith,^ and McGregor.^ These reconstructions dififer somewhat in 

 size and in details, but all show certain characteristics in common. 

 They must be considered together with the originals ; but it is the 

 originals which demand first attention. The following notes combine 

 the essential data on the specimens published by Dr. Woodward and 

 other workers, with the writer's observations on the originals. 



* Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, Vol. 69, p. 141, pi. XVIII, 1913. This reconstruction 

 reminds one much of that of the skull of the Le Moustier youth, q. v. 



" Nature, 1922, p. 726. Also Elliot Smith, The Evolution of Man, 2d ed., 

 p. 74 et seq., 1927. 

 'The Antiquity of Man, II, p. 515 et scq., 1923. 



* Illustrations in publications of Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist., N. Y. 



